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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.

•  Thirty-four faculty from 16 public  higher ed. campuses came to the State House to lobby legislators on S. 1912.
• MTA leaders and lobbyists as well as State House legislators were acknowledged for their leadership on this bill.
• Three faculty panels from all sectors of public higher education testified at the Public Service Committee hearing in support of S. 1912. ORP faculty  who testified with me on the MCCC panel included Karen Dufault from Quinsigamond, Wayne Klug from Berkshire, and Marie Canaves from Cape Cod.

• If this bill is important to you or your ORP-enrolled faculty, please contact your Representative this week, if you have not already done so, and ask every interested ORP faculty to do the same. Ask Representatives to support the inclusion of S. 1912 in any pension reform package developed by the House. The best chance for this ORP bill to get passed by the legislature would be to have it included in this pension reform bill. Such inclusion would be appropriate since S. 1912 is about retirement fairness and equity for current retirees.
• If your Representative supports this bill, ask that s/he contact Rep. John Scibak, the House Chair of Public Service, to ask him to include this bill in the current pension reform bill that the House is drafting.
• I have attached related talking points that can guide you in any ORP bill discussions with legislators.
• Contacting Representatives:
  • To find out who your State Representative is, go to: www.wheredoivotema.com
  • To reach a legislator by phone, call the main State House number (617-722-2000) and ask to be connected to your representative. 
  • To send an email to your representative, go to: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenuh.htm

• If you have met with your legislators to talk to them about this bill, please thank them.
• The four Representatives that I’ve listed below gave testimony to the Public Service Committee in support of S. 1912. If these are your legislators, please send them a thank you and ask for their continued support for S. 1912 to be included in the House pension reform bill. It would be appropriate for other ORP faculty who are interested in seeing this bill pass to also thank these legislators: 
  • Representative Jay Kaufman (Jay.Kaufman@mahouse.gov)
  • Representative Ellen Story (Ellen.Story@mahouse.gov)
  • Representative David Sullivan (David.Sullivan@mahouse.gov)
  • Representative Cleon Turner (Cleon.Turner@mahouse.gov)

•  The House pension reform legislation may move quickly. Your lobbying will be needed at each step of the ORP bill’s legislative journey. Collective, timely action is the only way we can expect this bill to be enacted. Your support is crucial to the success of this campaign, so please stay involved if this bill matters to you.
• An ORP Subcommittee is exploring a letter writing campaign to the Commissioner of Higher Education, Richard Freeland. We want him to be our ally in this campaign. More details will be forthcoming about this at the end of the week.

Professional staff are not required to submit a college service plan, but are required to submit their college service form on December 30 and May 30.

College Service Plan
Faculty are required to submit a list of college service activities to be performed during the semester. This list is completed in section 1 of the attached form (Form XIII-E5) and submitted to the immediate supervisor no later than October 15 for the fall semester and February 15 for the spring semester. Section 2 and section 3 will be completed at the end of the semester and submitted on the last day of classes.

College service activities may 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 receive reassigned time to perform non-instructional activities such as department chair, curriculum development, professional development activities, or administrative (non-managerial) duties, then these activities should be listed on the College Service Activities.

MCCC Negotiating Team’s Position
When the 2000-2003 Contract was negotiated with an increase in instructional workloads, the MCCC Negotiating Team stated that there was an understanding at the bargaining table that attending department meetings, division meetings, all-college meetings; and serving on one (1) committee would fulfill the contractual obligation of being available for college service activities for an average of four (4) hours per week. This requirement has not changed in the 2003-2006 Contract or in the 2006-2009 Contract. In addition, the MCCC negotiators have made it clear that the purpose of the submission of this plan for college service activities to be performed is to provide the immediate supervisor with knowledge of your planned activities for the upcoming semester. The intent was not to increase college service workload; not to begin counting hours, minutes, or seconds; and not to obtain prior approval. Finally, at the end of the semester, the immediate supervisor will probably hold you accountable for the completion of all activities that you list.

