stccpa.org

For statewide distribution…
We have a new Day Agreement that effectively extends our present contract by two additional years.

I want to thank our day bargaining team. They did an excellent job and deserve our thanks:

Rick Doud, chair
Tiffany Magnolia, vice chair
Claudine Barnes
Mary Folan
Donnie McGee
Ellen Pratt
Andria Schwortz
Margaret Wong
Diana Yohe
Katie d’Urso, spokesperson

Best,
Joe LeBlanc
MCCC

Hi everyone,
This is a reminder that online voting for the MCCC elections closes on March 23 at midnight. While the officer positions are uncontested, candidates for the adjunct/part-time directors and delegates to the NEA-RA are not. All candidates would appreciate your voting in our first online election.

See the links below and please vote TODAY.

Best,
Joe LeBlanc
MCCC

http://mccc-union.org
http://twitter.com/mcccprez
http://facebook.com/mcccprezJoeLeBlanc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccc-union
http://www.strengthencommunitycolleges.org

Dear MCCC Chapter leaders, members, and SAC representatives,

First, many thanks to all who took part in the Higher Education Lobby day at the State House on March 8th. It was a huge success. More than 600 higher ed. faculty, staff, students, alumni, union leaders, and administrators joined together to let the Legislature know that public higher education needs more funding. Many of them also emphasized that the Governor’s community college reform proposal was not in keeping with the mission of our colleges and the needs and goals of our students. Thanks as well to all who have lobbied their legislators to date about these two issues. Right now, the MCCC is not sure if we have enough legislative support to send the Governor’s reform proposal to a study. We need your help.

Two Actions Requests: Contact your Representative this week; report back to MCCC Leadership

1) Contact your Representative:
MCCC leadership needs to know where our MA Representatives (not Senators) stand on the Governor’s community college reform proposal. The House will be completing its budget deliberations in the next few weeks, so it is important that you call your Representative by Wednesday, 3/21 if you do not know his/her position on this proposal.

The Message: Ask Representatives to oppose the Governor’s plan and send it to a study committee chaired by the Joint Chairs of the Committee on Higher Education. Find out if your representative will or will not oppose this plan. Write down any questions, concerns, or suggestions that either the Representative or his/her staff may have.

Contacting Representatives:

To find out who your State Representative is, go to: www.wheredoivotema.com
To reach your representative by phone,
call the main State House number (617-722-2000) and ask to be connected to your legislator.

2) Report back your Representative’s stance or questions to your MCCC SAC representative and chapter President and copy me. SAC team members will be following up with phone calls and/or meetings with any Representative who needs more information. Be sure to report back by Friday, 3/23/12.

Background:
State Representatives are in the process of drafting their version of the State House budget. As you know, the Governor has attached a community college reorganization and reform proposal to his version of the state budget. The MCCC opposes the Governor’s plan because we do not want our campuses to lose their unique connections to our communities. We do not want Board of Higher Education to have the control to redirect the mission of our colleges in such a way that it will direct more resources towards workforce training at the expense of our current mandate to serve the needs and aspirations of all our students. We are concerned that this new reform proposal will undermine our colleges’ ability to provide transfer and accredited degree programs in the arts and sciences and the essential, transferable skills that all employers want for employees in the 21st century.

See the attached talking points for more discussion of these concerns.
To view online a related Fall River Herald News Guest Opinion that I authored, go to:

http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x1907516970/GUEST-OPINION-Community-college-proposal-ignores-fundamental-issues?zc_p=0

MCCC Board Motion in opposition to the Governor’s proposal:

Note at the MCCC February Board of Directors’ meeting (2/24/12) a motion opposing this reform proposal was passed unanimously:

Motion: The MCCC believes that the only way for community colleges to promote student success and responsiveness to community and workforce needs is with an open, inclusive and transparent process. Therefore, the MCCC opposes Outside Section 30 of the Governor’s budget that proposes to eliminate the Legislature’s budgetary discretion and reorganize the community college structure. To that end, the MCCC asks the legislature to move the Governor’s outside section on community college reform to a study committee to be led by the Chairs of the Joint Committee on Higher Education.
Please lobby your REPRESENTATIVE ASAP. Your actions today could help preserve the current community college mission to make quality higher education accessible to all members of our communities. Please get involved.

Thank you,
Donnie

We are approaching the last day of classes and college service and advising forms are due.

FACULTY

College Service – FT Faculty – On the last day of classes, it is required that all full-time faculty submit College Service Activities (Form XIII-E5). On October 15, 2011, faculty submitted a list of  college service activities (upper part of this form under #1).  In the middle of the form under #2, faculty should list the activities with specific date(s) of participation (if applicable).  The “if applicable” language applies to activities that are on-going during a semester and no specific date can be determined. In the lower part of the form under #3, a few immediate supervisors have requested documentation that evidences participation in the college service activities.  If this request was made, it should have been done at the beginning of the semester in order to give faculty time to compile documentation as the activity is performed.  College service activities include:

1. Serving as advisor to student activities;
2. Serving on governance, ad hoc, college standing committees, system-wide task forces or committees, or labor-management committees;
3. Preparing grant proposals;
4. Participating in college, division, department or other related college meetings and/or activities;
5. Participation in the improvement and development of academic programs and resources, including recruitment.
6. Serving as a department chair/coordinator pursuant to Article XX and college-wide coordinators.

If faculty received reassigned time to perform non-instructional activities such as curriculum development, department chair work, professional development activities, or administrative (non-managerial) duties, then these activities should be listed on the College Service Activities (Form XIII-E5).  If there is a report associated with the above-referenced activity, then the report should be attached to the College Service Activities (Form XIII-E5).

Instructional Work -If faculty received reassigned time to perform individualized instruction and/or tutoring services, then these activities should be incorporated in the workload calculations on the Workload Form under the section for Instructional hours for individualized instruction.  Individualized instruction and/or tutoring can be performed in faculty offices or in learning centers.

(http://mccc-union.org/CONTRACTS/index.html#Workload_Computation_Form)

Student Advising – FT Faculty – On the last day of classes, full-time faculty are required to submit a Student Advisement Log – Form XIII-E4 including student’s name, program, date of conference, and recommendation/purpose.

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

College Service – FT Professional Staff – The professional staff College Service Activities – Form XIII-E5 is due by December 30 and May 30.  These college service activities should have been incorporated in the E-7 form that is completed on July 1 of each year. The contractual list of college service activities is:

1. Service as advisor for college-approved student activities;

2. Service on governance, ad hoc, college standing committees, system-wide task forces or committees; or labor-management committees;

3. Preparing grant proposals;

4. Participating in college, division, department or other related college meetings and/or activities as the President of the College or the President’s designee may deem appropriate;

5. Participation in the improvement and development of academic programs and resources, including recruitment.

Student Advising – FT Professional Staff – Student advising could be part of a professional staff workload and E-7 if appropriate by inclusion in the list of responsibilities in the classification specifications for the professional staff title.  The Student Advisement Log – Form XIII-E4 if appropriately assigned,is due on December 30 and May 30 each year.