Academic Senate Meeting

3/3/05

 

Voting Members Present: (Senators) Donna Ayers, Terri English, Maria Fenyes, Leslie Foster, Paul Kubicki, Eloise Cantrell, Stan Levine, Vickie Oddino, Gary Prostak, Janice Silver, Rick Scuderi,

 Leslie Milke, Pat Flood, Clive Gordon

(Exec. Members) Angela Echeverri, Louise Barbato, Gwen Walker, Margie Long, Michael Climo,

 Dale Newman

Faculty Present: Lorraine Manoogian, Said Pazirandeh, David Jordan, Sonia Soto-Bair, Tricia Johnson,

Cindy Cooper, Phoebe Rivera, John Klitzner, Lilamani De Silva, Jeanne Cassara, Sandy Thomsen, Suzanne Ritcheson, Joanne Kalter-Flink, Sandi Lampert, Ralph LaRosa Debby Wong, Carolyn Daly, Maria Bates, Bonnie Sherman, Joyce Woodmansee, Ludi Villegas, Richard Rains, Abdo Malke, Deborah Paulson, Alex Yguado

Visitors/Guests Present:  Beverly Shue, Dorothy Mundt, Jerry Garcia, Fern Reisner, Auggy Garibay, Kirk, Robe, Andy Davis, Nadine Cano, Victor Renolds, Monica Moreno, Ruth Zuniga, Simon Rodriguez, Bill Farmer

Voting Members Absent: Charles Dirks, John Orozco

 

 

I.                    Call to Order: Parliamentarian Gwen Walker called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m. and asked if anyone wanted to introduce guests. The following guests were introduced: Beverly Shue, Vice President of the District Academic Senate; classified representatives Fern Reisner, Jerry Garcia, Kirk Robe, Auggy Garibay, Andy Davis, & Dorothy Mundt; and student representative Simon Rodriguez.  A motion was passed by consensus to move the agenda and have Shue address the group next.

 

II.                 Guest: DAS Vice President Beverly Shue was invited to explain the provisional equivalence process. She stated that the purpose was to allow for one semester equivalence while the paperwork was being evaluated for permanent equivalence. One cannot work anywhere else in the district without permanent equivalence. She also explained some important factors for hiring faculty. The campus needs to set up criteria, allow for 60-day notifications, and include minimum quals from state documents along with desirable qualifications if required. Be sure to ask for transcripts at the beginning.  All campuses need a process for determining a faculty hiring priorities list. This policy is to be approved by the senate and signed off by the college president. There must be a set of criteria. The committee should be faculty generated and faculty approved. Department chairs are responsible for hiring adjuncts. Who checks to see if they meet minimum quals? Shue strongly recommended that faculty do this, as it is a faculty responsibility.  Departmental discipline faculty should follow up on references. What is the district role? They ultimately will open sealed transcripts.

 

 

III.             Approval of Minutes: (MSC FOSTER/KUBICKI) TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 10, 2005 AS CORRECTED 

 

IV.              Officer’s Reports:

A.     President (Angela Echeverri):

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1. Review Report for Noncredit FTES at LAMC

The California State Controller’s Office has concluded their review of LAMC’s process for reporting non-credit FTE students, for the period of July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2004 On Monday, 2/21/05, President Barrera invited Maria Fenyes and Angela Echeverri to review a draft of the report and seek input for a response, which was due on Thursday (2/24/05). The final report and the responses from LAMC, LACCD, and CCC Chancellor’s Office were made public on Friday, February 25, 2005. Several newspapers picked up the story throughout the state, including Los Angeles Times and Daily News.

The review focused on one course, Vocational Education 108 (Computers in the Workplace), which represented 2,974 of 4,135 (approx. 72%) of all noncredit FTES reported by LAMC during 3-year period. It also found problems with Vocational Education 178 (Office Technology Lab).

Findings:

The report made several findings, including the following:

1.      The number of noncredit hours reported for Vocational Education 108 is unreasonable, because it far exceeds the maximum hours the computers were available to the students.

2.      Vocational Education 108 failed to comply with Education Code and California Code of Regulations requirements, because the course outline is outdated, there was no qualified instructor for the course, there is no evidence that any of the students received any instruction, and most students were unaware that they had been enrolled in the course.

