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AFT- 1521 College Guild, West L.A. College Chapter
Minutes of Meeting of March 11, 2010
Attendance: Kenneth Tiara; Sandi Pinio; Mary Jane McMaster; Betty Jacobs; Bill
Buchynski; Lucy Blake; Faz Elahi; James Ulrich; Olga Shewfelt; Bruce Anders.
Minutes: of February 25th were approved by consensus.
Adjunct Representative Elections: Olga distributed the results:
Allied Health,
Aviation and Travel
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Business
CEMA
Computer Science
Counseling
Dance, Health, and Physical Education
Humanities and Fine Arts
Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Todd Legassick
Marc Mancini
Ray Shackleford
Lorenzo Ybarra
Kenneth Taira
Henry Perry
Lucy Blake
Nicholas Smith
Li Hua Lei
Surendra Menon
While election results indicated a low turnout for the election, Olga expressed confidence
that the still relatively new office of Adjunct Rep to each division would become an
avenue for Adjunct faculty to participate in their divisions’ policy-making. She stressed
the importance of each Rep to stay in touch with Adjuncts in their divisions and to
represent their concerns at meetings.
Mission Statement: The Accreditation Commission (WASC) recommends a review of a
college’s Mission Statement during the Self-Study leading up to the Accreditation
Committee’s visit to the campus. The Mission should reflect what the college is actually
doing, and is a road map for the college’s actions. Olga presented the current Mission
Statement and the revision proposed by the Accreditation Steering Committee at the most
recent College Council meeting. She also presented a string of emails in-putting ideas on
wording, including one from the ASO’s Brandy Ruiz. Olga also had requested the results
of a Leadership Retreat exercise which was the first look at the current Mission. In that
exercise, participants circled important words. Olga noted that the AFT opposed
approving the current draft-revision in the College Council meeting because there was
not enough time to vet the draft to the AFT faculty. The College Council postponed
action until April 8. Olga asked for feedback in writing up to march 22nd. The regular
Chapter meeting will consider the proposed draft at the march 18th meeting. Comments:
Betty Jacobs stated that she wrote some parts of the draft. Bruce Anders noted the
importance of including the functions of transfer, career education, basic skills, etc. in the
draft, as these hold the college to a set of specific roles. One way of looking at the
Mission Statement is to compare it to ARCC outcomes and other student success data.
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Sandi Pinio asked how much congruence there might be between our Mission Statement
and those of other community colleges. Olga Shewfelt noted that the Mission should
reflect what we’re doing and what we plan to do and suggested that International
Education and Online Programs should be included.
Work Environment Committee: Olga discussed a recent incident and cited Article 9A:
The District shall provide conditions for a safe, healthful and sanitary work
environment conducive to effective teaching and learning. This shall include
sanitary and adequately maintained restrooms and other comfort facilities. Faculty
work environments should be maintained with routine scheduled maintenance and
cleaning, including such cosmetic maintenance as painting and flooring.
In situations where personal safety is an issue, the first step is for the Instructor to contact
the Sheriff’s Office, whose personnel have the duty to investigate to determine what
happened and who said what. If an Instructor feels unsafe, the Sheriff can provide an
escort and the administration can suspend an offending student pending a hearing and
change an Instructor’s room. The union may also be contacted. While the union is not a
party, it will help provide information and ensure that the rights of the Instructor are
respected and accompany the Instructor to the hearing.
Adjunct Office and Lounge: These have been moved to the “D Village”, adjacent to the
main road. If supplies for printer are not available, Olga asked for faculty to let her
know. It was noted that the Adjunct Office is now far from Reprographics. Olga noted
that the college will need two location, but that Repro- has recently instituted a policy
that accepts emailed documents for duplication, thus saving some real travel time to the
Repro- office.
Adjunct Office Hours: Olga cited Article 13D8:
Illustration of compression of the office hour obligation during a
compressed 15 week term:
3 standard hours/week x 1.11 = 3.33 = 3 hours 20 minutes --> 3.5 hours
3.5 hours x 10 minutes/hour = 35 minutes of office hour per week
Note: The salary schedule for adjunct classroom teachers shall include a salary differential for
office hours that is payable to all adjunct faculty members who are assigned to teaching duties
including adjunct faculty members who are also regular contract or monthly rate classified
employees of the District but not regular or contract monthly rate faculty and administrators with
adjunct assignments.
For Office hours, Adjuncts are obligated to serve 35 minutes per 3 standard hours of
teaching/ per week.
Tuition Reimbursement: Article 23 – Professional Growth provides for tuition
reimbursement. The contract stipulates that tuition reimbursement shall be awarded for a
course, workshop, institute or other organized activity in an accredited institution. WLAC
policy specifies that the course(s) must be based upon one of the following areas:
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Faculty discipline
Related discipline
Methods of curriculum
Retraining as recommended by the president and approved by the chancellor
Fulltime and part-time Instructors on the seniority list are eligible and can receive 50% of
the tuition they have expended, up to $2,000, whichever is less. Part-time faculty
reimbursement is prorated to the percentage of a fulltime load for which the Instructor is
employed. Tuition reimbursement forms are available in the mailroom and from Eloise
Crippens.
NCPRS Scholarships: Olga reminded us that the National Conference of Public
Retirement Services has offered students scholarships in all nine campuses. West will
offer six scholarships of $500.00 each. Applicants must be enrolled at WLAC in a course
of study that will lead to a career in public service. Olga urged us to have our qualified
students to apply.
Health Benefits Conference: to be held April 16th.
Candidates’ Forum: Olga has organized a forum for Guild candidates to present
themselves to West. This will be held April 29th, at 1:00 p.m.
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