San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday, February 12, 2014, at Skyline College

AFT EC Members Present: Eric Brenner, Vicki Clinton, Salumeh Eslamieh, Nina Floro, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan (Exec. Secr.), Michelle Kern, Monica Malamud, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Joaquin Rivera, Janice Sapigao, Anne Stafford, Elizabeth Terzakis.

AFT (non-EC) Members Present:  Doniella Maher (Cañada, English)

 

Guests:  Zev Kvitky (CFT Field Rep)

 

Meeting began at 2:42

 

Facilitator:  Eric Brenner

 

1. Welcome and Introductions:

Done.

2. Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items:

None.

3. Minutes of January 15, 2014 AFT meeting:

Approved unanimously.

4. Spring AFT Social: planning update

Skyline:  trying to keep it simple, maybe have a raffle.  Date has not been set yet, but it will probably be in March.  Janice would like to frame it as adjunct appreciation and discussion about PT issues.

CSM:  food and beverages on February 24 in the Faculty Lounge.

Cañada:  probably in March at Cañada Vista. Doniella designed the invitation.

5. Performance Evaluation Task Force: Spring semester timeline and new MOU

The MOU to extend the work of the PETF for spring 2014 has already been signed.

Elizabeth updated the EC on the work of the PETF; she said that the work of the committee will be done by the end of spring semester.  The PETF is cleaning up the existing language on evaluations.  Before striking language that does not make sense or does not seem to apply, Elizabeth is seeking the opinion of EC members (recommendation:  send email to all EC members, not just a few) and researching what the rationale was for including this type of language originally (by contacting John Kirk and Ernie Rodriguez).  Elizabeth suggested that it would be a good idea if all three campuses held information forums on the second flex day at the beginning of fall semester.  A ratification vote will follow early in the fall.

Q:  Should tenure review committee members rotate in and out or should the committee composition remain the same through the entire evaluation process?

A:  There are advantages to maintaining the current system of staggered rotation with the committee chair (a faculty expert) staying on the committee for the duration of the tenure review.  Some advantages are that a) by having more tenured faculty members serving on a committee through the four years there is an opportunity to give more feedback from different points of view, b) there is a sense of shared responsibility for granting tenure from faculty members of a large department .

The idea of making it optional to rotate committee members was suggested but discarded, noting that it would be difficult to assign responsibility for exercising such option, and that it might lead to grievances stemming from the fact that tenure-track faculty are not evaluated using the same process.

Q:  What about the training of evaluation committee members?

A:  This is currently being handled in different ways in the three campuses.  It was agreed that this training is important for new committee members and it is a useful refresher for those who have been through the process already.  It was suggested that the Evaluation Guidance Committee be in charge of training for tenure review committees, since this committee is already supposed to do the orientation for peer evaluations.

6. Professional Development: continuation of the discussion

Teeka meet with Rick Hough, chair of Professional Development Committee at Skyline:

–          Frequency of meetings:  There is tension about the frequency of meetings; administrators seem to find it hard to make it to meetings.  The Committee always meets face to face to discuss sabbaticals, but they tend to do short term approvals via email. 

–          Rubric:  The rubric that has been recently implemented at Skyline has not resulted in any denials of professional development requests, so faculty discomfort with this new rubric may be due to resistance to change.  Teeka noted that this rubric most likely stemmed from Teeka’s request to the three Professional Development Committees to devise a method to prioritize requests, should the requested funding be higher than the available money. 

Teeka drafted an email to seek input from Cañada and CSM regarding how their committees work, but she has not sent it out yet.

Discussion about professional development funding:

–          Funding for Professional Development is 1% of regular FT faculty.  It may be that the percentage should be based on ALL faculty salaries, including PT, as is the case in other locals in the state.

–          It was suggested that AFT request the District to fund professional development activities which are required to obtain or maintain licenses, especially in CTE, from a different funding source.

–          A source of funding that could be tapped for professional development is the California Career Pathways Trust Grant.  

7. Quality Public Education Campaign: update – Katharine Harer

Harriet gave Katherine a spreadsheet with recent faculty hires from the last few years.  Harriet and Dan will put together a welcome packet for these faculty members.  Katherine will be visiting faculty members who may be interested in becoming involved with the union.  She will start with Skyline, and then schedule visits at CSM and Cañada.  Katherine will send emails to EC members to get some ideas of faculty she should try to visit at each campus.

