Fall 2008 Email/Announcements/Communication
ACE Update 12/17/08
Dear Colleagues,
Today, at the District's request, the ACE negotiating team met with the District's negotiating team to resolve and implement the load agreement between ACE and the District that was signed in May 2008. This agreement assigned load to the Supplementary Instruction courses and permanently assigned a 15 hour base to lecture classes. The District's negotiating team stated that they would not honor the load agreement. The District's negotiating team stated that all of the lecture loads originally at base 18 and changed to a 15 base will revert back to base 18 as of December 31, 2008.
What does it mean when our District will not honor a signed agreement with its faculty? What value do we have as faculty when our District disregards our agreement?
ACE continues to hope that our District will reconsider their position and honor the May 2008 agreement. ACE will keep you informed.
Ed Kleppinger
President, ACE
ACE Update 11-24-08
11-24-08 Final Update from ACE 
ACE Update #1
November 24, 2008
Dear Colleagues,
The end of a busy semester is drawing near, and our hope for a restful holiday season is near.
Before we get into the matters at hand ACE would like to extend their thanks to those who give of their time who work diligently for the faculty on all of the ACE committees. They work very hard and this often goes unnoticed.
Below are some critical Collective Bargaining items/issues of interest to the faculty. You will also receive a newsletter which will contain more information.
GENERAL:
We are contacting the Board and requesting that there be a brainstorming session
on ways to handle the District’s problems. This session would be open
to any faculty, staff and other interested parties who would like to share
their thoughts and possible solutions. Presently we are attempting to arrange
such a meeting as soon as possible. We will keep you posted.
HOW WE APPEAR TO OTHER COLLEGES:
At the Foothill (FH) Academic Senate meeting Monday, Nov. 17: The college President
attended and spoke about their fiscal concerns for a full hour. She wanted
to stop all rumors that the FH district would follow in the footsteps of
WVMCCD. The FH Academic President said that WVMCCD cut 132 classes last week
at Mission College. The FH College President further wanted to assure their
faculty that at FH they would not cut a single course unless it is low enrolled
for winter. The FH President then said… “Before any faculty
member was pink slipped she and the Chancellor would forego their last raise,
not replace administrative positions and make cuts outside of the faculty.”
This is leadership by example! Do we have it at WVMCCD?
There are some critical Collective Bargaining items/issues; these will be sent in a second update message. You will also receive a newsletter which will contain more information.
Ed Kleppinger, ACE President
ACE Council
ACE Negotiating Team
ACE Update #2
November 24, 2008
Dear Colleagues,
Some critical Collective Bargaining items/issues:
LOAD ISSUES:
Recently many courses with unloaded HBA have been revised and approved by the
curriculum committees and have been forwarded to the Load Committee for loading.
In anticipation of HBA course revisions, criteria for loading courses with
Category 5 Supplemental Instruction (SI) were established by a 3-0 vote of
the Load Committee (Article 18) in late spring 08 (May 13). Based on the
criteria there are three possible load factors: 16.5, 19.7, and 26.3. Note:
a chart containing this information will be in the newsletter.
The committee also recommended making permanent the changes in the 18-hour lecture loads to 15-hour – a contract provision due to sunset on December 31, 2008. ACE sent a letter of understanding to the District dated September 25, 2008 to incorporate these recommendations into the ACE Contract. The District finally sent a response dated November 3, 2008 indicating that all changes would have to be handled in negotiations In the meantime, new courses with Category 5 SI have now been sent to the Load Committee for loading, so that the curriculum can be finalized and scheduled. The two ACE representatives intend to vote to load the courses based on the criteria agreed to last spring.
