Faculty News Notes April 29, 2014

April 29, 2014

Union Meeting in Review:

            The meeting began with discussion of electing the Vice-President, Grievance Officer, and EASE officer at the same time as the scheduled election of President, Secretary, Treasurer and Part-Time Representative.  Mr. Bernaudo argued that since the VP, Grievance and EASE officers had not been elected in November, 2013, they should be elected now.  It was moved and seconded by Bernaudo/C Arroyo “to elect officers Vice President, Grievance, and EASE at the present to serve for two years until November 2015.”  Doing so would get this set of officers back on the election track. The motion passed with one “ no” vote.

            Confirmed candidates for President include the following:

                                    Jose Villalobos (currently serving as Vice-President)

                                    Dalia Juarez

                                    Jose Bernaudo

            Confirmed candidates for Vice President include the following:

                                    Ikaweba Bunting

                                    Chris Halligan

            Confirmed candidates for Secretary include the following:

                                    David Maruyama (incumbent)

                                    Michele Priest

            Confirmed candidate for Treasurer:

                                    Dovard Ross (incumbent)

                        Ruth Roach, who had been nominated, declined the nomination following the meeting..

                        Albert Jimenez, who had been nominated, also declined.

            As yet unconfirmed candidates for Part-time Representative include:

                                    Leticia Vasquez (incumbent)

                                    Dustin Black (declined)

                                    Cornel Sandoz

The Grievance Officer, Jerome Evans was returned to office by a vote of acclamation;  he was running unopposed.

The EASE Officer, Vanessa Haynes, was also returned to office by a vote of acclamation since she was running unopposed.

           

Pending confirmation of the Part-time Representative candidates, the voting will begin in the Library/Student Success (at the Circulation Desk) on Thursday.  The polls will be open during the following hours:

                        9 – 6 Thursday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday;

                        9 – 3 on Friday

                        10 – 1 on Saturday.

Faculty members must bring a picture ID in order to obtain a ballot.  Members of the library staff who manage the polls will not know all of the faculty members, so everyone needs to remember to bring an ID.  Be sure to initial the roster of members next to your name.

We’ll send out this set of ballot instructions before the polls open as a reminder.

Negotiations up-date:

            The Federation’s negotiating team will meet with the District’s team on Friday, May 2.  We will present a proposal on evaluation; the evaluation procedures for temporary faculty and probationary faculty remain the same as they are in the current contract.  The proposal addresses the District’s insistence on eliminating the basic evaluations, and presents a uniform evaluation (no alternating between two different evaluation models such as comprehensive and basic) for tenured faculty.  We’re proposing it as the standard evaluation for tenured faculty.  It contains a portfolio that focuses on self evaluation through the SLO and assessment reflections, and it requires one less evaluator, and observations are limited to the number of  different courses taught at the time of the evaluation.

            Several concerns emerged during the process of negotiations, resulting in the altered model for standard evaluations of tenured faculty.  For example, as we increase the number of new faculty, new positions, we are increasing the number of probationary faculty;  at the same time the pool for evaluators (tenured faculty) shrinks;  the result is overworking the tenured faculty members simply to do the evaluations, let alone comply with  their other contractual obligations, such as committee work.  Additionally, the possibility of including Torrance faculty remains in this current proposal because that inclusion addresses the impact of the partnership while retaining control of our own evaluations. The portfolio for the standard evaluation is reduced.

            We will keep you informed of any progress that is made.  It has been a long time since we’ve actually had a negotiating session due to conflicting meetings, interview schedules for new faculty positions, etc.