District Academic Senate Executive Meeting
July 14, 2011, 1:30-3:30 pm, District Office
Minutes
Attendance: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Angela Echeverri, Alex
Immerblum, Don Gauthier, Lourdes Brent, Josh Miller, Adrienne Foster
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order at 1:32 pm. Agenda was
approved (Gauthier/Foster MSU). DAS President Beaulieu welcomed newly elected Los Angeles
Valley College Academic Senate President Josh Miller to the DAS Executive Committee.
2. Approval of Minutes DAS Executive Meetings of 5/26/11: Minutes for 5/26/11 meeting were
approved with several corrections (Gauthier/Miller MSP).
3. Public Speakers: None
4. Budget Update: Beaulieu reported there is not much news, but state revenues are tracking lower
than originally expected. Patrick McCallum is predicting a mid-year cut, but we don’t expect any
more news out of Sacramento until mid December. The District Budget Committee (DBC) met
yesterday. Allison Moore from Southwest College will be a voting representative on the DBC
Executive Committee. Beaulieu stated he wants to appoint her to the DBC as an official member.
He reported that the colleges are proceeding with the 5% cut and a contingency plan. He added
we would probably wind up with a 7.5-8% cut this year. Foster asked if the colleges could get their
local assistance funds in time for FLEX day. The LACCD allocation formula is being reexamined
within the DBC Executive.
5. Bond Update: Beaulieu reported that at yesterday’s Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting newly
elected Trustee Scott Svonkin referred to the need for reform to eliminate waste and fraud in the
bond program. In the afternoon session, Chancellor LaVista identified steps that have been taken
to address the bond problems and said further actions will be taken. Former Board Vice President
Miguel Santiago was elected as Board President. Tina Park was elected as the new first Vice
President of the Board and Nancy Pearlman was elected as the second Vice President. The Los
Angeles Times is still working on additional articles focusing on the bond program at Mission and
West. California State Controller John Chiang was at the BOT swearing in ceremony. A report
from the independent review panel is expected in September. Alex Immerblum asked to put the
issue of Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FFE) on the Bond Steering Committee (BSC)
agenda. He noted that a new building is going up at East with sled chairs and it would be helpful
to have a position on the type of furniture we want. Stadium or layered seating does not work for
group work. Gauthier has headed up a committee working on developing smart classroom FFE
guidelines, including seating. Beaulieu replied he would place the issue on the agenda of the BSC
meeting on Tuesday, August 2 at 8:30 am (Hearing Room).
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6. Shared Governance Problems: Beaulieu reported that the Trade governance issues came up in
consultation. The chancellor subsequently met with Trade Senate President Lourdes Brent over
lunch and later with President Chip Chapdelaine. La Vista stated he believes things can be much
improved and he wrote a letter in response to the concerns. City is dealing with a history of
problems with Jamillah Moore. A dean was put on administrative leave under strange
circumstances, and several faculty are upset about it. Echeverri briefly discussed the history of
ethnic tensions and hiring problems at Mission.
7. Senate Reassigned Time: Gauthier discussed BOT Rule 10404 (from November, 1985), which
stipulates reassigned time guidelines for senate leaders that are very low. The ASCCC and Title 5
regulations have guidelines for reassigned time. The AFT also has guidelines so that faculty with
differential pay won’t be penalized by taking positions with reassigned time. Gauthier is reviewing
this documentation. Beaulieu said perhaps we should argue for time based on college size, not for
a one size fits all solution. We would argue that the amount has to be mutually agreed upon.
Gauthier stated it should not be the purview of the college president. Bimber said AFT presidents
have a standard amount of reassigned time. The chapter president and grievance representative
get time based on FTEF of each campus.
8. Administrator Hiring Completion: Beaulieu believes we are very near an agreement. There has
never been a district administrative hiring policy; Valley is the only college that has a formal policy.
At the consultation we learned that the cabinet had signed off on the draft policy without DAS
approval. Since this is a consultation matter, Beaulieu is arranging a meeting with senior staff.
Beaulieu and AFT President Joanne Wadell will meet with President Chip Chapdelaine (Trade),
President Marvin Martinez (Harbor), and Deputy Chancellor Adriana Barrera. We have agreement
on the two main points: the college president cannot sit on the committee that refers candidates to
him/her. The second is that the number of faculty will remain proportional (“in balance”) to the
number of administrators, at a roughly 6-4 or 6-3 ratio. The policy states that there has to be a
majority of administrators on the administrative hiring committees. On a panel of five, there will be
two faculty members to three administrators. The trick is that the current language allows for the
committee chair to add more members without a stipulated limit. Some of the classified unions
want to have representation on the hiring panels. Two proposed options would be four
administrators: two faculty: and one staff for a total of seven. Another option would be 6
administrators: four faculty: one staff for a total of 11. There are some positions that might call for
more Senate than AFT representation (Institutional Effectiveness or Workforce development).
Brent discussed B531, which does not require faculty representation for hiring of temporary
administrators. Immerblum reported that several associate deans have been promoted to full
deans without any process at East.
