District Academic Senate Exec. Meeting
October 6, 2008
District Office
Minutes
Members Present: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Angela Echeverri, Alex Immerblum, June B. Smith, Ken Sherwood, Kindra Kinyon, Donald Gauthier
Guests present: None
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order at 3:45 pm. Agenda was approved (Gauthier/Sherwood MSU)
2. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the 6/9/08 meeting were approved (Gauthier/Smith MSU.)
3. Public Speakers: None
4. Meeting Schedule and Locations for 08-09: Meeting schedule and locations were briefly
discussed.
Executive Meeting dates: 10/23/08, 12/11/08, 1/22/08, 2/26/09, 3/26/09, 4/23/09, and 5/28/09.
DAS General Meeting dates: 11/13/08, 2/12/08, 3/12/09, and 5/14/09.
Area C meeting: 10/25/08 at Compton Educational Center 10:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
5. Consultation Follow-Up: The possibility of changing the consultation meeting times was discussed, but no consensus was reached. President Beaulieu argued that the district needs to establish a policy to require consultation with faculty leaders on all acting administrative positions. Gauthier stated the administrative hiring guide was updated a month ago. Beaulieu added that Chancellor Drummond anticipates mid-year cuts for 2008-09 and severe budget cuts for next year (2009-2010). Drummond proposed setting up an ad-hoc group as a subcommittee of the District Budget Committee (DBC) for contingency planning. He added that there are 34 faculty positions for which Notices of Intent (NOI) were approved that were not filled. Chancellor Drummond’s position is that hiring of additional faculty positions will be frozen unless the process has been initiated. Immerblum argued that if a hire was not completed because the applicant pool was not strong enough, the college should not lose that position. Gauthier inquired about the state’s 75/25 full-time faculty obligation. Beaulieu replied that the LACCD came up short of its full-time faculty obligation by 17 or 18 positions district-wide, which would result in a $ 1.5 million fine. The LACCD can request that the Board of Governors (BOG) waive the fine for one year. Next year there will be pressure to hire faculty to fill retirements.
6. DBC Report: DAS President Beaulieu stated that the new Fiscal Policy Review (FPR) Committee would hear from Trade and Mission on Wednesday morning. He added that the committee is larger and more effective than the former Allocation Task Force. For example, minutes are kept of all committee meetings, making it easier to keep track of decisions. All decisions regarding debt forgiveness will be made on a case by case basis. He added that Southwest and Harbor have had chronic debt problems, Valley and Trade are currently in debt, City, West, and Mission are breaking even, and East and Pierce are financially healthy. Smith inquired whether the committee will generate policies that are uniform for all campuses. Sherwood argued that there should be different funding levels for academic versus high cost career and technical (CTE) programs. Beaulieu stated that the DBC has been trying to address the funding of high cost programs, but the state budget crisis of the last few months has derailed those discussions. Bimber agreed that CTE programs are not fully funded in program 100 and are suffering as a result. Beaulieu added that Vice Chancellor Marvin Martinez’s salary will be paid by with grant money. He inquired whether anybody would be interested in serving on an ad-hoc committee to look at central accounts. Sherwood and Smith volunteered to serve.
7. DCC Report (Kathleen Bimber):
· Framework for Student Success: Vice President Bimber distributed a handout titled “Framework for Student Success” which was approved by the DAS in December, 2007. The document states that Basic Skills are Essential Academic Skills. She added that implementation of all but two of the 17 recommendations would be locally determined. The district will take the initiative in instituting a Student Success course (item #4) and spreading essential skills across the curriculum (item #8).
· Essential Academic Skills (EAS): Bimber distributed a draft document titled “Essential Academic Skills”. She asked that members review the document and discuss it at local senates. Once approved, the form would become part of the course outline of record and would require faculty to describe how students will gain skills in the following areas:
1. Effective Reading and Communication in the Discipline
2. Critical Thinking in the Discipline
3. Seeking Help form Academic resources or Student Support Services
4. Purposeful Collaboration
5. Self-Reflective Learning
Bimber explained that items number 3 and 5 may not be appropriate to all courses. She added that the course outline of record already has some of this; Title 5 requires item 2 and the writing part of item 1. The document would add purposeful collaboration and self-reflective learning. Immerblum expressed concern about how to demonstrate essential reading skills and argued that many faculty will need to receive training to be able to teach reading. Some faculty have expressed concern with making the course outline of record even longer than it currently is. Bimber explained that a few years ago, the DCC voted to combine the PNCR and course outline.
· Advanced Placement: A handout titled “Advanced Placement Credit” was distributed. Discussion of this item was postponed.