It may be a good idea to write an article about the increase in the number of administrators, which is happening in our district as well as nationwide.  There was a recent article on this topic in the Chronicle of Higher Education; Dan will contact Masao to see if he would like to contribute to this article.

8. Spring AFT 1493 elections: beginning of the discussion

At Dan’s suggestion, current EC members shared whether they would like to continue in the EC and everyone present expressed an interest in continuing in their current positions. 

Unfilled positions:

–          EC Rep for Skyline

–          Co-chair at Skyline with Nina

–          Grievance:  current system seems to be working well.  Emphasis is on dealing with issues locally at each campus early on, by AFT EC members on each campus or Dan.  Dan has been supporting and coordinating grievance work, and information is centralized in the AFT office.  Zev will conduct grievance training for interested EC members.

9. Status of 2.30 – Teeka James:

2.30. Rules and Regs on Political Activities.  The core idea in this policy is that District resources cannot be used to support or oppose a ballot measure or a candidate, but it is acceptable to do advocacy before something or someone gets on the ballot.  Policy 2.30 had gone through the review process in all constituencies and it was ready for Board vote, but students objected to the latest version and pulled it from the Board agenda.  It was revised, so it is now going back to constituencies.

10. Recent grievances and complaints – Dan Kaplan:

a)      Dan dealt with an attack on Academic Freedom against a faculty member.  District verbally agreed to a resolution of this issue, but when Dan wrote up this agreement, there was resistance.  It seems to be close to resolution now.

b)      Dan has been successful in bringing together deans and faculty when they have had disagreements, especially regarding class assignments.

c)       Salumeh and Dan have been working on a case about an assignment of a FT faculty member, who would have liked to fill a new position within the current department.

d)      There was a case of a faculty member who had been teaching a certain class for a period of time, and expected to continue to do so.  However, no faculty member “owns” a class, and seniority does not apply during summer (and this is when the class was scheduled).

e)      A faculty member failed to submit a book order to the bookstore in a timely fashion, and then faulted the bookstore for not having the books available to students at the beginning of the semester, allegedly yelling at the Bookstore manager.  Dan has counseled faculty member about proper behavior on campus.

f)        A faculty member who has been teaching a hybrid class was informed by the dean that the class will need to be taught face-to-face.  The faculty member has a disability and failed the STOT training, presumably because the STOT instructor did not make appropriate accommodations for the disability.  So this may be an ADA-related case.

11. AFT 1493 video discussion

Dan suggested the EC endorse this project.  The video can include interviews with current EC leaders, in addition to the footage obtained from past AFT 1493 leaders at the 50^th Anniversary celebration.  It was agreed that Eric and Dan will start work on this project.

12. Close the Commercial Porperty Loophole resolution

Dan shared a resolution to support a “split” of Prop. 13, allowing for more regular reassessment of commercial properties while keeping in place existing protections for residential properties, and directing additional tax revenues generated to fund local schools.  The Democratic Party has endorsed this resolution.

èMotion:  to support the resolution.  Approved unanimously.

13. March 2014 CFT Convention

For delegates only:

–          Hotel:  block of CFT rooms is sold out.  CFT is working to get block of rooms at other hotels.

–          Flight:  book ASAP.

14. 41^st Annual National Labor-Management Conference (April 6-8 in NYC)

Katharine and Monica have attended in the past, and shared that this is a very worthwhile conference.  The agenda for this year is particularly interesting and timely.  EC members are not available to attend, so Dan might go.

15. Consumer Federation of California membership

The San Mateo Central Labor Council wants affiliates to consider membership with the Consumer Federation of California (CFC), a non-profit organization which advocates for consumer rights.  Richard Holober is the current Executive Director of the CFC. 

èMotion:  that we join the Consumer Federation of California, with a contribution of $150.  Approved unanimously.

16. Statements from EC members on Non-Agenda Items.

Teeka:  Portland Association of Teachers is considering a walk-out.  Would EC consider passing a resolution in support?  Yes.  Teeka will draft a resolution, and EC will have an electronic vote.

Zev:  forum about CCSF’s struggle with accreditation has been held at different districts, starting with SMCCCD.  Would our district be interested in holding another forum?  Yes, perhaps at a different campus, since the first one was held at CSM.

