Minutes 09/14/1993

An executive session convened at 6:00 p.m., pursuant to A.R.S. 38-431.02, notice having been duly given.

A special meeting and work study session of the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board was scheduled to be held at 7:00 p.m. at the District Support Services Center, 2411, West 14th Street, Tempe, Arizona.

PRESENT

GOVERNING BOARD
M. Grant Christensen, President, Linda B. Rosenthal, Secretary, Roy C. Amrein, Member, Donald R. Campbell, Member, Nancy Stein, Member

ADMINISTRATION
Paul A. Elsner, Bertha Landrum for Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., William Waechter, Dan Whittemore, Ron Bleed, Janice Bradshaw, Raul Cardenas, Larry Christiansen, John Cordova, Art DeCabooter, Stan Grossman, Homero Lopez, J. Marie Pepicello, Phil Randolph, Linda Thor, Arnette Ward, John Waltrip

STATE BOARD
Jim Ullman

CALL TO ORDER
The special meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by President Christensen.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
President Christensen called for a motion convening an executive session,notice having been previously given.

MOTION NO. 8125
Roy C. Amrein moved that an executive session be convened. Motion carried 5-0.

The special meeting recessed at 6:01 p.m.

The special meeting reconvened at 7:02 p.m. for purposes of taking action on the Residential Faculty Policy Manual.

(I-A-1) RESIDENTIAL FACULTY POLICY MANUAL 1993-94 - William Waechter read the Governing Board recommendation regarding the amended Residential Faculty Policy Manual 1993-94. The amended item included changes to faculty compensation, vertical movement on the salary schedule, and renewal and process for successor agreements. Nancy Stein stated that she felt the Governing Board had violated the current Residential Faculty Policy Manual.

MOTION NO. 8126
Roy C. Amrein moved that the Governing Board extend the provisions of the 1991-93 Residential Faculty Policies, effective immediately, through June 30, 1994, with modifications as follows. 1. That faculty compensation for 1993-94 will be in accordance with the Governing Board action of June 22, 1993. Modify Section 4.1 Salary Schedule to read as follows: "All compensation amounts for 1993-94 remain the same as indicated in the RFP for 1992-93. The 1992-93 salary schedule shall remain in effect in the same amounts as at the end of the 1992-93 academic year. (Appendix E, 92-93 year). Faculty members shall not advance a step on the salary schedule for the 1993-94 academic year." 2. 4.5 Vertical Movement on the Salary Schedule. 4.5.1 Subject to annual recommendation by the Chancellor and approval by the Governing Board, the Residential Faculty may be authorized for advancement vertically through the steps of the salary schedule at the rate of one (1) step per year of service. 4.5.2 Increment and/or salary increase withholding for individual faculty members. Upon recommendation of the College President, the Chancellor of the District may withhold the recommendation for vertical advancement or salary increases for individual faculty members for any of the following reasons. 4.5.2.1. Lack of sufficient success in the classroom. 4.5.2.2. Giving insufficient time and effort to duties assigned or failure to perform a reasonable amount of extracurricular activities. 4.5.2.3. Lack of adherence to the adopted policies of the District. Notification must be made prior to April 15. 3. Modify section 7.4. Renewal and Process for Successor Agreement as follows. "Unless either party shall give to the other written notice of intent to reopen discussions by January 15, this policy manual may (with Governing Board authorization) be renewed for up to one additional year. In the event meet and confer discussions do take place and no agreement is reached prior to June 30, the Governing Board may, at its option, a) extend the current agreement for a specific period of time up to one year; or b) modify the agreement and direct its implementation for up to one additional." Motion carried 4-1. Mrs. Stein was opposed.

M. Grant Christensen read the following: "As the members of the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board, we would like to share some information with you and provide our perspective of the recently concluded meet and confer process.

We do value each and every one of our employees. Our care and concern for faculty in particular, and all employees in general, especially with regard to compensation, benefits, and working conditions is recognized around the country as exemplary.

The 80s were a decade of prosperity and faculty, more than any other employee group, prospered. Recent economic and fiscal realities have caused this District to take some unprecedented action. With everyone's cooperation and understanding, we cut $8 million from our 1992-93 budget--and we did it midyear. College budgets have been reduced. The District Office budget was reduced by more than $1 million and expenditures are under a great deal more scrutiny than every before in our history.

You will remember that it was not very long ago that there were recommendations before us to cut everyone's salary by two percent and to make other across the board kinds of decisions to reduce expenditures. We, as a Governing Board, agreed with the recommendation from the Chancellor and chose not to reduce salaries and not to lay off any employees unless it was absolutely necessary. No faculty members were laid off as a result of these budget cutbacks. We opted to take the more prudent and, we "hope," employee friendly approach, to not grant steps nor cost of living increases for 1993-94. (Faculty will recall that it was necessary for us to phase in the six percent increase which was granted to faculty over the course of the 1992-93 academic year. Even though the six percent pay raise was phased, it is true that as faculty members, your paychecks are six percent greater now that they were a year ago at this time.)