3.      The reported hours for Vocational Education 178 were overstated, because the student hours far exceed the prescribed limit in the course outline.

4.      The problem at LAMC may be systematic among other Community Colleges, because neither the State Chancellor’s Office nor the District Chancellor’s Office actively monitors these courses.

Recommendations: Four recommendations were made:

1.      Resolve issue of $5.7 Million in ineligible state apportionment paid to LAMC over three-year period.

2.      Determine extent and fiscal impact of this practice at other community colleges.

3.      Require each college to annually review and assess practices relative to noncredit.

4.      Chancellor’s office should conduct reviews of college’s noncredit courses, to ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

LAMC and LACCD Responses: The responses from LAMC, LACCD, and the State Chancellor’s Office acknowledge irregularities in the noncredit program at LAMC. They also indicate LAMC’s willingness to be in full compliance with all regulations. However, they contend that there should be no financial penalty as a result, because the LACCD had unfunded noncredit FTES in excess of the amount disallowed, during the 3-year time period from 2001-2004.

 The complete report by the State Controller’s Office, as well as the responses can be found at the State Democratic Caucus Website under News Releases at: http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/templates/SDCTemplate.asp?a=1075&z=131&cp=NewsArticle&pg=article&fpg=sennews&sln=Speier&sdn=08

2. Full-time Faculty Hiring for 2005-06

I received an e-mail from V.P. Bill Farmer stating that LAMC will need to hire two full-time faculty members for next year. According to him, one of the positions will be a replacement; the other can be in any area. As a result of his request, I will convene the Senate Hiring Committee to discuss this matter further.

3. Instructional Equipment Subcommittee

The amount of $120,000 has been set aside for instructional equipment requests. On 2/28/05. the following individuals met: Sandy Thomsen, Pat Flood, Louise Barbato, Maria Bates (for Carolyn Daly), Barbara Kerwin (for Deborah Paulsen), Dale Newman, and Angela Echeverri. Louise Barbato was elected chair of the subcommittee. The members established a timeline for faculty and department chairs to submit their requests. Applications for instructional equipment requests are posted on the LAMC Academic Senate website. Please contact Louise Barbato at x7687 for additional information.

4.   Enrollment

The final enrollment report for Spring 2005 was submitted by Maury Pearl on 3/1/2005. LAMC FTES is down by 1% and classroom size is down by 15.6%, but the number of sections offered increased by over 15%.  The decision to increase course sections was an attempt to reverse recent enrollment declines and reach growth targets of about 8%. The debt incurred and the failure to achieve the expected enrollment increases, help create a deficit which is in part responsible for our current fiscal situation.

 

Table 1. Duplicated Enrollment and Section Count for Day 22 of Spring 2005 (2/28/2005) and 2004 (3/1/2004) [Credit WSCH only]*

 

Total Enrolled

Estimated

 FTES

Section Count

Average

Classroom size

Spring, 2004

16,782

2079.8

537

31.3

Spring, 2005

16,404

2059.8

622

26.4

% Change

-2.3%

-1.0%

+15.8%

-15.6%

*Data provided by Maury Pearl

 

5. LAMC Budget Deficit and Debt Forgiveness from the LACCD

I following is from an e-mail I received from Dr. Barrera on 3/2/05, regarding this issue.

“On more than one occasion, the issue of whether we can apply for debt forgiveness from the District, has been raised.  I will be discussing this process with the College Council at its next meeting.  In the meantime, you should know that both Peter Landsberger and Rocky Young are aware of our circumstance and are committed to providing guidance.  Therefore, I am in the midst of trying to schedule a date and time for the two of them to come to the college to meet with you, the representatives of our employee groups.  At this time, however, it looks like they may not be able to be here until after spring break.”

 

6. Math and English Graduation Requirements

On Saturday, April 9th, the State Academic Senate will vote on several resolutions to increase the Math and English graduation requirements for an associate degree. At the April 7th LAMC Senate meeting I would like the faculty to discuss the proposed resolutions and decide whether or not I should vote to support them.