Dan:  newly elected Board member Tom Mohr called Dan to say how much he liked the last issue of the Advocate.

 

Meeting adjourned 4:55 p.m.

 

San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday, March 12, 2014, at College of San Mateo

 

Present: Salumeh Eslamieh, Lin Bowie, Janice Sapagio, Joaquin Rivera, Nina Floro, Katharine Harer, Michelle Kern, Teeka James, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Vicki Clinton, Dan Kaplan, Eric Brenner

Guests: Zev Kvitky, Doniella Maher

1.Welcome and Introductions (if necessary)

Introductions were not necessary.

2.Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items

No statements were made.

3.*Minutes of February 12, 2014 AFT meeting

Minutes were approved.

4.An Online Teaching Proposal by the CSM Math/Science Division

Three science faculty from CSM are beginning a project, as described in their project proposal, “to enhance two online courses, each of which will serve between 100 – 200 registered ‘for credit’ students.” They hope to also make these courses available to “guests” who wish to use course materials for independent learning purposes. The proposed courses involved would be Health Science 100 and Survey of Chemistry 100, both of which are non-laboratory, general science classes (though Chemistry 100 is not listed in this year’s CSM catalog). The three faculty members asked to meet with AFT in January, and Dan and Teeka met with them to hear about their proposal. The faculty have also been in discussion with the CSM Academic Senate. The classes would be taught by our existing faculty, who would have student-tutors or other “personnel” to provide technological support to students. The faculty have found that online students’ technical difficulties with WebAccess, iTunes University, and so on tend to take quite a lot of instructor time, so they are thinking that if those aspects of course support are delegated to student-tutors or other “personnel” that the faculty will be able to serve more students while continuing to offer content support. Dan shared concerns about the transparency of the proposal process that were emailed to him by a CSM faculty member. The EC agreed that processes should be transparent but felt that in this case, the department would have to handle those concerns on its own. Dan also shared that an MOU might be needed to ensure the increased class size does not become generalized to all online classes as well as to address issues of fair compensation.

The union-related issues are 1) concerns about class size and setting a precedent for across-the-board increases, and 2) concerns that any “personnel” involved in course support who are not student-tutors need to be faculty who meet minimum qualifications and who are part of our bargaining unit (e.g. no outsourcing to corporate or private providers).

There is nothing to “do” at the moment, but AFT will keep an eye on the proposal’s progress. When it starts up we will then discuss how to mitigate our two concerns.

5.AFT Spring Social: the CSM experience

CSM and Cañada both had successful spring socials. CSM had roughly fifteen part-timers show up for pizza, cookies and conversation, many of whom were faculty colleagues whom we had not previously met or seen at union events. Besides almost universally saying that CSM was their favorite work place (primarily because of inclusive colleagues and designated office space which provided them with a sense of professionalism), part-timers had a terrific suggestion: AFT should sponsor a retirement workshop for part-time faculty. Those that are currently offered are almost exclusively targeted at full-time faculty.

Cañada’s event was also a success. They had five faculty attend, but those five stayed for a lengthy and deep discussion of working conditions and issues that concern part-time faculty. All who came said they would like AFT to do this type of event again in the future. Besides workload and concerns about parity in compensation (both of which are current union priorities), faculty at the event expressed a need for clarification on flex pay for part timers.

6.The AFT 1493 Facebook page

Michelle and Eric showed the EC our local’s new Facebook page in its fledgling state and encouraged those of us on Facebook to “like” the page. We talked about the sort of communication that might go on our Facebook feed, coming up with these sorts of items: political news (e.g. from CFT); “industry” news (e.g. Chronicle of Higher Ed.) such as the kinds of articles Dan sends out to the 1493 list; labor council updates; what’s the union doing for you—feature story profiles.

7.Quality Public Education Campaign update

Katharine has started to talk with faculty by meeting with new full timers. She started at Skyline and had an appointment with a faculty member at CSM after our EC meeting. While those she has talked to so far are thrilled to be full timers and are enjoying their “new” jobs, many have questions about tenure review (how is it supposed to work, etc.), teaching loads, and non-teaching work obligations for new hires. Katharine senses that new faculty perceive our colleges as having “workaholic” cultures. Even though we’re just at the beginning of our QPEC (and will be submitting our official grant proposal this semester), already we are gathering excellent insights.