We believe that as a general rule, you understand that your salary and fringe benefits compare very favorably to community college faculty salaries across the nation. At the Chancellor's urging, we have long made a commitment to good salaries and benefits for all employees in the hopes that this commitment would result in outstanding instruction and support services at our colleges. We believe that it has.

The fact that no step is being approved for faculty (or for any other employee group) should not have been a surprise to anyone. Employee groups, including faculty, had representation on the Budget Development Executive Council which determined, as early as November of 1992, that there would be no money allocated in the 1993-94 budgets to accommodate increase in cost of living or to grant step increases. This position was also made clear at the first session of each meet and confer meeting with each employee group. The decision that there could be no steps or COLA was very openly discussed in public budget meetings and again reviewed at the time the Governing Board adopted the final 1993-94 budget on May 25, 1993. We do appreciate the many calls we have had from employees, including faculty, indicating a complete understanding of the current financial dilemma and the willingness to continue to give 110 percent in the hopes that this one year anomaly will put us back on the track of being able to grant salary increases and step increases.

We recognize that a decision not to grant salary increases nor step increases put a "damper" on the meet and confer process. As a Governing Board, we want you to clearly understand that the proposals which were brought to you in that meet and confer process by our meet and confer team were not "administrative" proposals but were proposals which we, as a Governing Board, carefully studied and directed the team to bring to the table. It sometimes appears that a meet and confer team (the "messengers") may be unfairly perceived as the originators and initiators of the proposals on the table. The team representing the Governing Board followed each and every directive which we gave them and did it in a most professional way.

We remain committed to serving the tens of thousands of citizens that have historically come to our colleges and Skill Center each semester. Our record in the community is outstanding and we want to continue to deserve that community support. There is no question that the principle of effective teaching and learning so eloquently delivered by the faculty is, in large measure, responsible for that community approval. We are proud of your record and hope you will continue the same level of commitment to students and the community in spite of the fact that salary increases are not in the cards this year.

The Governing Board had to make some priority decisions. We have done what we believe to be in the best interest of our students, our staff, including faculty, and our community.

Please understand that our decisions were not easy ones. We spent many hours reviewing alternatives and we counted on the professionalism of all the employees of the District in terms of pulling together to help get us over this hurdle.

We can make no promises and the financial picture for the future is unclear, however, the Governing Board remains committed to the principle of attracting the best and brightest and we recognize that one component of that formula is certainly salary and benefit contributions. Our level of awareness is heightened. We will certainly be attuned to the issues which you have raised during this most recent meet and confer and look forward to working with you in the next "round" of negotiations.

Thank you for your continuing professional commitment to this great community college district."

Nancy Miller, District Faculty Association President, corrected wording on the agenda item justification stating that "nothing was included that was not discussed" should be stated "nothing was included that was not mentioned." Recognition of the Governing Board's right to manage the District and faculty concerns relating to the most recent meet and confer process were expressed. Other faculty members passed on their opportunity to speak on the agenda item.

ADJOURNMENT
The special meeting was adjourned.

(II-A) ESTRELLA MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE CENTER- Homero Lopez, Provost of Estrella Mountain Community College Center provided some historical background on EMCCC and introduced the presenters: Philip Tompkins, Director of Library Information Services at EMCCC; Pearl Williams, Director of Literacy Services at EMCCC; and Conrad Bayley, Director of Arts and Sciences at EMCCC. An update on the development and future directions of the Center was provided. Nancy Stein commented on the computerized library. Linda B. Rosenthal asked about the high school students' plans relating to the Center.

(II-B) ACHIEVING A COLLEGE EDUCATION - Stella Torres provided information about the ACE program at South Mountain Community College. Statistical information relating to recruitment, retention, gender, ethnicity, assessment test results, completion rate, enrollment, and student educational pursuits beyond the community college were provided. At-risk students were defined as those students in danger of dropping out of school because the educational system does not meet their needs. Selection criteria and tuition funding were explained. In response to a question from Linda B. Rosenthal, the number of participating students has declined since 1990 as a result of reduced funding. Donald R. Campbell expressed his concern about the smaller number of male students enrolling in college and that perhaps the Think Tank should address this situation.

Jim Walsh, President of the Dougherty Foundation, praised the success of the ACE program at South Mountain and stated that the Dougherty Foundation is committed to providing tuition assistance for an additional two year period. Donald R. Campbell thanked Stella Torres for an outstanding presentation which included pre and post tracking statistics on participating students.

ACE students Genaro Bueno, Lisa Torrez, Vivian Gonzales-Sasser, and Andres Diaz spoke about their personal experiences in the program.

Students from Joe Ochap's EDU 250 class were recognized by Dr. Christensen.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8: 35 p.m.

______________________________
Linda B. Rosenthal
Secretary

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9/15/93