7. Honors Reception

The LAMC Honors reception will be on Friday, April 1st. Volunteers are always needed and appreciated. Please contact Debra Manning if you are interested.

8. VP of Student Services Selection Process

Committee met to select candidates for interviews. Interviews were rescheduled for March 17 & 18th, 2005.

9. Construction Updates

The following is from an e-mail I received on 3/2/05 from President Barrera:

 “We were notified yesterday that the Family and Consumer Studies building has been recommended for state funding by the State Chancellor's Office.  The BOG must approve this recommendation and the voters must pass a new construction bond for higher education.  If all goes well, funding would be available for 2006-07.

Also, this morning we have received notification that the architects for the Child Development Center have agreed to redesign that building at a negotiated cost of $90,000; Karen and I had suggested this payment to the District at a time that the district staff was recommending no payment for the redesign.  This resolution will help move the project forward.

Also, the Campus Improvements Committee was scheduled to meet in January and then again in February.  Both meetings were canceled because the faculty representatives were not able to attend.  I have asked Michele Walters (office assistant for Luis Cruz) to poll the faculty members to ascertain more feasible meeting days and times.  She reported back that Suzanne Ritcheson has asked to be removed from the committee because of her work schedule.  Perhaps you can name another faculty member to replace her. 

Finally, state funds will become available for the Health and P.E. Fitness Center this July.  Luis Cruz has issued and RFQ for architectural design services.  So, very shortly we will be moving into the design phase for this building.  ”.  

 

10. Educational Master Plan: EMP will be voted on in April. We are still editing the draft to update statistical information on student demographics. Given the recent noncredit review, we will also add a section on enrollment in both credit and noncredit.  Please submit any comments you have regarding the document by Friday, March 11, 2005.

 

11.  Accreditation Workshop:

On Friday, March 4th, 2005, an Accreditation Workshop was conducted at LAMC by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACCJC/WASCC). LAMC attendees included Sandy Thomsen, Gary Prostak, Mike Reynolds, Mark, Pursley, Angela Echeverri, Bill Farmer, and Marta Soto. LAMC will receive it’s next accreditation visit in the Spring of 2007.

 

12. College Council Report:

College Council met on 2/17/2005. President Barrera announced that our enrollment targets for Summer had been increased from 80 FTES to 330 FTES, on Friday February 1st, 2005.  I pointed out that several chairs were not aware of the increased targets and that they should be notified immediately so that they could revise their summer galleys to capture the additional enrollment.

The President also stated that in order to address our projected deficit for next year, 14 positions had been identified by executive staff for transfers, including 1 custodial, 3 crafts, 1 administrator, 3 staff guild, and 3 supervisor positions. She stated that no lay-offs were planned at this time.

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B.     Treasurer (Margie Long): Long presented the following report. In addition, she asked for volunteers to serve on the scholarship committee.

Faculty Senate Checking Account                                                    $2,212.87

1.       Scholarship monies designated for the four $200

    Academic Senate scholarships are included in

    this total……………………………………………..($800.00)

2. Sponsorship of Graduation reception and reception

for faculty and honored guests are also included in

this total……………………………………………($300.00)

Carla Bowman Scholarship                                                                $3657.25

Byron Iriye Scholarship                                                                      $2.500.00

William Gallagher Scholarship                                                           $0

Letter requesting the submission of $1,000 was written March 3, 2005

To Mrs. Gallagher-Thompson. Each award from this gift will be

$500.00 for two student recipients

David Lee Moss Scholarship                                                              $654.04

 

V.                 Public Address: The following classified representatives asked to address the senate in protest to the elimination of classified positions for the purpose of making up budget shortfalls.

A.     Auggy Garibay asked for faculty support to not transfer facilities people as a means of solving college budget shortfalls. He explained how there were not enough facilities people to maintain all aspects of the campus. He gave us a detailed list of his responsibilities, which would not get performed if he were to leave.

B.     Jerry Garcia also asked for our support in maintaining his position in computer services. He proceeded to read us a list of his workload. If he were to leave, someone else with an equally heavy load would have to take on his load. This could severely hamper our use of technology on campus.