The two Vice-Presidents of Instruction have made it clear that they do not intend to use those criteria. According to the contract language, 2-2 votes of the Load Committee go to the table for negotiating. It was clear that the vote on these courses would be 2-2 and realizing how critical it is the affected departments are able to offer these courses, the Council directed the negotiating team to begin immediately negotiating these changes. At the negotiating session on Friday, November 21, 2008, the ACE team put a proposal on the table. The District’s response was that Article 18 was not open. It was pointed out to the District that the result of not negotiating the changes would mean that none of these classes could be offered in the spring 2009 schedule and that the 15-hour lecture courses would revert to the old 18-hour base. The District’s response was that the courses would just be loaded anyway. The District would simply assign load to the courses in clear violation of the ACE contract. This will mean filing an unfair labor practice against the District.
ACE understands the implication of the load issues and is attempting to negotiate this with the District. By setting the load at a lower level (i.e. lab at 24-hour rather then 15-hour for lecture), the faculty member has to work more and earns less.
SPRING CLASSES AT MISSION COLLEGE:
At the beginning of the fall semester (approx. third week) MC received a Datatel
report indicating how much of its allocation it was using for the fall semester.
It was discovered that 52% of the entire allocation was being used for the
fall semester. MC projected using 54% of its allocation for the spring semester
when there was only 48% remaining after the fall semester.
Why did this problem occur? There is an initial budget and a final budget. Using the initial budget the PGC puts in their department plans to offer sections. The enrollment goal changed between the initial and final budget. The MC VP of Instruction lowered the enrollment goal without the knowledge of PGC. The change in goal did not occur at WVC; the WVC goal stayed the same. This lowered MC FTEF by 26. MC has cut 15 FTEF so far and hopes that no more will be cut. The PGC worked carefully and diligently with all departments/programs to cut the 15 FTEF, which is about 70 classes, from the posted spring 2009 schedule. The PGC was working on this until last week.
The DC’s went to the departments and provided them with criteria to help in the decision to cut classes from the spring schedule. An example of the criteria used was to look at multiple sections of the same class and cut the one with the lowest enrollment history. This will affect the associate faculty and some full-time faculty both in making their 1.0 load and for overload.
If a full-time faculty member’s overload is cancelled they do not have the right to bump an associate faculty member in order to have overload. They may only bump an associate in order to make their full-time 1.0 load. If a full-time faculty member does not make their 1.0 load for the spring semester there are several options: they could bump an associate faculty member in their department, they could have an under-load for this semester and make it up next semester, etc.
Is it possible that some bumping could take place between Mission College and West Valley College?Yes, according to the contract the Chancellor has the authority of right of assignment. The Chancellor may assign a faculty member to a department/class at the other college in order for the full-time faculty member to have a full 1.0 load. This has been used in the past.
If you have any questions contact any member of the ACE Council.
Ed Kleppinger, ACE President
ACE Council
ACE Negotiating Team
Note: the information in the online updates and in the next newsletter will serve as the minutes from the November 20 ACE Council meeting.
11/10/08 MC Full-time Faculty ACE Representatives Elected
Pat LaVallo and Jim VanTassel have been affirmed by the Mission College full-time faculty as ACE representatives starting in the spring 2009 semester.
Susanna Pancella, ACE Secretary
11/4/08 Reminder: Open Forum on Nov. 6 at both colleges
Everyone is encouraged to attend!
The CCBT consultants, who have been researching the organizational structure of the district/colleges, will present their preliminary findings at open forums to be held as follows:
Thursday, November 6
West Valley College from 12:30 to 1:30pm in the Baltic Room
Mission College from 3 to 4pm in the Telecommunications Building, Room 130
There will be a brief update from the Organization Team and an opportunity to ask questions and share your ideas.
Thank you,
Susanna Pancella, ACE Secretary
NOTE: this is not an ACE forum; this is an open forum for faculty, staff, administration and students.
ACE Up-Date 11/3/08
Dear Colleagues,
On Thursday, November 6, 2008 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Telecommunications Building, Room 130, Mission College there will be an all-college forum with the CCBT Consultants. There will be a brief update from the Organization Team and an opportunity to ask questions and share your ideas. Everyone is encouraged to attend!
The ACE Council will be attending this meeting so the format for the Nov. 6 schedule meeting will change. The agenda for the Nov. 6 meeting will be as follows: CCBT Forum from 3 to 4pm and then negotiations from 4:10 to 5:30pm. If you have any questions please forward them to any member of the ACE Council.
