Minutes of the College Governance Council
December 6, 2016, 1 pm
Amherst Hall Room 2209
Members present: Debra Short, Sarah Jarrett, Cheryl Cunningham, Jill Markwood, Tom Sparhawk (chair), Lewis Bryant, Russell Dove, Francie Dye, Mike Bradford, David Lightfoot, Will Sandidge, Ken Bunch (recorder)
Minutes from 10/25/16 meeting:
Minutes from the last meeting on 10/25/16 were reviewed. Sarah pointed out two typos. Motion to approve by Tom Sparhawk, seconded by Brent Lester. Approved were then unanimously with recommendation for correcting typos on Communications Central.
Classified Staff Constitution Changes:
Francie Dye, chairperson of the classified staff committee, informed the governance committee that the classified staff committee constitution had been updated. Key points in the update are listed below. She also remarked on intentions to increase participation in committee events and efforts to improve inclusion by instituting “online voting” on committee motions. Motion to approve as proposed was voted on and passed unanimously.
Updates to the Classified Staff Association Constitution:
1. Defined in greater detail the objectives of the Classified Staff Association.
2. Updated process for amending the Constitution and calling special meetings when needed
3. Updated language in the Constitution to adapt to the Governance Committee model.
4. Added Commonwealth of Virginia definition of a classified staff employee.
5. Defined percentage of membership needed for a quorum (10%).
6. Established a process for online voting after meetings when needed.
7. Added more descriptive duties of Classified Staff Association officers and their terms as officers.
Minor Children on College Property:
Tom Sparhawk, chair of the Student Success Committee, introduced a proposal to change the existing children in the workplace policy in the Employee Manual and the suggestion about children in the college handbook for students. The proposal was to replace both of these statements with a new Minor Children on College Property policy. The main rationales were to make the two policies consistent and to create for students and staff a better way to achieve a life/work/school balance.
The document was distributed to the entire college staff and the only suggestion was to change the wording of Security Office to Police Office, and the change was made. He further stated that the policy as written was send by our Human Resources department to the VCCS office and they had reviewed it and found no legal or liability issues.
Discussion followed with questions about who was to remove disruptive children and what to do about children who were ill. The illness issue was covered in the presented policy and the question of whose responsibility it was to remove children was asked to be made clearer in the policy.
Additional suggestions about providing information or workshops about available day care and other options were suggested.
After the discussion Tom agreed to add wording to make it clear that it was the parent’s responsibility to remove the child if necessary from any situation where the presence of the child is problematic.
A motion was made and seconded that the policy, as amended, be presented to the next President’s Council for their consideration. It passed unanimously.
Updated World Wide Web Content Policy and Addendum:
Ken Bunch passed out handouts of recommended changes to the World Wide Web Content Policy and Addendum that is posted in the online employee manual (see attached). These changes were made by Wil Perez and approved by the PR committee on 11/29/16. The committee reviewed the handout with the changed areas highlighted and made some general remarks with no changes…with the exception of item… X. Policy Implementation Grace Period.
Mike and Sarah made suggestions about the wording and proposed deleting the first two sentences….
“This policy was drafted on January 28, 2015 by the System Administrator and forwarded to the Public Relations & Marketing Committee for review. Effective date is March 6, 2015.”
Then changing the wording of the following sentence to read….
Content Owners will be expected to have the pages for which they are responsible compliant with the parts of this policy which pertains to them by the first day of fall semester classes, or one month following that date as a final deadline.
Ken Bunch said he would make the appropriate changes to the policy WORD document so that it can be re-submitted for the college governance committee review and approval at their next meeting on Jan. 31, 2017.
With no further questions or comments, the meeting was adjourned at 1:50pm.
The next meeting is Jan. 31, 2017.