November 23, 2022 Meeting

Agenda

Taft College Faculty Association Agenda

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

 

  1. Welcome

 

Approval of Minutes from October meeting

 

  1. Treasurer’s Report.

 

  1. TCFCBC Update
    1. Academic Calendar 2024-2025
    2. Bereavement leave language for AB1949 (sent via email)
    3. Coach/Class Loads

 

  1. Other

Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 12:10pm, in Cougar Room (due to finals week)


 

Minutes

Taft College Faculty Association

Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Minutes

Welcome & Introductions

President Payne welcomed faculty.

 

Approval of Minutes

A motion to approve the minutes was made by K. Bandy with a 2nd from A. Bledsoe.  The motion carried.

 

Treasurer’s Report

  1. Mitchell reported an overall balance of $18,284.38 before lunch. David also reminded Faculty that their membership cards were mailed to them in the latest edition of the Educator magazine.

 

Taft College Faculty Collective Bargaining Committee (TCFCBC) Update:

    1. Academic Calendar 2024-2025

President Payne reported the subcommittee which includes M. Mayfield, D. Mitchell, R. Payne and L. Minor have reached consensus on the academic calendar, however the administration still needs to check the dates relative to the classified employee group. President Payne hopes to bring the calendar to the next Association meeting for ratification.

    1. Coach/Class Loads

President Payne reported the subcommittee which includes A. Bledsoe, C. Flachmann, K. Bandy, H. Del Rosario, L. Minor, T. Hampton and D. Bell are planning to report on the issue at the next bargaining session. A. Bledsoe reported that the issue was going in a positive direction. All faculty will be updated as the team works on the language and the topic will return to the Faculty Association for ratification.

    1. Bereavement leave language for AB1949

President Payne sent the proposed language out via email as follows:

Employees are entitled to bereavement leave for the death a family member.  This leave will be for no longer than five (5) working days. For instances where travel of less than two hundred (200) miles is required, bereavement leave will be paid for 3 working days.  Two additional unpaid days will be allowed, with the option to utilize existing leave time.  For instances where out of state travel, or travel in excess of two hundred (200) miles are required, bereavement leave will be paid for 5 working days. Bereavement leave does not have to be taken consecutively but must be taken within three (3) months of the date of the family member’s death or scheduled services.  Additional days of absence beyond those described herein may be provided under the terms of personal necessity or non-workdays leave.
For purposes of this leave, a family member is defined as “parent, grandparent, child, spouse, sibling of the employee or the spouse, or any relative living in the immediate household of the employee.”  

  1. Jones stated that the current definition for “immediate family” in our contract in section 3.7 is broader than the one listed in the proposed language. President Payne proposed revising the first sentence of the language as follows and striking the last paragraph completely:

Employees are entitled to bereavement leave for the death a of an immediate family member. 
For purposes of this leave, a family member is defined as “parent, grandparent, child, spouse, sibling of the employee or the spouse, or any relative living in the immediate household of the employee.”  

President Payne reported the new law goes into effect in January 2023 and the administration had an interest to update the language as quickly as possible. President Payne asked for ratification of the bereavement language with the changes above. A motion to ratify the language with the listed changes was made by J. Altenhofel with a 2nd by K. Carlson. The motion passed unanimously.

Other:

 

President Payne shared that B. McMurray was appointed Interim President per the email sent campus wide from Board of Trustees President D. Cole.  B. McMurray’s contract will be available at the December board meeting and will list the term of the appointment.

 

President Payne asked Faculty members to send her any experiences (good or bad) regarding the functioning of the testing hub during the Fall semester. She will communicate the information to Dr. Bell.

 

  1. Chung-Wee commented on the healthy balance of the Association’s treasury and inquired about which areas the Association spends money. President Payne responded that the Association uses the funds for scholarships, lunches, and retirement gifts. The Association can also use funds for workplace issues, however due to interest based bargaining the Association has not had to use funds in this area. President Payne also reminded everyone that the dues have gone up to keep the Association eligible for arbitration services, if needed. Currently dues are at the lowest amount allowed for this service.

 

  1. Carlson asked if the January inservice schedule could include information regarding which days Faculty were allowed to use flex days and which meetings were mandatory. D. Jones reported that the January inservice schedule is complete and the mandatory meetings are listed with the “All Faculty” designation and the two planning days and one SLO day are also mandatory. President Payne said she would forward the inservice schedule once it was completed by T. Rowden in HR and include a note stating that the first Thursday (1/5/23) and Friday (1/6/23) were eligible flex days. A. Abbott asked if Faculty could be paid for flex days. D. Jones reported that the District wanted to eliminate flex days including all the current banked flex days, however it was decided to continue to allow Faculty to use their flex days during inservice and also continue to bank flex days. D. Jones mentioned that in the past she was given flex days for serving on screening committees when off contract. She encouraged Faculty to get paid for their extra service whenever possible and only take flex time for inservice activities such as Lunch and Learn.

 

  1. Chung-Wee mentioned how fun pickle ball is as an activity and hoped that TC could offer a pickle ball class soon. He also mentioned that he would like to see a Faculty vs. Administration game. He also asked what suggestions had been put forward regarding increasing enrollment. G. Golling shared there is interest from four coast high schools to have TC dual enrollment courses in English and math. B. Devine shared that the English department is planning to pursue dual enrollment classes with the coast high schools and the department would like the Association to bargain for a stipend or release time for an English department member to get the program set-up. S. Eveland reminded everyone that new classes and dual enrollment classes fall under the purview of the Academic Senate, however workplace conditions such as bargaining stipends or release time fall under the purview of the Faculty Association. President Payne asked S. Eveland to add the Academic Senate issues discussed to a future AS agenda.

 

President Payne reminded everyone that the Association represents all our adjunct Faculty and asked that Faculty continue to communicate any issues to her or the bargaining team.

 

Adjourned at 12:45pm

 

Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 12:10pm, in Cougar Room (due to finals week)