11 Hours of Non-instructional Activity
College service is only one component of your non-instructional responsibilities. Faculty are assigned 3 hours per week of advising (14-19 advisees), 4 office hours per week, and 4 college service hours per week. These 11 hours of non-instructional activities are averages per week and should be reduced:
1) if you are assigned more than 3 preps per semester or more than 5 preps per year (usually 2 hours for each prep over 3),
2) if you are assigned instructional workloads over 31 instructional hours of didactic instruction or over 33 hours of non-didactic clinical and lab instruction (proportional reduction for each hour over 31 or 33)
3) If you have reassigned time (1 office hour is reduced for each 3 credits of reassigned time).

More Than 3 Preps Per Semester or 5 Preps Per Year
In addition, an assignment of more than 3 preps per semester and/or more than 5 preps per year is at the faculty member’s discretion. These assignments cannot be made without faculty approval. If you do agree to teach more than 3/5 preps, then there is usually a 2 hour reduction in the 11 hours of non-instructional activity for each additional prep. Your immediate supervisor may ask you to waive these non-instructional reductions and sign a Workload Reduction Waiver Form (XII-1). This reduction waiver is at the faculty member’s discretion. I do not recommend that faculty waive reductions – If you have an overload because you exceed the 3/5 preps, then take the reductions in non-instructional activity.

Workload Requirements
I have attached a summary sheet outlining all of the workload requirements for faculty.

Dennis

Dennis Fitzgerald
MCCC Grievance Coordinator
mcccfitzy@comcast.net

119 Rocky Pond Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
tel: 508-746-2533
fax: 508-746-5258

[see attached file: College Service Form.pdf]

Our programming committee has done an excellent job in planning our union’s fall conference. Please plan to attend. Your presence will help to make this our best conference ever.

The committee sends the announcement below. Spread the word…

Best,
Joe Leblanc
MCCC

Check out the page:
http://mccc-union.org/FallConference/2011/

As previously announced, the annual MCCC Fall Conference is Wednesday October 19. We have a great dinner speaker, Arnie Arnesen, and a great program with a good variety of topics from which to choose.

There will be great sessions, networking opportunities, a well-know excellent speaker, a great dinner… Plan to be there!

As noted on that page, a sign-up sheet will be online at the same page starting Monday.

Faculty must submit the course syllabus within one week of the beginning of classes. This should include the items appearing on the course material checklist contained in the collective bargaining agreement Form DE-l for online courses and Form DCE-El for all other courses). The College must maintain the confidentiality of this material. Please note that DCE faculty enjoy academic freedom which provides for professional latitude in fulfilling one’s contractual obligations in this regard. An Interaction Plan (Form DE-2) must also be submitted for distance education courses.

There is no contractual timeline for the return of the Course Materials Checklist form by the College to faculty. However, the College should act reasonably regarding the return of this evaluation form.

Instructors have the right to choose their text book(s). The exception to this is when it is a departmental selection and DCE faculty are given an opportunity to participate in the decision making process, or when the appointment is made as the semester is to begin.

The DCE Collective bargaining agreement and other relevant documents are available on the MCCC website http://mccc-union.org/dcecontract.htm. A hard copy of the DCE contract can be obtained from your local MCCC chapter.

Dear MTA Member:

We are writing to make you aware of petitions being circulated throughout Massachusetts by an advocacy group called Stand for Children and to urge you to decline to sign if you are approached. The petitions call for a 2012 ballot initiative that would mandate limits on local collective bargaining about educator evaluations and place restrictions on the granting of Professional Teacher Status.

This initiative is an outside effort to impose impractical rules on our schools instead of working on reform with educators. While Stand for Children bills itself as a grassroots organization, a recent article by the State House News Service notes that its board “includes officials from Bain Capital, Fidelity Investments, Fisher Lynch Capital, and other major businesses.” We believe that the ballot initiative is a distraction from the real problems in public education and will divert time, energy and resources from far more pressing issues – including funding and state revenues – that directly affect the quality of education for our students.

