April 22, 2013

 

 

Minutes of the April 1, 2013, meeting was approved.

 

 

John Capps, Will Sandidge, John Poole, David Lightfoot, Joey Fronheiser, Leticia Forster, David McGee, Linda Daye, Irene Wheeler, Gayle Kiger, and Dianne Sykes

 

Data as Of Thursday (4/25/2013)

 

 

 

 

 

Joey reported he is busy with QEP planning and moving forward with the reaffirmation in 2015.

 

John C. reported he felt a feeling of happiness Campus-wide since the good news from the SACS’ Visiting Team. He stated interviews with the faculty and administration is where the Visiting Team was convinced of a new culture and a long standing initiative here at CVCC. John C. thanked everyone for their hard work, stating this took a herculean effort by an extraordinary group of people. He requested David M. let the faculty know how much he appreciated all of their hard work. Will stated their efforts were very impressive.

 

 

None at this time.

 

 

 

Leticia stated she would like to know how it is determined who receives the cell phone stipend. She stated she felt the deciding factor should be position held by the employee and not the employee. Leticia will discuss this with the Facilities and Finance Committee to review the present policy. John P. stated he would like for he and David L. to attend this meeting. John C. stated he would like to see a current list of who is receiving the stipend.

 

Leticia also discussed an issue of work-related phone calls being answered outside of normal working hours. She stated when this occurs, the employee must be compensated for their time unless they are exempt.

 

Discussions also included the Affordable Care Act and how the 29-hour work week for the wage employees is averaged—over a time period or for the entire year, and the maximum load for adjunct faculty. Clarification will be discussed with Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resource, Dr. Chris Lee.

 

 

Leticia discussed an issue that had been brought to her attention concerning technology problems occurring during a weekend class held here at CVCC. She stated there was no IT support available to correct the problem and questioned if there should be on weekends. David L. stated he was unaware of any problems that had occurred (Will stated he was unaware of any faculty having problems either.) and stated he did not have the manpower to cover the weekends. Leticia stated one suggestion is for employees to work a flex schedule. John C. stated he would like to know how often this happens and to which classes it involves. He stated he will discuss this issue privately.

 

 

Will distributed a proposed Fitness Center Rules Policy for approval. The President’s Cabinet made several changes and suggestions. Will stated he will discuss those with Jim Lemons. David M. stated information of times that classes are being held in the Fitness Center and unavailable to students should be posted on the College’s website.

 

 

David M. discussed adjustments to faculty salaries and asked where the College was in finalizing this. John C. stated the review of the salaries was complete, and at present, the current budget situation was being assessed. He stated they will look at the percentage of tuition increase for this year and student enrollment. John C. stated these increases for the faculty will be equity increases and not across the board.

 

Gayle also questioned about the wage earners salary adjustments. John C. stated this was also being reviewed. He stated the bonuses had been approved which will be issued on April 29 to those that meet the eligibility requirements.

 

 

David M. stated he had several questions concerning Professional Development funding. He questioned if the funds for mandatory professional development training is paid by their department or Professional Development. John P. answered if the training is required, the funds should come from the department. Will stated the departments are responsible for adding this cost into their budgets, and he will stress this in his meeting on Thursday with his reports. John C. stated it has to be this way as Professional Development funding is not guaranteed from year-to-year.

 

David M. stated the second question was in regard to tuition reimbursement amount and what is the limit a person can be reimbursed during one year. John P. stated tuition reimbursement is subject to the availability of funds and is currently benchmarked with James Madison University in-state undergraduate and graduate tuition rate. The policy can be found at the link below.  (www.cvcc.vccs.edu/Human%20Resources/Downloads/Educational%20Assistance%20and%20Continuous%20Learning%20Program%20Policy.pdf - defunct link)

 

David M. stated several had asked for $5-6,000 in tuition reimbursement. He stated since the total amount of all professional development reimbursement was less than the $75,000 budget, could the requested amount be given to the employee or should the reimbursement be at the rate of JMU as stated in the policy. John C. stated if there is a policy it needs to be adhered to. David M. stated the policy needs to be publicized so there is no confusion in the future.

