Executive Board Report

• On October 10, the Executive Board sent a letter to Interim Vice President Vic Krimsley to express our concern with the content and tone of Dr. Krimsley’s recent verbal and written communications regarding part-time evaluations (department chair meetings on 9/15 and 10/06 and written responses to Ken Wagman’s questions about the new administrative evaluator).  The letter was copied to Steve Kinsella and Joe Keeler. 
• In the letter, we expressed our concern that Dr. Krimsley’s comments have the potential to harm our working relationship with the District.  Publicly blaming the GCFA negotiators for the failure of the District and GCFA being able to come to an agreement on the Part-Time Faculty Evaluation Process is a misrepresentation of the facts.  This issue was negotiated back and forth and was ultimately pulled from the table by the District.  Dr. Krimsley’s misstatements are a violation of the principles of interest based bargaining and erode our ability to negotiate in good faith.
• We requested that Dr. Krimsley publicly notify the faculty that the GCFA negotiators were not responsible for the failure to reach an agreement regarding the part-time evaluation issue.  We asked that Dr. Krimsley clarify the fact that the District made the choice to remove the issue from the bargaining table.  We further asked that Dr. Krimsley keep all faculty informed and involved in matters of instruction regardless of their negotiating status. 

• This Fall, the executive board has been preparing for our upcoming vote (October 20-24) on Part-time Inclusion in the GCFA.  We held our first membership meeting and informational forum on Staff Development Day.  At that time, we distributed a fact sheet addressing issues relevant to Part-time Inclusion.  Click here for Part-time Inclusion Fact Sheet.

• We would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest members: Lori Burgman, Learning Disability Specialist; Maria Garcia, EOPS counselor; Sabrina Lawrence, Distance Education Coordinator; Jennifer Nari, Math Instructor; Robert Overson, Learning Disability Specialist; Ann Shelley, ESL Instructor; and Karen Yinger, Non-Credit Education Instructor.

 President’s Report

• Part-time faculty inclusion vote: The vote to include all part-time faculty in the contract bargaining unit will be held during the week of October 20 to 24, and all faculty members will be asked to vote in the election. Current bargaining unit members who pay dues will vote in a binding election and other faculty members not in the bargaining unit will be asked to vote in a non-binding election to determine if they want to be covered by the contract.

• Part-time faculty inclusion vote logistics: The vote will be by secret ballot during the week of October 20 to 24. Current bargaining unit members (all full-time faculty and a few part-time faculty) will receive a ballot and two envelopes in one color. All other faculty (most part-time faculty) will receive a ballot and two envelopes in a different color. You will vote and then place your ballot inside a blank envelope. Seal the envelope, leave it blank, and place that envelope inside the outer envelope. Seal the outer envelope. You will print your name and sign the outer envelope. You will then place your ballot in a box located near the mailroom on the Gilroy campus. If you teach off campus, you will be able to send your ballot via the Gavilan mail. Jesus Olivas (Counseling) and Marc Turetzky (Social Sciences) will conduct the election.

• Part-time faculty inclusion forums and open information hours: The GCFA will host forums on Wednesday, October 15 at 2:30 p.m. at the Mayock House and Thursday, October 16 at 2:30 p.m. in PH (Physical Sciences) 103 to answer any questions you might have about the inclusion vote. At the Thursday forum, Diana Fernandes-Lisi from the California Teachers Association (CTA) will be there to answer any questions. She was at the September staff development day GCFA meeting. Since some of you won’t be able to make those times due to teaching or other conflicts, I and other members of the GCFA Executive Board will be available in the Student Center during the week of October 20 to 24 to answer any last minute questions you might have. I will e-mail you the exact times for these information hours after we coordinate our schedules.

• Bargaining survey and negotiations: It’s that time of year when the Executive Board sends out a survey to get your opinion about which articles we should re-open in our contract or what new things you would like the GCFA to negotiate. Last year, some members expressed concerns about the survey and so before we send it out, please contact me if you want to have any input into the questions asked on the survey. The survey will be distributed at the end of this month so the Executive Board can decide what the union will do. Our three negotiators for the year are Susan Turner from Allied Health who will be our lead negotiator with Jason Wolowitz from Business/CSIS and Rosa Sharboneau from Counseling supporting her.

• Executive Board Meetings: This semester, the Executive Board will meet the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 3:15 in the Mayock House. We will not meet on Thanksgiving or Christmas. The meetings are open to all faculty. Other meetings may be scheduled if necessary. The Executive Board is Ken Wagman (Natural Sciences), Larry Moeller (Library), Kaye Bedell (Allied Health), Debbie Klein (Social Sciences), Ellen Venable (Business), and the part-time representative is Jane Rekedal (Art). Our next meeting is Thursday, October 23 at 3:15.

• Faculty pay for moving your office: The GCFA is working with the administration to finalize a plan for full-time faculty to be paid in money and co-curricular time for moving offices due to the remodeling. The final details are being worked out. As soon as this happens, I will put out the details.