There were forums on the benefit prescription proposal. Questions are being compiled and sent to the consultant for answers. As soon as we have these answers we will share them with the faculty.
Thank you for working very hard and spending a great deal of time and effort on the Program Review, SLOs and for all the department reports that had to be created over the past few weeks. This work is part of your institutional responsibility. Hopefully you personally have tracked the hours that you worked; as a result you may have completed this responsibility.
Reminder for Associate Faculty members:
By the first Friday in November (November 7) you must apply for insurance reimbursement
(Article 102).
Ed Kleppinger, President, ACE
Prescription Plan Proposal Information October, 2008
Consultant Review of WHI and Envision Operational Documents
Faculty: Please review this information and provide feedback. You may send your feedback to any member of the ACE Council. We urge you to be proactive in this matter.
ACE has scheduled forums to discuss the prescription proposal and the next
contract. The forums are:
Tues., Oct. 28, Mission College in N2-401, 2-3pm
Thurs., Oct. 30 at West Valley College in BU9, 3-4pm
Susanna Pancella
ACE Secretary
Mission Full-time ACE Rep Positions
Two Full-time Faculty Representatives are needed to replace two reps who are stepping down; both positions start at the beginning of the 2009 spring semester and both end at the end of the spring 2010 semester. Download information and application.
ACE Update 10/06/08
Dear Colleagues,
Hope all is going well.
Just a few pieces of information for you:
Jean Finch, a WVC faculty member, has been appointed to the Sabbatical Leave Committee. Thank you for your service!
At the October 2 ACE Council meeting:
- it was determined that two positions should be moved from faculty ranks to administrative ranks: Director, Child Development Center (MC) and Program Director, ACCESS (Grant funded) (MC); the District will now take the next steps in this process.
- Council passed a resolution supporting the WV Senate’s stance against Chancellor Hendrickson's request to make the Vice Chancellor of Fiscal Services into an academic administrative position.
- it was announced that two MC representatives will be resigning their positions at the end of the fall semester. An election will be held shortly.
- four of the candidates for the WVMCCD (Adrienne Grey, Chris Constantin, Frank Jewett, and Chad Walsh) met with ACE; we hope to meet with the remaining candidates at the next meeting.
ACE and the District have agreed to the following:
- a calendar for 2009-2010
- to increase an associate faculty member’s maximum load from 60% to 67% of a full time assignment; this will not be implemented until January 1, 2009.
ACE and the District are continuing negotiations on the 2005-08 contract.
The District has proposed in the Health Benefits Committee a change in the provider for the pharmaceutical plan. The ACE Health Benefits Consultant is reviewing the (1) existing Walgreen’s contract, (2) amendment, and the proposed Envision RX contract. Additionally, the Envision RX web site will provide information about what pharmacies they use. The site is: http://www.envisionrx.com/. ACE will be discussing this proposal at their next meeting.
Ed Kleppinger
President, ACE
ACE Update 9/30/08
Dear Colleagues,
I trust that your classes are going well and that you are enjoying the fall weather.
Just a few pieces of information for you:
The following faculty members have been appointed to the following committees:
Jim Van Tassel (MC) to the PGD Committee
David Lang (MC) to the Sabbatical Leave Committee
Christine Stanton (WVC) to the Load Committee
Roberta Berlani (WVC) to the District Health Benefits Committee
Thank you for your service!
The Calendar Committee has convened and is working on a calendar for the 2009/10 academic year. This contractual committee consists of ACE, Administration and SEIU representatives.
The District has proposed in the Health Benefits Committee a change in the provider for the pharmaceutical plan. The ACE Health Benefits Consultant is reviewing the existing
1. Walgreen’s Contract/Prescription Service
2. Walgreen’s Contract Amendment (2006)
as well as the
3. Proposed Envision RX Contract.
Additionally, the Envision RX web site will provide information about what pharmacies they use. The site is: www.envisionrx.com.
