Santa Monica College Faculty Association

Representative Assembly Meeting

May 17, 2007

Business 144

11:15 – 12:35 pm

Present : Barbara Baird, Fariba Bolandhemat, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Sandi Burnett, Fran Chandler, Steve Contarsy, Becky Curtis, Gail Edinger, John Kennedy, Richard Lavallee, Suzanne McDonald, Mitra Moassessi, Sue Moisan, Dana Morgan, Launa Nelson, Dave Phillips, Kathryn Pope , Jenny Resnick, Lantz Simpson, Eleanor Singleton, James Smith,

Howard Stahl, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher, Sumy Takesue, Odemaris Valdivia, Alicia Villapando, Edward Wilkinson.

Absent : Maria Alvarado, Vini Angel, Lee Axelrod, Rory Barnett, Sharon Bell, Chuck Brinkman, Ken Buckner, Lydia Canalita, Troy Cardenas, Brandon Ceballos, Susie Chapman, Ronn Davis, Gwen Dophna, Lawrence Driscoll, Karen Dumas, Tracey Ellis, Makiko Fujiwara-Skrobak, Claudia Garcia, Richard Goldenson, Pierre Goueth, Michael Gougis, Toby Green, Patricia Halliday, William Hogan, Christian Hart, Michael Kerze, Peter Lee, Emily Lodmer, Fran Manion, Ed Markarian, Colleen McGraw, Richard Mednick, Walter Meyer, Melissa Michelson, Joan Mills, Brenda Ness, Jeffrey O'Connell, Jim Pacchioli, Ernie Padilla, Nick Pernisco, Pauli Peter , Guadalupe Ramos, Ruth SanPietro, Jennifer Schofield, Michael Schwartz, Elisha Shapiro, Peter Sheridan, Linda Sinclair, Leon Singleton, Rita Soshnik, Susan Sterr, Gary Todd, Joy Tucker, Frank Turner, Robert Tyler, William Van Benschoten, David Wu, David Zehr.

Excused : Vicki Blaho, Tom Chen, Dennis Frisch, Martin Goldstein, Kym McBride, April Mizuki, John Quevedo, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein,

President's Report – Lantz Simpson

- SB 860 Sandi Burnett encouraged faculty to attend the rally in support of SB 860 on Sunday, May 27 at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 18 th Street just south of Wilshire from 4-6pm. August 11 will be the big rally in downtown L.A.

- May Revise to the state budget is out: COLA is 4.53%.

- May 14 Board of Trustees meeting : The sunshine letter was presented; the Board passed a resolution to look into the cost of solar panels on campus.

- SMCFA officers have recently met with Dr. Tsang and the new Vice President of Human Resources, Marcia Wade.

- Part-Time Party/Handbook Launch at Becky Curtis' home was a success.

- Arbitration Hearing on a salary dispute in DSPS (Disabled Students) took place last week. The issue is why the District has been paying instructors at .5 load factor (non-teaching) for classes that are listed as load factor 1.0. The administration threatened to cut three courses (Counseling 1H, 2H, and 921) in DSPS if no settlement was reached. A settlement was reached, but the administration went ahead and cut the classes anyway.

- Budget Committee/DPAC Update The first seven Budget Committee motions went to DPAC; five motions passed; the two motions pertaining to advertising and benchmarks failed. At the most recent Budget Committee meeting, motions were passed endorsing the recommendations contained in the Environmental Audit and proposing an education campaign promoting energy conservation on campus.

Approval of Minutes – May 3, 2007

M/S: Strathearn/Bolivar-Owen. Becky Curtis should have been listed as excused. Approved as amended.

Negotiations Report – Mitra Moassessi

Mitra highlighted the District's May 14 sunshine letter including changes to the definition of workload, part-time rights and responsibilities and evaluation procedure, and banking. Negotiations are scheduled to begin May 24, 2007 . Mitra read from a CalPERS press release which eliminates co-pays for preventative care, increases the office visit co-pay from $10-$15 and creates a High Performance Network. These cost-saving ideas should prevent any premium increase for this coming year. The initial salary proposal to classified—also negotiating at this time--was 1% for 07-08. The FA Distance Ed Committee should be constituted within the next few weeks.

Elections Committee Report – Sandi Burnett

The Faculty Association election will end May 25, 2007 at noon. All faculty are encouraged to vote for officers and for their department representatives. Ballot counting will take place on May 25 in the FA Office.

Strategic Planning Task Force Report – Kathy Sucher

Last week signaled the end of the task force's information-gathering phase and it will move on May 23 towards articulating the strategic issues that face the District.

For the Good of the Order

Mitra reported on the proposed revision of Title V to grandfather in districts that are currently offering courses outside of their districts.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kathy Sucher