• Full-time faculty overload pay dates: Starting this semester, full-time faculty overloads will be paid in four installments on the 10th of the month starting in October so if you’re one of the 20 or so full-time faculty who teach an overload, be prepared to get an extra check. According to Joe Keeler, this will make it easier for the payroll department to put your overload credit in the correct retirement account. Contact me if you have any questions.

• Part-time faculty load increase: This summer, the Governor signed a law that increased the amount a part-time faculty member could teach at any college from 60% to 67%. This is an increase from 9 units per semester to 10 units per semester and will take effect this January.

• Special Projects Administrator hired to assist with part-time faculty evaluations: The recent accreditation report cited the college for not evaluating all part-time faculty on a rotating schedule. Last year in negotiations, the GCFA and administration deadlocked on the logistics of doing this and agreed to re-open issues surrounding this in the 2008-2009 negotiations. Since no agreement was reached, the administration has hired Keith Simmons, a retired Hartnell Geology instructor (18 years) and recent part-time administrator at Chapman University (2 years) to assist with some of the evaluations. Mr. Simmons is hired on a temporary basis as a professional expert. He has experience in evaluating faculty since faculty evaluate faculty at Hartnell and he has also done evaluations as an administrator. He has met with the deans to find out about Gavilan procedures and he will be doing evaluations this semester. His evaluations will not be the sole factor used if the college decides not to re-hire a part-time faculty member. If he determines there is a problem, he will go to the supervising dean and she (Sherrean Carr or more likely Fran Lozano) will attend the class and do an evaluation herself. In addition, student evaluations will be used. If you have any further questions about this, please contact me at x4808 or at kwagman@gavilan.edu.

Part-time Faculty Report

• There are several topics of interest to you as a part time member of the Gavilan College faculty.  Some of these are changes in procedures or obligations, some are potential changes, and some are in the discussion stage.  The Gavilan College Faculty Association (GCFA) is taking an active role to represent your interests in these issues and would like to hear from you about them.

•  The vote on whether or not we part time faculty members will be included in the GCFA contract bargaining unit will take place the week of Oct. 20-24.  The GCFA president, Ken Wagman, recently sent out an email that describes how to vote. It is important to make the effort and cast your ballot on this issue. Plan to attend one of the forums to become more informed:  Wednesday, October 15th at 2:30 at the Mayock House, or Thursday, October 16th at 2:30 in Physical Sciences 103.

• There is a small group of administrators and faculty members that is studying part time faculty seniority/rehire rights.  This issue is fundamental to job security, something none of us currently have at Gavilan.  If any of you have knowledge of seniority/reappointment/rehire rights at other community college campuses, please share that knowledge with Jane Rekedal, part-time Art Instructor (jrekedal@gavilan.edu), or Leah Halper, full-time History Instructor (lhalper@gavilan.edu), so that we can use it in our discussions.

• Tied to rehire rights is the issue of evaluations.  The administration has recently hired Keith Simmons to do part time faculty evaluations.  Because evaluations have largely been neglected for some time, many part time instructors, even those who have been at Gavilan for many years, have little or no idea of how the evaluation process is supposed to proceed.  The GCFA is investigating this issue.

• There is confusion among part time faculty over what Flex Obligations entail.  This fall, part time faculty received a letter and contract to fill out for our flex hours based on Lecture Equivalent Hours (LEH), but some faculty members are having a difficult time determining what their LEH are. Lab hours weigh differently than do lecture hours and it may be unclear about how many hours of flex are required.  The GCFA is working to clarify how flex hours are determined and what activities qualify for flex, and how flex fits into the contractual obligations that part time faculty has to the college.

• Office hours are now required for part time faculty.  Some of us have offices, many of us do not.  Where to meet with students and how many office hours are required are issues that GCFA can address.

• AB 591 has passed!  Starting in January, this changes the 60% law to 67%, as explained in the President’s report above. 

• There are many places you can find out more about part time faculty concerns:  visit the GCFA website (http://www.gavfaculty.com and click on the part time faculty tab), come to the forums Oct 15-16, join the Faculty Unity Group, and contact your part time representative to the GCFA Executive Board, Jane Rekedal, or president Ken Wagman.

 Community College Association Information

• Ron Norton Reel, CCA President, has just written an interesting article about the state budget.  It’s called “Budget Stalemate Hurts Community Colleges” and can be easily accessed on the right hand side of the CCA webpage.

• Upcoming CCA conferences: the CCA Winter Advocacy Conference, February 6-8, in Costa Mesa and the CCA Membership Conference/Spring Council and W.H.O. Awards, April 24-26.  If you are interested in attending, please contact Ken Wagman.  Registration and travel for the workshops and conferences is either paid by the statewide organization or our local GCFA, so you don’t have to use your staff development funds.