Coach’s Corner – The State of the Union

Fellow CCFT Members,

Relationships Still Matter

The relationships between our members are vital to the success of our union—it’s as simple as that.  I’m pleased that the discourse between our members is more cordial, civil, and respectful than during some periods in the past.  I hear about this trend in the personal exchanges I have with colleagues across campus.  I also see it in our Council of Reps meetings where all points of view are listened to and disagreements are voiced in a thoughtful and respectful way.  Needless to say, our professional relationships with each other are helping us to accomplish a great deal.  It continues to be such a pleasure for me to work with so many talented and dedicated members.

Arbitration Ruling

The long-awaited ruling in the CCFT-District arbitration case has been delivered to CCFT.  I am pleased to announce to the membership that the arbitrator found in favor of CCFT on nearly every issue (with two minor exceptions).  This is an important victory for CCFT, vindication for the faculty member who filed the grievance which led to the arbitrator's ruling, and should serve as notice to management that CCFT will not allow the due process rights of our members to be compromised. 

In particular, the arbitrator’s ruling should lead to greater protections for faculty in the off-cycle evaluation process.  I am still working with our legal counsel to determine the ramifications of the ruling and how much of those can be shared with the members.  Although no monetary compensation was awarded by the arbitrator, the district is required to reimburse the sick leave drawn from the CCFT bank.

Summer Schedule and Budget Reductions

Let me lead off by noting again that salary reductions for faculty are not on the negotiating table.  Period.

I would like to remind CCFT members that in the fall 2008, the Planning and Budget Committee created a list of principles to guide the College as we chart our way through the budget storm and face the necessity of budget cuts.  Here are those principles:

Guiding Principles for Planning Mid-Year and Next-Year Budget Reductions

1. Protect as much as possible of the core curriculum, programs and services needed to fulfill the adopted mission for the District.
2. Maintain student access and service throughout the District as much as possible.
3. Protect permanent employee positions insofar as possible by making reductions through vacancies and partial position reductions.
4. Reduce or eliminate services, programs, positions, or other costs farthest from students, instruction, and the support needed for student success.

Unfortunately, the budget cuts made so far, and the possibility of cuts to the summer schedule of classes, appear to many to be inconsistent with principles developed by Planning and Budget.  CCFT has been less than pleased with the direction of shared governance as it has been used to address the problems of budget cuts and particularly the summer school schedule of classes.  However, on Thursday the Council of Reps identified many possible budget cuts that might be made to relieve some or all of the pressure on the summer schedule. 

CCFT is committed to taking an active and constructive role in meeting the budget challenges ahead.  As the budget process continues to unfold, we must be certain that the voices of faculty are heard loud and clear and that we keep our eye on the core mission of Cuesta—serving our students.

And, as we continue to evaluate this process, here are a few principles, developed by San Jose/ Evergreen Faculty Association, to keep in mind:

1. Protect the district's primary mission to serve its students
2. Preserve all employees— to the extent possible.
3. Honor collective bargaining agreements
4. Be vigilant in efforts to identify possible areas of savings and appropriate areas
    for budget reductions.
5. Agree not to act until actual facts about state and federal funding are known.

ACCJC Warning Status- A SLO mess

I am saddened that despite the hard work of many dedicated faculty to address a wide range of concerns regarding accreditation, Cuesta was placed on warning status by the ACCJC.  
The entire report can be reviewed on the President’s website at http://academic.cuesta.org/president/PDFFILES/accjcrpt0209.pdf.
One matter of particular concern to CCFT is Recommendation 5, Standard III.A.I.C, which reads:

“Faculty and others directly responsible for student progress  toward achieving stated student learning outcomes have, as a component of their evaluation, effectiveness in producing those learning outcomes.”

 Last fall semester I forwarded to our faculty a letter from Marty Hittelman (President of CFT) to ACCJC President, Barbara Beno, asserting the right of labor groups to bargain a broad array of issues related to evaluations, syllabi, and student learning outcomes.  Here’s part of what Hittleman had to say:

Not long ago, the CFT invited comment from its faculty unions about SLOs, and their impact on their local colleges.  Of particular concern to CFT is the propensity with which accreditation teams from the ACCJC have indicated to the colleges that they should ³develop and implement policies and procedures to incorporate student learning outcomes into evaluation of those with direct responsibility for student learning.²  This directive is based on ACCJC Accreditation Standard III.A.1.c., which states, “Faculty and others directly responsible for student programs toward achieving stated student learning outcomes have, as a component of their evaluation, effectiveness in producing those student learning outcomes.” (ACCJC Accreditation Standard III.A.1.c.)…We believe both of these standards [syllabi as well], as written and as applied, intrude on matters left to collective bargaining by the Legislature.  For a time, we recognized that the ACCJC¹s inclusion of these standards might have been considered to be mandated by the regulations and approach of the U.S Department of Education…Given this amendment, it is CFT¹s position that the ACCJC has no statutory mandate which prescribes inclusion of the above-referenced standards dealing with faculty evaluations, and syllabi.

We will have an ACCJC link at CCFT.org  with Hittelman’s letter, Beno’s response and other ACCJC information.

The CCFT Executive Board intends to follow  CFT’s lead on this issue and to demand to bargain the elements in Recommendation 5.

Negotiations

Please see the regular updates at www.CCFT.org under negotiations.

Constitution and By-Laws Revision 

The draft has had one full review by the EB and CoR.   Many thanks to the members of the constitution revision committee and especially to the chair, Mark Tomes, for their diligent work on this important project.  At the CoR meeting on Thursday members discussed possibly lengthening the terms of the president and vice-president to either three or four years.  This would allow our officers a longer period to accomplish their agenda.  As it stands now, newly elected officers may feel that they have just gotten to know the job at about the time their two-year term ends.  Lengthening the terms of officers would have the added benefit of providing the organization with a year or two where our energies are not diverted by an election.
If you have comments or suggestions on the draft constitution and bylaws, you may submit those via the website directly to the members of the committee, or of course, to your Council member.  Final CoR review of the draft constitution and bylaws will take place on February 26 with a pending member vote in March.

Part-time Faculty Issues

From your new Chair, Marilyne Cleeves:
Recently the CCFT Executive Board appointed me as Part-time Faculty Chair, Webmaster and Newsletter layout designer. I have been a part-time faculty member at Cuesta since 1990 and am very excited to have the opportunity to get involved. While teaching at Cuesta, part-time employee’s rights have changed some. We now have longevity rights, and we can now teach a 67% load, but we have a long way to go to achieve economic equality.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the PT Committee, please contact me at: mcleeves@cuesta.edu.

CFT Convention

The CCFT Executive Board is pleased to announce that nominations are currently being accepted for delegates to the California Federation of Teachers Annual Convention, to be held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento, CA from March 20–22, 2009.

If you are interested in being a part of this exciting convention, please contact me directly (amerzon@cuesta.edu or Cuesta phone extension 2711). All reasonable expenses, including travel, food, and lodging, will be reimbursed by CCFT. The Executive Board has limited reimbursement to the number of delegates to the convention to five CCFT members, so get your name in to me if your are interested. Delegates will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thank you for your continued support.

Allison Merzon, CCFT President
Go Cougars!