We are also concerned about the integrity of the ballot process, and we are asking MTA members to be alert for the potential of paid signature gatherers – many of whom are expected to come from outside of Massachusetts – to use deceptive measures. As a result, we are asking members to call our Fraud Watch Hotline at 888-824-9243
when they see circulators of the Stand for Children petitions.

It is important to recognize that the ballot initiative does not serve the interests of students and public education. Please do not sign a Stand for Children petition if you are asked – and urge your family members, friends and neighbors to decline to sign as well.

Further information will be provided as the campaign develops. Please watch www.massteacher.org for updates.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Paul Toner
MTA President

Tim Sullivan
MTA Vice President

Dear ORP Faculty, Chapter and Union Leaders,

The Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) bill (S. 1912) will be heard before the Public Service Committee on Tuesday, 10/4/11 in A-2, from 1 to 4 pm. Now is the time to lobby all legislators on this bill. Also important: Have your campus represented at the October 4th hearing and Lobby Day activities.

URGENT: Lobby Legislators this week to support S. 1912

Contact your Senator and your Representative this week: Ask them to support S. 1912. This bill will provide ORP faculty with an opportunity for an informed choice about state employee retirement options and an opportunity to transfer to the State Employees Retirement System if they so choose. If you are an ORP faculty, be sure to communicate your personal ORP story by email or on the phone with the legislator or office staff when you have that opportunity. See the attached talking points for further information. If you would like a document that lists the multiple orientation problems that many faculty faced, please contact me.
Ask Senators who support this bill to contact the Senate Chair of the Public Service Committee, Katherine Clark, to indicate they want S. 1912 moved out of this committee with a favorable recommendation.
Ask Representatives who support this bill to contact the House Chair of the Public Service Committee, John Scibak, to indicate they want S. 1912 moved out of this committee with a favorable recommendation.
Contact information:
To find out who your State Representative and State Senator are, go to: www.wheredoivotema.com
To send an email to your representative, go to: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenuh.htm
To send an email to your senator, go to: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm
To reach your legislator by phone, call the main State House number (617-722-200) and ask to be connected to your legislator.

Thank the following legislators, especially if they are yours, but also if this bill is important to you:

For sponsoring our ORP Bill:
Rep. Jay Kaufman: Jay.Kaufman@mahouse.gov or 616-722-2320)
Sen. Marc Pacheco: Marc.Pacheco@masenate.gov or 617-722-1551

For leading the fight on the Senate floor and behind the scenes to include the ORP amendment in the Senate pension bill:

Sen. Katherine Clark, Senate Chair of the Public Service Committee: Katherine.Clark@masenate.gov or 617-722-1206

For sponsoring the ORP amendment to the Senate Pension bill:

Sen. Michael Rodrigues (lead sponsor): Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov or 617-722-1114
Sen. Stan Rosenberg (co-sponsor): Stan.Rosenberg@masenate.gov or 617-722-153
Sen. Ben Downing (co-sponsor): Benjamin.Downing@masenate.gov or 617-722-1625
Your Senator if you know s/he signed on to this amendment

For supporting the ORP amendment in the final version of the Senate pension bill:

Senate President, Therese Murray: Therese.Murray@masenate.gov or 617-722-1500

NOTE: In talking with Senators on the ORP bill, if any of them are among those who supported the MTA and other unions by voting against the pension bill because of its negative effect on future employees, please thank them:

“Sens. DiDomenico, Donnelly, Eldrige, Fargo, Jehlen, Keenan, McGee, Timilty, Tolman, and Wolf voted against the bill. Sen. Pacheco was unable to attend but able to pair his vote with another Senator’s to register his opposition to this bill.

