Classified Senate Meeting Minutes – 11/14/12
Classified Senate Meeting Minutes
November 14, 2012
Orchard Room
Opening: The Classified Senate meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m. on November 14, 2012.
Present: Shevonna Blackshire, Shelly Charron, Chou Chasengnou, Breanne Holland, Alma Mejia, Eva Rhodes
I. Welcome/Greetings
II. Approval of Meeting Minutes
1. The meeting minutes from the last Classified Senate meeting were approved.
III. Reports
1. Classified Senate President
a. Shared Governance Committee Reports – No reports today.
2. Classified Area Representatives
a. A list of Shared Governance committee members will be sent out by Breanne. A discussion ensued about the merits of sending out the list to all Classified staff. It was determined that Breanne will send one email listing all the members (faculty and staff) of the Shared Governance committees to area reps and another email listing only classified members to classified staff.
b. Chou announced that Kim Galloway received her Master’s degree in Library Science from San Jose State. If Kim approves, Breanne will submit this news to Kristie West for inclusion in the CRC-Insider.
c. Alma sent out an email to ask about participation in a district-wide retreat. She received only five responses out of 37. Of those five, opinions varied widely about the idea.
d. Jennifer Panag joined for her first senate meeting as an area rep.
e. Shelly had nothing new to report.
IV. Filling Shared Governance Committee and Rep Assignments
1. The charge of the Professional Development (PD) Committee is going to be changed due to the fact that there it has been difficult to fill the staff and faculty chair positions. There is a proposal going forward, for Debbie’s approval, to temporarily form three Ad Hoc groups to divvy up the duties of the PD committee (one to process travel and conference requests and one to deal with Flex activities). Breanne said that Classified representation is needed for the Ad Hoc groups and it would be best if volunteers came from the staff already on the committee. An effort to reach out to the rest of the classified staff will be made to fill any gaps.
2. The Shared Governance committee will be reviewing all of the committees and possibly doing some restructuring.
V. Off Campus PD Activities
1. Breanne mentioned that Don Wallace often send her emails about workshops off campus that can be paid for with LRCEA funds. There is a specific form to fill out and a process to follow. Breanne will send an email with the form to area reps to pass on to their departmental staff. As the emails from Don come to Breanne, she will forward them to area reps. Shelly mentioned that the D.O. used to host workshops but have cut way back due to budget constraints.
2. Alma suggested utilizing CRC professors to conduct workshops and paying them from ESAs.
3. There are two possible options to make more PD opportunities available to Classified staff, either the Senate can form a sub-committee to develop some PD activities or next year’s Classified Appreciation committee will be made up of faculty, management and staff.
4. An email should be sent in a timely fashion to ask classified staff what activities would make them feel appreciated, before the committee starts planning.
VI. Strategize/Plan Department Recognitions
1. Breanne reported that a proposal for funds has been submitted to provide treats and decorations.
2. The Senate has been approved to provide zoo passes but only if we can make certain that they can be secured for everyone.
3. The sub-committee needs to create an outline of the exact process and they need to determine how to divvy up departmental recognition. The sub-committee will need to talk to the area reps to determine that.
4. The material for the newsletter will come out of the information gathered for the recognitions.
VII. Strategize/Organize Planning Committee for Professional Development Day
1. An announcement was made at the board meeting of having a district-wide retreat. The VPs had a discussion about this topic afterwards and came up with some questions that need to be answered in the proposal.
2. Breanne distributed the list of questions and reported that approval has been given for a district-wide retreat.
3. Breanne requested that the area reps be tasked with answering the questions submitted by the VPs.
4. Any and all suggestions are welcome for a name since the event cannot be called a retreat.
5. Question number 2 which addresses staffing levels the day of the event is very important. Most agree that spring break would be the best time. We need to find out how many classified staff work in the area rep departments and what the impact would be if all of them were gone or the departments were minimally staffed. The decision is leaning towards the Thursday or Friday that we are off during spring break. The question to answer is what would work best to enable as many people as possible to attend?
6. FM might be a possible location to hold the retreat. Trying to find a central location from all campuses.
7. There is a plan to have a liaison at D.O. help with the planning. FLC may not be able to participate.
8. Breanne would like to have some answers by the next Classified Senate meeting.
9. LRCEA funds are being requested for this as well.
10. A suggestion was made to do one big district-wide event every four years.
VIII. New Employee Mentor Program
1. Discussion of the New Employee Mentor Program will be held over for the next meeting.
IX. 4cS Rep Needed
1. A rep is needed for the statewide Classified Senate that will be held this spring in Sacramento.
2. Monica Souza is the President of the statewide Classified Senate and works at SCC.
3. Breanne will send out a query for volunteers on this.
X. Miscellaneous
1. Breanne mentioned a suggestion from the Faculty Senate to have a Classified member attend the Academic Senate meetings and vice versa. She said that the Faculty has expressed interest in helping plan the appreciation week and PD Day. Breanne asked everyone to bring some ideas to the next meeting as well.
2. Alma and Jennifer will not be able to attend meeting next go round.
Meeting adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
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