ACE is waiting for the Implementation Document that will also be reviewed by our consultant. As soon as ACE has the consultant’s review/recommendation it will be posted on the ACE web site.
ACE and the District are continuing negotiations on the 2005-08 contract.
Some WVMCCD budget information and comments:
In the budget, approved at the Sep. 18 Board meeting, there was a decision
to use almost all the money in the 3% contingency fund as well as a million
dollars from the Fund 17 Carryover. It is not clear that this money will
ever be paid back. There has been no discussion on how the remaining amount
of Fund 17 would be distributed. It is interesting to see where the cuts
are. Full-time instruction at WVC went down about $400,000, the non-instruction
and associate increased; at MC the full-time instruction decreased by $700,000
and their associate instruction decreased by $1.2 million. How can we make
enrollment with these huge cuts in instruction? Are there any administrative
cuts? It is difficult to compare this year’s budget to last year’s
budget without actual figures. We have requested the actual figures from
the District.
Ed Kleppinger
President, ACE
ACE Update 9/15/08
Colleagues,
Hope the beginning of the fall semester is going well and that your classes are off to a good start.
California has not yet agreed on a State budget. Some faculty members have asked about the ability of our District to meet its payroll. The payroll can be met for six months and then the District can borrow if there is no State budget.
The spring semester schedules should have been turned in. There have been questions about the Monday final exams in May. For the Monday only classes the final exam will be given during the last two hours on May 18; the Monday-Wednesday classes could schedule their final on May 27 or 29 or 30.
We have received questions about badges. It appears that badges have been
used at West Valley College for several years. We consulted our attorney and
he indicated that issuing badges may be a managerial prerogative, and even
if not, when they were first issued they were not challenged. As of now, it
is optional as to whether one must WEAR a badge. If the District
attempts to make wearing the badge mandatory, our attorney thinks that would
amount to a mandatory subject of negotiations. Since the badges have been in
place at West Valley for more than a year (we assume this is true), we will
wait and see if the District tries to make this mandatory.
One good note is that at last Wednesday’s District Council meeting, one of the lead consultants on the Organizational Study, Larry Toy, stated that the District deficit is between $5 to $8 million and not $15. More updates on this and other matters as they are made in councils.
Ed Kleppinger
President, ACE
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT REMINDER
9/7/08
8/28/08: Faculty members are needed for the following:
Committees:
Load Committee: one faculty member from West Valley College
Sabbatical Leave Committee: one faculty member from West Valley College
PGD Committee: one faculty member from Mission College
ACE Negotiating Team:
Looking for faculty members interested in working on the negotiating team and
with the ACE Council for the 2008-2011 contract. This team will not start
working until the 2005-2008 contract has been completely negotiated. See
the ACE Bylaws for more information.
Contact Susanna Pancella at susanna_pancella@wvm.edu if you have questions. If you would like to apply please send a statement of interest and any pertinent background information.
RETIREMENT INCENTIVE APPROVED
The incentive was approved by the Board at the July 17 meeting. There was discussion concerning the amount of savings the District was realizing. ACE has requested the calculations.
There were 37 faculty members who submitted their name for the incentive. The breakdown by college and retirement window is as follows: Note: Window 1 is August 2008 and Window 2 is July and August 2009.
West Valley College: 25
Window 1 = 3 Window 2 = 22
Full-time faculty = 21 Part-time faculty = 4
Mission College: 12
Window 1 = 1 Window 2 = 11
Full-time faculty = 7 Part-time faculty = 5
Human Resources will contact these faculty members to explain the process they must follow in order to retire and receive the incentive.
Some other employee units have been offered a retirement incentive.
Susanna Pancella
ACE Secretary
FACE (Friends of ACE) PAC Announcement 8/28/08
FACE (Friends of ACE)
PAC Announcement
This is an invitation to all interested faculty – active or retired, part-time or full-time.
We would like to redesign and reorganize our political action committee. If you are interested in being part of such an endeavor please or if you have any questions please contact Ed Kleppinger at ed_kleppinger@wvm.edu