CHAPARRAL

by Lynn McMurrey, President, Guild

It is the end of the year and everything seems to be moving at a feverish rate. Here are some of the issues that are facing us.

Possible change in Health Benefits

It looks certain that one of the District’s reopeners is going to be some change in our health coverage, because the costs of our plans are skyrocketing. I will not speculate further on what form those changes may take, as that would take many pages, and be counterproductive as we go into negotiations. However, there will be several meetings and discussions during the coming semester where all constituents of the college will be able to give their opinions on this issue.

Guild Reopeners

The Guild’s two reopeners for this year are, as is the custom, one that will benefit part-time faculty and one that benefits full-time faculty. We are proposing some form of rehire rights for loyal part-time faculty. Part-timers have no security from one semester to the next, even if they have been teaching at GCC for many years. The State legislature has just passed into law a bill that allows districts to negotiate some form of peace of mind for their “contingency” work force.

Our second recommended reopener is a proposal to bring full-time overload up to what part-time faculty are paid for the same work.

Part-Time Office Hours

We have just completed negotiation on part-time office hours that brings us closer to the goal of, “You teach a class at GCC and you get an office hour.” You have the ballot in your mailbox. I pray this item will be ratified!

Part Time Parity Definition

We are still trying to reach agreement with the District on what the definition of parity (or pro-rata) pay is for part-time faculty. The discussion is heated, and we are, at this time, not in agreement. Mind you, we are only trying to come to an agreement on what the definition of parity should be, if we had the funds. We are not suggesting that the District actually pay our part-timers that amount, until it is funded by the state. Even under these limits the District is reluctant to agree that adjuncts should be paid the same as full-timers for the same work.

Level Pay

We have just reached agreement with the district on parallel language for counselors and instructors on how we will be paid for days worked in the summer. We have also removed the provisions for the 11-month counselor and the Senior Instructor, as per the recommendations made by the Level Pay Task Force. You will also have a ballot in your mailbox on this item. Please vote!

Block Scheduling

You are probably sick of this by now, but I must say a few words on the subject. Steve White has asked all divisions to model what their fall semester would look like if we went to block scheduling. Don’t panic! This is only a test to see if our offerings can be plugged into the proposed blocks. I spent last Saturday scheduling the Dance Department classes. Here is what I discovered. To make block scheduling financially worthwhile, we would be changing the definition of an hour from 61 minutes to 56.6 minutes. I found that I could fit the entire Dance schedule into the proposed blocks of time. It even looked like it would be pedagogically sound, and slightly less wearing on the instructors. We could start all the classes on the block times, but had to end some of them before the scheduled end of the block; therefore room use was slightly less efficient than now. Saturday “stand alone” classes were impossible to schedule while respecting the blocks. I would hope that we could continue scheduling Saturday classes as we do now.

That is my experience; I will be interested to see the results from the other departments. Remember, this is an ongoing discussion, and block scheduling will not be imposed without considerable discussion and (I hope) acceptance by all concerned.

Change of Calendar

It has been discussed that we change our calendar again. The proposed calendar would have a 16-week fall semester (including finals week), a 7-week winter session, a 16-week spring semester, and one 7-week summer session.

At this point the Guild is not looking at this proposal favorably. It would take back some of the selling points that made compression attractive to faculty and students in the first place. It also seems rather soon to make yet another radical change in calendar, especially since all of our neighboring districts are just changing to what we have done. Also, we have had no feedback from our membership. What do you think?

State Budget

It will come as no surprise when I say that the state budget picture looks bleaker by the minute. That said, the community college system has not suffered as much as other segments of the economy. The governor’s “May revise” of his January budget shows no new cuts. On the contrary, he has put back $20 million in CalWORKs funds. This is only a drop in the bucket, but it does allow us to retain the program as a “line item” in the budget. Where we will probably suffer is by funding COLA at a low rate, probably 2 percent, and funding our Proposition 98 Guarantee at a lower level. Stay tuned--the soap opera continues.

Please plan to attend the budget discussions that are offered by Larry Serot and Ron Nakasone. We are lucky to be in a district where the administration believes that keeping the faculty and staff informed leads to better decision making. Most districts leave the faculty and staff to fend for themselves. &