8.Spring AFT 1493 elections: continuation of the discussion

Dan and Harriet and Mark (with a little help from Teeka) have stuffed a zillion envelops in preparation of sending out our official call for nominations for candidates for union positions. They went out on Friday, 14 March and are due back to the AFT office by 7 April. The ballots will go out 14 April and will be due back by 5 May. We are running the election using the tried and true paper balloting method.

9.Update on 2.30: Political Activity

Though Board Policy 2.30 went to the Board of Trustees last October, because the students asked the Board to delay discussion of the policy, AFT took a second look at it and discovered that the version of BP 2.30 that our attorney had negotiated with county counsel was in fact not the policy that had come before the District Participatory Governance Committee. Teeka and Bob Bezemek (via phone) met with Barbara Christensen and Harry Joel to discuss our concerns with the new BP 2.30. We had little trouble reaching consensus on the main points. The one thing left to figure out is the students’ desire to be able to use their funds, which are District funds, for political action as well as advocacy (e.g. specifically advocating for or against a candidate or ballot measure), which is not legal. Teeka proposed that the District look into creating a separate pot of money for the students funded by the vending machine sales, money that the students already get but which is lumped into one account. Everyone liked the idea, though Bob said our discussion was like a law school exam and he’d have to look into it. We decided in the end that Bob and county counsel would discuss the possibilities of the vending machine money and the law and get back to us.

10.  DSGC Report

The Academic Senate is revising chapter six of the Board Policies (over which the Senate has purview). One policy they want to change relates to our negotiating of the academic calendar. For some reason, the Senate is confused about how the calendar is negotiated and, despite the presence of the VPI’s staff curriculum experts being involved in the process, Diana Bennett reported that the VPIs want their offices to be involved in the process as well. Teeka and Harry Joel explained at the DPGC meeting that the faculty discussions take place at the AFT meetings, whose meeting agendas are well publicized. The Senate also requested a multi-year calendar. The EC decided we need to do another calendar article in the Advocate, at the least.

11.  Performance Evaluation Task Force update

PETF has been meeting weekly this semester and has made lots of progress. They are now consolidating the document and editing for consistency and clarity. They have removed redundancies throughout the document. They expect to be finished by the beginning of April.

12.  AFT 1493 T-shirt/sweatshirt ideas: a new AFT 1493 logo?

We looked at a few designs that Michelle had mocked up for us. Those present were leaning towards a shield-like design. Michelle will refine the drafts and check back soon.

13.  CFT Lobby Days: April 28-29

CFT Lobby Days are April 28 and 29 this year in Sacramento. Let Dan and Teeka know if you are interested and able to participate.

14.  Statements from EC members on Non-Agenda Items

There were no non-agenda statements made by EC members.

 

 

San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday, April 9, 2014, at Cañada College

 

 

AFT EC Members Present: Eric Brenner, Vicki Clinton, Salumeh Eslamieh, Nina Floro, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan (Exec. Secr.), Michelle Kern, Monica Malamud, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Joaquin Rivera, Janice Sapigao, Elizabeth Terzakis

AFT (non-EC) Members Present:  Doniella Maher (Cañada, English), Rob Williams (Skyline, English), Yolanda Valenzuela (Cañada, English), Masao Suzuki (Skyline, Economics)

 

Meeting began at 2:39 p.m.

Facilitator:  Doniella Maher

1. Welcome and Introductions:

Done.

2. Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items

Masao Suzuki distributed materials about the District budget.

3. Minutes of March 12, 2014 AFT meeting

Approved with corrections (with one abstention).

4. District Committee on Budget and Finance – Masao Suzuki

Masao Suzuki, the AFT rep on this committee, reported on recent meetings.  The committee has been discussing the District’s allocation model.  This model, which was designed about 15 years ago, is based on enrollment (FTES) in each of the colleges, but the committee is considering some modifications.  Years ago, CSM had the highest enrollment of the three colleges; now, Skyline’s enrollment is similar to CSM’s, but its funding is not.  Additionally, there are minimum staffing levels at the three colleges that are not dependent on enrollment (for example, each College needs one president).