· Credit by Examination: A draft of Board Rule 6704 was distributed. Bimber stated that it had been approved by the DCC. Vice Chancellor John Clerx checked the document with legal counsel. Faculty must assign a grade to a student who obtains credit by examination. Echeverri stated that LAMC faculty wanted to know whether a student who receives a grade of C through credit by examination, can decide to take the course in order to obtain a better grade. She added that Vice Chancellor Clerx responded that a student would not be able to take the class under such circumstances. The document will go to the full DAS for approval on November 13.
8. Add Desk Problems: John Clerx explained that whether or not to have an Add Desk (and for how long it would be open) was locally determined. Each college decides whether it wants an add desk and how it will operate. A college can set up the last day to add whenever it wants. If faculty give add slips to students and Admissions and Records are enrolling students at the Add Desk, classes may wind up over-enrolled.
9. EPAC Report (Bimber). Bimber distributed a handout titled “Draft language for Board Rule 101201 Article XII on Child Development Centers”. She explained that Child Development Center (CDC) faculty are not part of state minimum qualifications. Before the 1980s CDC faculty were on a separate pay scale. In the 1980s they were folded into the regular pay scale based on the premise that the CDC is a lab school. The existing Board Rule (see handout-original language) has been causing hiring problems. The new language has developed criteria for the CDC directors and teachers. The minimum qualification used to be an associate degree; it is now a Bachelor of Art degree in Child Development or a closely related field. Bimber added that LAUSD and Head Start require a Bachelor of Arts degree for CDC teachers. This is an attempt to set local minimum qualifications in the absence of state minimum qualifications. Bimber asked whether this Board Rule change would require a full DAS review since EPAC already approved it. Beaulieu and Smith replied that it would not because it is discipline specific. Beaulieu stated that the DAS Executive Committee can overrule EPAC in case of a challenge and argued that this Board Rule revision needs to be approved, because administrators may be tempted to hire people without the recommended qualifications. Beaulieu stated it could be sent to the DAS as an information item. Immerblum argued that the revised Board Rule should go to the DAS for review because it represents a significant change in minimum qualifications and not alternate titles. Bimber countered that state minimum qualifications don’t exist for these faculty. Smith stated the DAS should not overrule the discipline committee. Bimber added that teachers already hired without the higher requirements would be grandfathered.
10. Salary Increase for Senior Staff (Beaulieu): Two weeks ago, the Board of Trustees approved a 5% raise for the chancellor, vice chancellors and legal counsel. They also received an increase in their travel expenses from $900 to $1500 a month. The new dean’s contract has no raises.
11. Automatic Deductions for Senate Dues (Beaulieu): This item was discussed at the July DAS Executive meeting. East would like to have an automatic deduction provision, want to know if other colleges would like to participate. Minimum amount that can be deducted is 5 dollars a month.
12. Academic Matters in Contract
· Distance Education (DE): Two handouts titled “On-line Instruction in the Los Angeles Community Colleges” and “Online Instruction” were distributed. In 2007-2008, 5.6% of all class enrollments in the LACCD were for on-line classes. The percentage of online instruction in 07-08 varied widely from one campus to another: City (1.8%), East (4.6%), Harbor (5.7%), Mission (9.5%), Pierce (1.5%), Southwest (3.2%), Trade (6.6%), Valley (2.9%), and West (24.4%). The rapid growth of online instruction is causing concern about quality. Chancellor Drummond suggested forming a task force that looked at DE issues. Beaulieu stressed that DE coordinators should report to the DAS. Kinyon stated that the Trade Senate approved a substantive change document regulating DE because courses were being scheduled and staffed without department chair knowledge and approval.
· Nursing: Issues regarding the load and compensation of nursing faculty have not been resolved yet. A task force to address these issues was formed by the AFT; Bimber was the sole DAS representative. The task force discussion turned to revamping the nursing program curriculum. If an AFT task force is discussing curriculum it is infringing on Senate’s area of authority. May need to form a joint Senate-AFT task force; an AFT task force should not be meeting to discuss curriculum.
13. -Processes for Initiation of New Program: Smith requested a copy of program initiation policies from different campuses. Bimber stated that City has its initiation policy under viability and the Educational Planning Committee makes the decision. New programs must be initiated by faculty and approved by the state; the state approval process requires president signature. Smith added that Harbor has a problem because the college president wants to be able to hire full-time faculty members in certain disciplines without going through a hiring prioritization process. Beaulieu suggested one solution would be to hire FT faculty on a limited basis.
14. Plenary Session Attendance: Beaulieu stated that the DAS saved between $1200 to $1500 from the summit. Will try to give each college $100-125 to help pay for an additional faculty member to attend the meting.
15. Academically Speaking Schedule: Beaulieu stated he has increased the run by 400 at minimal cost. Newsletters will be in courier on Friday or Monday.
16. Announcements and Indications of Proposed Future Actions: None
17. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by DAS Secretary Echeverri