San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493
Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
Wednesday, April 23, 2014, at CSM
AFT EC Members Present: Eric Brenner, Vicki Clinton, Salumeh Eslamieh, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan (Exec. Sec.), Michelle Kern, Monica Malamud, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Joaquin Rivera, Anne Stafford, Elizabeth Terzakis
Meeting began at 2:40 p.m.
Facilitator: Michelle Kern
1. Welcome and Introductions:
Not necessary.
2. Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items
None.
3. Minutes of April 9, 2014 AFT meeting
Approved– all in favor, with one abstention.
4. Sports Facility at Cañada
Tabled.
5. The Board’s letter on Assembly Bill 2087 (Ammiano) – Dan Kaplan
AB 2087 was introduced in response to the situation in CCSF, where an appointed Trustee replaced the elected Board of Trustees and, among other measures, approved a significant salary increase for certain administrators. The bill was recently amended and now it does not mention CCSF. The amended version of the bill does not change our Board of Trustees’ support for AB 2087. Our Board of Trustees (BOT) agrees that intervention should be allowed under certain conditions, but believes that current law gives the State Chancellor too much power to unilaterally replace elected boards with an appointed Trustee. Our BOT discussed proposing an amendment to specify financial mismanagement as the trigger for intervention, similar what already exists for K-12. Trustee Richard Holober will be in Sacramento to speak in support of AB 2087.
6. Dean’s Survey update
At a meeting with Katharine and Joaquin, Harry Joel suggested that union reps meet with him and Eugene Whitlock, and jointly decide what to do with the results. Joaquin reiterated that the CFT, not our local, is in charge of tabulating the results, that our local is well aware of the sensitivity of the survey results, and that this survey is one way to address the fact that there is not a consistent faculty voice in the evaluation of administrators across the district. Board policy on evaluation of administrators says that faculty may participate; the default should be that faculty have the opportunity to participate, but they are not obligated to, especially when they have a concern about being identified.
There was preliminary discussion about whether the District or the Union should be responsible for conducting dean evaluations in the future.
7. Spring AFT 1493 elections update – Dan Kaplan
We have had very good voter participation so far. Faculty who are not on the ballot are needed to tally the voting results; interested faculty should contact Dan.
The local could reach out to the faculty who cast a vote to get them more involved in the union.
8. AFT 1493 T-shirt/sweatshirt/AFT 1493 logo update – Michelle Kern
Michelle showed her AFT 1493 T-shirt designs on models. The EC discussed: EC wearing these shirts on Opening Day, pre-ordering shirts for faculty vs. placing orders on demand, cost (free to faculty or not?), colors, T-shirt styles and other products. Dan will find out about price, Michelle will send everyone more designs to look at before the next AFT meeting.
9. AFT 1493 scholarships – Teeka James
There were 291 applications total, and the Foundation sent 15 finalists who closely matched the AFT scholarship criteria to the AFT 1493 scholarship committee. Teeka, Eslamieh, Doniella, Lezlee and Dan read the finalists’ applications, and selected the winners: Larry Allen (CSM) and Jamella Brown (Cañada).
10. Performance Evaluation Task Force
At a meeting earlier today, Joaquin made it clear to Harry Joel, Ron Galatolo and Eugene Whitlock that the union and the senate still need to see what the PETF comes up with, and that the new evaluation procedures will need to be ratified by the membership.
Update from Elizabeth:
– Some counselors at Cañada were unhappy when they received a memo from Lezlee on April 18th asking them to give their input on the classroom observation form that was drafted for librarians. Elizabeth pointed out that this is not the first time they are contacted soliciting their input; originally, all counselors in the district were contacted, PETF members attended counseling meetings and requested their input at those meetings as well.
– Nurses: there is a student survey for students who use the Health Center. Nurses who teach may use classroom observation forms. Some forms for nurses are being adapted from those proposed for librarians. Peer observations seem problematic for nurses – a FT nurse would need to sit by the nurse being evaluated for a period of time, and what if no students showed up during that time? One possible solution is to do a peer observation only if triggered by a problem.
The PETF is meeting again on May 2nd. In the meantime, everyone in the PETF has homework to do. Elizabeth hopes that everything will be finalized at this meeting, but Jazmine (IT, District Office), who’s been doing the PDF-fillable forms, has been out sick for a while.
District Senate’s last meeting this semester is May 12th and AFT’s last meeting is May 14th.
A subcommittee of AFT EC will review the documents created by the PETF, then we run it by our lawyers, and then by District Senate. There has to be good faculty representation to review the document (including PT, non-teaching, different disciplines). Teeka, Eric, Joaquin, Salumeh, Anne, Michelle and Monica expressed an interest in reviewing the evaluation documents in early June.
11. Statements from EC members on Non-Agenda Items
Monica brought up the topic of classes taught in high schools for college credit. There seem to be different types of arrangements between the colleges and the high schools. It was suggested that the union should demand all existing MOUs on this matter and a list of instructors involved in these arrangements.
Meeting adjourned 5:09 p.m.