 

David M. stated as he understood the policy, professional development is not available to part-time employees or adjunct faculty. John C. stated at this time it was not, but needed to be extended to include them in the future.

 

David M. questioned if faculty/staff could use professional development funds to purchase an iPad with the proper justification (but remain the property of the College). David L. stated he remembers that being discussed previously but not approved. John C. stated he did not feel professional development funds should be used to purchase equipment as funds would be quickly depleted and none left for conferences or activities. David M. questioned if the funds could be used to purchase apps. David L. stated maybe iTunes cards could be purchased and used to pay for the apps.

 

John P. discussed as to where the Professional Development Committee envisioned the process of deciding how the funds were to be allocated in the future. David M. stated the approval process includes going to the supervisor first, but in the future, perhaps it needs to then go to a sub-committee to review. John P. stated these funds are going to require prioritizing. David M. stated the employee would need to make a compelling case for their requests which would show a benefit to the College.

 

David M. questioned if there should be a cap on the amount of funds allowed per employee. He stated the committee is still struggling with this. John C. stated he felt there should be a cap (unless there is a true and compelling case presented) to provide as much of an advantage to as many employees as possible. John C. stated there should be separate caps for tuition reimbursements (based on JMU rates) and conferences. He stated the committee needs to decide the cap limit on conferences. Will stated he agreed with this.

 

 

David M. discussed the lack of parking on Campus for faculty and staff. He stated this has steadily gotten worse over the past few years but more complaints have occurred during the last few weeks. John C. stated he has heard reports that Workforce has been giving out parking passes to visitors who are taking up the parking spaces. He stated he will discuss this with Ruth. John P. stated he will look into relocating the storage trailers that are parked in Lot 6 to provide more parking. David M. stated there are 12 visitor 30-minute parking spaces behind Bedford Hall and suggested that some of those spaces be set aside for long-term (like someone there for a whole day) visitors instead of the 30 minute limit that currently exists. John C. stated Russell is investigating this problem and hopes there should be a solution by the fall semester.

 

Will reported House Bill 1184 contract agreements have been signed by all the school districts and forwarded to the VCCS. He stated kudos go to Judy and Muriel for all their hard work on this. Will also reported JMU has contacted the College wanting to talk about developing a guaranteed admission agreement. He stated today a team is traveling to the Appomattox County Schools to discuss math requirements for their Early College students. Will stated this is a busy week for his departments with the Academic Excellence, PTK, and Polis Award ceremonies taking place. Will also reported a signing between Lynchburg College and CVCC will take place in the next few weeks which will enable students to be dual enrolled at both colleges simultaneously. Will stated this agreement states after a student finishes high school and before they enter CVCC, he/she can take a course from Lynchburg College at CVCC prices. (Final admission to LC will depend on GPA.) He stated Lynchburg College will market this agreement.  

David M. had no report on the Faculty Association.

Joey had no report. 

John P. distributed the Local Funds and college Revenue Budget (2013-14) that will be presented to the Local Board members at their meeting on April 24 for their approval. He also reported five raised walkways will be installed to calm traffic. David L. asked if the roads need to be cut for the walkways, he would like for conduit be laid in the ground for the emergency communications. John P. stated he will request this be added in the design work. John P. reported the Student Center renovations will begin this summer, and the working drawings for the bathrooms will be sent to BCOM soon.

Linda had no report on the Classified Staff Association.

Gayle reported on the Part-Time Staff Association and stated the Pizza Fund raiser collected about $279.

David L. reported work on the mobile app for iPhones and smart phones continues and should be available soon. He also reported work continues on the emergency communication systems and ARMICS.

Leticia had no report from Human Resources.

Irene reported on the Compliance Certification and stated the group had completed 63% of the requirements.

Ruth was absent.

Mike was absent.

John C. distributed the Chancellor’s Goals Supporting Achieve 2015 and asked everyone to review these in order to establish goals for CVCC.

The meeting adjourned at 3:07 p.m.