C.     Kirk Robe reported his concern over the use of prop A funds to replace college personnel. He stated that Prop A money was used to paint buildings, a task which falls under his responsibility, while areas of concern such as signage and leaking roofs are not responded to at all. Plant facilities is now understaffed, and with the reduction in personnel proposed, the problem will be exacerbated.

D.     Fern Reisner, AFT Clerical/Technical Representative, reported that she asked President Barrera what other ideas there were for dealing with the budget other than reducing classified. The answer was none. She asked if there would be other classified asked to transfer. The president did not know. Reisner asked the president to contact certificated leaders and other classified leader to meet with her and senior management to find solutions other than reducing classified. We can’t run admissions, for example, with one and one half people. Students won’t come to Mission without sufficient classified help.

 

At this point, Louise Barbato presented the following resolution, which she introduced at and which was passed by the Council of Instruction. She expressed grave concern over how we got into this position in such a short period of time. She suggested that we have a period of self-examination and a clean start for a better future. The motion was seconded by Paul Kubicki and passed unanimously by the body.

                   

Resolved: that the College President seek, from the District,

absolution of the current projected deficit of approximately

$2,000,000,

And, that no, voluntary (unless REPLACED) OR involuntary classified

transfers/LAYOFFS TAKE place until there is an examination of the

budget by the District, Academic Senate, and AFT.

 

 

VI.              Reports of Senate Committee Meetings

A.     Curriculum (Leslie Foster): The committee met yesterday to work on non-credit. Foster submitted a written report, which stated that over the past two years, faculty have updated 140 courses. She informed us of these upcoming dates.

1.      April 8th is the last day to submit courses for the Spring 2006 schedule and for   validating current prerequisites.

2.      March 15th is the date for another curriculum workshop featuring pre requisites and articulation and located in LRC 234 at 1:30 p.m. There will also be a workshop some time in April devoted to completing forms for non-credit courses.

3.      May 26 is the deadline for “Advanced Course Status” paperwork to be turned in to academic affairs.

B.     District Academic Senate: Dale Newman reported on the previous DAS exec. meeting.

1.      Carlos Covarrubias, Anita del Rosario, and Helena Solomaho reported on issues with the new process for provisional equivalencies. The exec will address these concerns and report to the full body.

2.      There will be a joint DAS Exec/Chancellor’s Cabinet/CIO’s/CSSO’s meeting on student success on March 11 at the District Office. The guest will be researcher, Linda Hagedorn, from USC who will present data she gathered on LACCD students.

3.      Harbor College was forgiven 6.3 million dollars of debt.

4.      The next DAS general meeting will be on March 10 at Pierce College.

C.     EPAC: Sonia Soto-Bair submitted a report on the February 22, 2005 meeting. The following action was taken:

1.      An ESL petition was denied.

2.      A Journalism applicant needs to resubmit letters of verification from the LA Times, especially for the years claimed as eminence (1992, 1995, 1998).

3.      A Labor Studies petition was approved based on eminence.

4.      A Family and Consumer Studies petition was approved

 

VII.           Old Business

A.     Instructional Equipment: Covered during the president’s report.

B.     English/math: Covered during the president’s report.

C.     Move discipline: Covered during the president’s report.

D.     Educational Master Plan: Covered during the president’s report.

E.      Provisional Equivalencies: Covered by Beverly Shue.

 

VIII.        New Business

A.     Elections: It is time for senate elections for all officers as well as 13 department senators and two senators at-large. Dale Newman, elections chair, recommended April 13 as the deadline for nominations and April 20 and 21 as the dates for the senate elections. As there was no objection, the dates were approved. Nomination forms will be sent to all full-time regular and contract faculty. The committee members are Newman, Suzanne Ritcheson, Margie Long, Richard Rains, and Lorraine Maoogian.

 

B.     Graduation:  Margie Long announced that volunteers were needed for Honors & Graduation.  We need nominations for Grand Marshall, two Faculty Marshals and two Faculty Ushers for graduation as well as presenters for Honors. See Angela if you are interested. Honors will take place on Friday, April 2 and Graduation on Tuesday, June 7. Rick Scuderi reminded us that we need a ramp for every graduation.                                                                             

 

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.

Submitted by Dale Newman, Secretary