Quick Jump to Sections: Accreditation, Student Engagement Survey, Construction, Budget, Enrollment Management, Districtwide Strategic Plan, College Goals, Other Things, Next Meetings.
Most of the self-study committees now have faculty co-chairs and several members---see the list on the Accreditation website. Still needed (as of March 18th) are faculty co-chairs for Physical Resources and Financial Resources. Academic Senate and College Council have approved the Accreditation Steering Committee's philosophy statement.
Fifty-three classes are now identified for the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). The main complaint with administration of the CCSSE is that for those classes that meet on a Monday is that they will need to lose another Monday class of course content in addition to the Monday holidays we've already had. To see what the questions will be, go to the student report page on the CCSE site. Though the number of sections will be small, ALL faculty will be invited to do the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (CCFSSE) after the CCSSEE is finished. You can see what the Faculty questions are from that link.
LA building elevator: repairs are completed but as part of the project they have to bring the fire detection system in the elevator up to code. Still working on that. Mid-April is probable date when the elevator will be available for public use.
Regarding the Thermal Energy Storage (TES) for saving cooling costs: actually the district is not in litigation with TRANE to get the thing fixed but the college/district has been authorized by the Board of Trustees to enter litigation if necessary. An independent engineering firm has proposed a solution to the problem that would take $850,000. The fix would make TES even more efficient than originally designed and the college/district is trying to get TRANE to make the fix. We will not get TES fixed in time for this summer's cooling season.
GET Bus terminal on Panorama Drive: link to PDF drawing of what the GET Bus area on Panorama Drive will look like. The drawing shows the "sawtooth" style bus pick up ("staging") area. The hexagonal structure next to the staging area will be the new restrooms. Construction on the new GET terminal at the college on Panorama Drive will start May/June and it will take six months so parking along Panorama Drive will disrupted for that length of time. If you have drive on Panorama between Mt Vernon and Haley, budget extra time!
Several budget measures have been passed in the state legislature but none of them for putting the tax extension on the June ballot. Without the tax extension on the ballot, that automatically puts us in the "worst case" or "doomsday" scenarios outlined in my previous report. The Republican convention is happening this week and it may happen that we can get one or two of the termed-out Republicans to vote in favor of putting the tax extension onto the ballot---any Republican rep/senator that votes in favor of putting the tax extension on the ballot will end his/her political career.
For summer, we will offer only 220 sections and most (if not all) department chairs have scheduled them to run over the July 1st date so we have the flexibility of counting the summer FTES in this academic year's or next academic year's total. See below for more enrollment management issues.
Faculty hiring: Only replacements will be hired. No offers on extra positions. We're now 52-52% faculty expenses in the districtwide spending for the 50% law purposes. We will be looking at what non-instructional services to cut again.
Latest update from the California Community College League of California (main body advocating for community colleges in the state legislature:
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Over the last two days, roughly half of the state's budget deficit has been erased. Now the major question is whether the remaining $12 billion problem will be a doubling of the existing cuts or through the balanced approach of extending expiring taxes.
Legislators on both sides of the political aisle are perilously close to giving up. They are tired. They are frustrated. Interest groups on the left and right are telling them to give up.
We can't afford to give up. The education of 400,000 students, a 250% fee increase, and 10,000 teachers jobs--just in community colleges--are at stake.
Will you call your Senator and Assemblymember today and ask them to not give up?
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The Budget Committee is still working on criteria for budget decisions and recommendations. The criteria are supposed to be broad enough to be applicable to all levels of the college. In my previous report I gave some background of what the categories mean. Below is the latest incarnation of the draft criteria. Please send me any feedback (or questions) on what you think of this latest draft of criteria that will be used: by department chairs/directors in preparing recommendations to their dean/supervisor for money needed, by deans/supervisors in filtering recommendations on up to the vice-presidents/executive directors, by the vice-presidents/executive directors, and by the college president in making the final budget decisions. Although the criteria list is not yet "ready for prime-time", I'm listing below the current draft to get some feedback from you as one of the faculty reps.
March 15, 2011 draft
With the goal of maintaining quality programs and services in all administrative, instructional, and student support areas, those making budget recommendations and decisions will use data and the following criteria:
Core Mission: The budget recommendation and decision will maintain (at a minimum) or improve student success in one or more of the college's core mission areas identified by the state: transfer, basic skills, and career/technical. ** see below for student success
Facilities Needs: The budget recommendation and decision will meet the needs of an adequate learning environment in our classrooms and study-research spaces (including the basics of lighting, electricity, HVAC, markers or chalk, network access). Things to consider (not an exhaustive list):
Health and safety: The budget decision will ensure a healthy and safe learning environment for our students and employees. Note that there is a lot of overlap of this area with Legal and state mandates below, so this separation is a bit artificial.
Legal and state mandates: The budget decision will ensure that the college follows all legal requirements and state mandates.
Personnel needs
Program and service sustainability: The budget decision will not by de facto discontinue an academic program without going through the process determined by the Program Discontinuance Program created by the Academic Senate in 2008/09. Things to include or consider (not an exhaustive list!):
Service area needs: The budget decision will meet an identified need for particular skills in the community of the college's service area. Example things to consider:
Student success: Student success measurement will include metrics such as retention and number of passing students as well as other measurements such as critical thinking and adaptability. Critical thinking and adaptability will enable the student to adjust to changing economic environments without having to continually come back to the college for re-tooling. Things to consider (not an exhaustive list!):
Technology needs. Things to consider include (but not exclusively/only):
All budget decision-makers will communicate their decisions and the rationale with the sector of the college community they oversee. The rationale will address the identified criteria and data used.
The district's strategic plan will be presented to the Board of Trustees at their April 14th meeting which takes place at Bakersfield College. The college will get to see the draft in the first week of April for any other possible feedback and tweaks. BC reps to the taskforce working on the plan included: Sue Granger-Dixon (faculty), Tracy Lovelace (classified staff), and a SGA rep. Nan was probably also on the taskforce.
A collegewide survey will be available online April 4-15th and focus groups will be conducted during that time including: FCDC, inter-club collegiate council (students), and a classified staff group.
April 1 + 15, and May 6 all at 8:30 to 10:30 AM.
Last updated: March 22, 2011
Document author: Nick Strobel