ORP Hearing and Lobby Day: October 4 at the State House
The Joint Committee on Public Service will hear S. 1912, on October 4, 2011, between 1 and 4 pm in Room A-2. Panels representing the MCCC (and others from the State University and UMass systems) will provide supporting testimony. The ORP Ad Hoc Committee (with MTA support) has reserved Room 437, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm, for lobbying activities. Morning beverages will be available for those who plan to lobby before the hearing, and lobbying materials will be distributed. Lunch will be served to those who register their attendance in advance, and a short luncheon speaking program will begin at noon, with invited guests from the legislature and MTA leadership.

Background and what’s next:

Though the ORP bill (S, 1912) was included as an amendment to the recently passed Senate bill on pension reform, the House pension bill has not been written and is not expected to be heard before the House chamber until after this hearing. The Public Service Committee hearing will allow the bill to be fully vetted and will further educate the House and Senate members on the merits of the bill. When the House puts together its pension bill, the ORP Ad Hoc committee will push to have the ORP bill included as part of any pension reform. This would address the problems related to current ORP faculty and the bleak retirement future that many of them face. If the House puts forward a pension package without S. 1912 and the omission is not addressed in any pension bill that is enacted, the ORP bill will follow the typical journey of a State House bill. Being vetted and passed favorably by the Public Service Committee is the first leg of that journey.

Campus educating and organizing:

Knowing who on your campus is enrolled in the ORP is vital to the grassroots organizing of our ORP campaign. You will need to know who is in the ORP to activate your campuses to support this bill at the various stages in its legislative journey.
Campus Lists of ORP-enrolled faculty have been distributed to at least one member on most MCCC and MTA campuses. These lists are not complete, nor totally accurate, but they do represent either faculty from the MTA ORP survey who had expressed an interest in the passage of this bill or MCCC members from four years ago who were actively enrolled in the ORP program. If more recent enrollment lists have been provided, please use these. Contact me if your campus needs this information.
ORP Transfer Costs – Buyback Calculations Sheets:
With regard to the costs related to transferring from the ORP to the State Retirement System, sample buyback cost sheets were distributed to ORP Committee members at last week’s meeting, so most campuses are aware of them. When compared to the State Retirement Percentage Chart benefits, these sheets are helpful in educating and mobilizing ORP faculty to support this bill. Note that before any members elect to transfer, the cost of that transfer would be clarified.

Thank you for your support on this bill. Your actions today could make a real difference in the retirement security of ORP faculty across this state. At least 1/3 of our MCCC faculty are enrolled in the ORP. Hundreds of ORP faculty at the State Universities and UMass are also interested in the passage of this bill. Our actions today could mean a chance for real retirement security for these members tomorrow.

Best regards,
Donnie

Diana (Donnie) McGee
MCCC Vice President & SAC Chair
MTA Director & HELC Vice Chair
Email: vice-president@mccc-union.org
Cell: 508-415-1513

1) All faculty are required to submit their preferred office hour schedule at the beginning of the semester and post their office hour schedule by the end of the first week of classes.
2) Office hours are required on campus unless a faculty member is approved to hold office hours at an off campus instructional site.
3) Faculty are required to maintain four (4) office hours per week over four (4) days unless a faculty member has a reduced instructional workload.
4) For faculty with reduced instructional workloads, one (1) office hour is reduced for each three (3) credit hour course reduction. This means that the number of days required for office hours is reduced by one (1) day for each office hour reduced.

Adjunct Faculty Office Hours
Adjunct faculty are not required to submit and/or post office hours under the day contract and/or the DCE Contract. If you are a day/unit part time faculty member, then there is no requirement to post/ hold/provide office hours. If you are a DCE unit member (day or evening), there is no requirement to post and hold set office hours, but there is language in the DCE contract that states you are obligated to be available to students by appointment when mutually convenient.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Dennis Fitzgerald
MCCC Grievance Coordinator
170 Beach Road #52
Salisbury, MA 01952

email mcccfitzy@comcast.net
tel 978-255-2798
fax 978-255-2896