Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Michael Abraham, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Margaret McAllister, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, and Jeri Sykes. 

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Lori Johnson, Jeanine Cowen, Melinda Thomas

1.     Larry opened the meeting.

2.     Executive Immigration Order – Lori Johnson is here to discuss this very important topic. Seven countries have been identified and targeted with a 90-day ban. We have 5 students impacted by this. As long as the students stay here they are fine. Any student visa will now be renewed with an interview, in the past this has been waived. Optional practical training processing will slow as well. Travel on their Visa may be troublesome as well. The college has been working with a special Immigration lawyer locally to address all these very important issues.

Larry discussed the concept of not bringing these political issues into the classroom. Keep the classroom a safe place to discuss topics of the course.

One approach is to continue to view things through our vision statement.

3.     Completion of Core Music Courses Sequences. Some students are not taking the harmony classes in sequence 1-4. The students should have advisors helping the students choosing classes, etc.

Larry – it’s not just Harmony, we want the students to take the entire core in sequence.

Jeanine discussed the sequence of courses and the struggle with a small percentage of students (around 100). Lori Johnson is working on an advising plan.

Kari confirmed the issue with harmony classes; it affects graduation rates and many other issues. This year we started with 180 students and ended up with 100 students as outliers. It does become a faculty management issue.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Marti Epstein, Dino Govoni, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Margaret McAllister, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, David Scott, Will Silvio and Jeri Sykes. Guest: Susan Rogers, John Faieta, and Haidee Morris.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Rich seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
    
2. We discussed setting up sub-committees to work on the upcoming bargain.
    
3. The merger of BoCo faculty into our union was discussed at length.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peter Cokkinias, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Margaret McAllister, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, David Scott, and Jeri Sykes.  Guests – Jay Kennedy, Andrew Murphy, and Anne Peckham.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Marti seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
    
2. Evacuation planning throughout the community. 1140 planning happening now and continuing building by building. Identifying people with the need for assistance: faculty, staff, and students. There are several issues with wheelchair evacuation assistance – an evacuation chair is available for use but the people that have been trained on it are either no longer at the college or have moved to other departments. This should be on Public Safety to deal with this – not faculty or staff. There is a lot of work to be done to get this plan up to speed and the college currently does not have an expert on ADA issues. Training is the key and it should be happening soon. Create a plan and share the info ASAP.

What about using BENS to communicate with everyone about plans, or at least communicating about the importance of the drill the week of an intended drill?