5. Spring AFT Social at Skyline

The event at Skyline was held on Thursday before Spring break.  Skyline EC members (current and aspiring) organized the event and it was very well attended—almost 40 faculty.  Katharine led the discussion, Janice took notes.  Some of the issues that kept coming up, despite the fact that attendees did not stay for the entire time, are:

–          Health care insurance

–          Emotional drain of worrying about classes being canceled due to low enrollment

–          Multiple semester contracts

–          Benefits comparable to those offered to PT at CCSF

–          Perceived unfairness around hiring (why don’t current part-timers have priority or some kind of advantage over outside applicants?)  EC Suggestion:  have a union-sponsored workshop on applying for a full-time tenure-track job.

EC members agreed that this type of event, an informal social gathering where PT faculty have the opportunity to voice their concerns and learn more about the union, should be done on a regular basis at the three campuses.  It was very successful and beneficial to all involved.

 

6. The Board’s ACCJC resolution – Dan Kaplan

On March 26^th our Board unanimously passed a strongly-worded resolution against ACCJC, the first such resolution passed by a CC Board of Trustees.  This resolution will be shared with all other CC Board of Trustees around the state.

Chancellor Galatolo has been receiving praise from his colleagues in other districts for being outspoken about the accreditation process.  Our District’s Board commended Ron too. 

7. Dean’s Survey Update

A final version of the document is ready to be sent out to all faculty. 

8. Spring AFT 1493 elections

Candidates:

President:  Teeka James

Co-VPs:  Joaquin Rivera and Katharine Harer

Secretary:  Monica Malamud

Treasurer: Anne Stafford

Chapter Chairs

Cañada:  Lezlee Ware and Elizabeth Terzakis

CSM:  Sandra Raeber Dorsett

Skyline:  Rob Williams and Janice Sapigao

PT Reps:

Cañada:  Victoria Clinton

CSM:  Michelle Kern

Skyline: Helen Zhang and Paul Rueckhaus

EC Reps:

Cañ: Salumeh Eslamieh and Doniella Maher

CSM:  Lin Bowie and

Shaye Zahedi

Skyline:  Steven Fredericks

èMotion to close nominations for AFT 1493 EC.  Approved.

9. CFT Convention Report:

There were very good speeches by Reverend Barber and CA Attorney General Kamala Harris.  Nina, Katharine, Teeka, Dan and Monica attended interesting sessions on a variety of topics, such as social media organizing, human trafficking, student debt, CFT organizing grants, course repeatability at CCCs, Raoul Teilhet (a long-time CFT leader who passed away last year)

Our Local received four Communications Awards:  a 2^nd place for the Advocate, Katharine received a 3^rd place award for one of the articles she wrote for the Advocate, and the history panels created by Donna and Dan for the 50^th anniversity celebration received awards in two different categories.

10. District Participatory Governance Council – Teeka James

The Council was scheduled to meet on Monday but there was not a quorum, so Council members present discussed a few topics informally.

11. Performance Evaluation Task Force – Elizabeth Terzakis

All sections are nearing completion, except the one on nurses.  Information is posted in SharePoint and all faculty can read it.  Elizabeth believes that the work of the PETF will be done by the end of April. The EC wants to have forums about the new faculty evaluation documents scheduled during Flex Days at the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year. 

èTeeka will ask for the afternoon of Opening Day to have a district-wide forum, with follow-up meetings at each of the three campuses.

12. AFT 1493 shirt/sweatshirt design – Michelle Kern

Michelle presented three designs and EC members liked best the one without the traditional AFT shield.  EC members discussed the possibility of printing shirts on demand, thus being able to select size, women’s/men’s style and background color. 

èDan will talk to a union shirt print shop about options and pricing.

13. AFT Scholarships  – Teeka James

Dan, Lezlee and Teeka will be reading the scholarship applications.  Katharine can help reading finalists’ applications.

14. Statements from EC members on Non-Agenda Items.

Elizabeth has received many concerns about the sports facility which is being planned for Cañada.  She would like to get information about the CSM Athletic Club and requests that we put this item on the next AFT meeting agenda.

Teeka:  the college president at CSM wants to teach.  Mike Claire has asked for permission to do so from the District.  Teeka informed him that if he were to teach, he would be considered PT faculty, and be bound by the AFT contract.

Joaquin:  there will be an election in November 2015.  We should work on increasing our COPE funds so that our local can endorse and support candidates.

 

Meeting adjourned 4:55 p.m.