9. Ed Code/Contract Dispute: Beaulieu stated he is making some progress on this front. We
believe the contract is in violation of the California Education Code. Article 33 of the contract
states there should be a joint AFT/Senate role in the prioritization of faculty positions. ASCCC Vice
President Michelle Pilati will poll the Executive Committee and see what they know about union
intrusion on prioritization. Brent shared an e-mail from Trade AFT President Carol Anderson,
referring to the section in Article 33 which states the college president, AFT, and Senate will agree
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on faculty hiring. As long as there is no agreement between the AFT, Senate, and the college
president at Trade, faculty hiring will be held up.
10. District Enrollment/Priority Enrollment: Beaulieu said there are two issues:
a. New Student Priority Enrollment: Vice Chancellor Delahoussaye wants to see a change
in priority enrollment. Under the current rules, new students out of high school are getting
the short end of the stick and cannot enroll in the classes they need.
b. Districtwide Priority Enrollment Registration: East raised the issue of the unexpected
consequence of having district wide enrollment. There is concern that a continuing student
from Pierce (or another college) can enroll at East and take slots away from new and
continuing East students.
Beaulieu said that even if we agree that districtwide priority enrollment registration is a problem,
we’ve been told that there is no technical fix, short of abandoning the district wide application
process. Current technology cannot handle distinguishing between terms, according to IT. There
is at least one college (East) that would like to see the current process dropped, whereas Trade
and City want district wide priority enrollment maintained. We don’t have any data yet on the
effects of the new system. The number of students impacted is not known, for starters. Gauthier
stated large colleges offering many sections would attract a lot of students from other colleges
with limited offerings. Echeverri asked when the current district wide system kicked in. Immerblum
stated he thought it happened when the colleges aligned their schedules. Foster said when we
shifted to a districtwide application, registration appointments were originally not districtwide, but
determined locally instead. Brent and Beaulieu believe the registration priority appointments
changed recently, either in Fall 2010 or Spring 2011. Immerblum argued that if native students
can’t finish their senior level, it makes enrollment management more difficult. He added that the
LACCD’s attempt at better enrollment management is taking away the ability of each college to
reach the solution it needs He argued that enrollment priority should be a college decision.
Beaulieu replied it would take a lot of time to undo the current process, given the need to consult
any change. He also thought it was unlikely the BOT would approve it. Beaulieu will talk to Jeremy
Allred, Dean of Admissions at East, to learn more about their concerns.
11. Contract Negotiations Report: Beaulieu and Gauthier met with the AFT negotiating team
chaired by Armida Ornelas from East. They discussed the evaluation article and suggested
various improvements. Gauthier noted that the evaluation form has three columns: meets
expectations, exceeds expectations, or needs improvement. However, the final part of the form
offers three different choices for the overall evaluation: satisfactory, unsatisfactory, or needs
improvement; there is no option for exceeds expectations. Miller brought up the issue of fall
evaluations of probationary faculty. Beaulieu added that Article 42 (Tenure evaluation) calls for no
voting senate representatives on the tenure committee. The AFT brought up a good point as to
why, arguing that the only people voting should be department representatives. There was also a
discussion on the role of the senate representative, which could be to inform probationary faculty
of shared governance, monitor the process, and to give an outside perspective on faculty
performance/connection with campus at large. They asked Beaulieu to come up with some
suggested language. Bimber said faculty should be encouraged to get involved in collegewide
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governance during their probationary period. Otherwise they feel they do not have to participate
once they get tenure. Immerblum stated he wants to return to the evaluation article. We did not
have time to put a task force together, but the evaluation process needs to be overhauled. He
added that evaluations need to include more narrative, effectiveness, assessment, and student
participation. We need to focus on what is expected of faculty today, instead of 10 or 20 years
ago. Beaulieu said they did talk about making student evaluations part of the process. Immerblum
added most students do not write comments, which are the most valuable input. Beaulieu replied
the evaluation process combines judgment and professional growth. We need to get a group of
committed faculty on a task force. Immerblum argued the probationary period is the time we
should be working closely with faculty so they can improve; chairs are not trained in this area.
Bimber agreed the evaluation process needs to change to be more supportive of new faculty and
follow up on recommendations in a constructive manner. Brent offered to work with Immerblum on
this issue. Beaulieu suggested that maybe the answer is to make evaluation an ongoing process.
Foster agreed that many new faculty have little support or orientation; there should be district-led
support. Immerblum said many applicants for faculty positions do not understand the difference
between teaching-centered versus teacher-centered instruction. He would like to propose that the
ASCCC develop coursework that applicants can take to be more ready for the classroom. Our
minimum qualifications do not include knowledge of pedagogy or teaching methodology. The
LACCD was asked by the AFT to provide a new instructor academy; their response was to update
the webpage. Another topic that also came up in negotiations was Distance Education (DE). They
are going to propose that DE report to the shared governance committee, not the Educational
Policy committee. Beaulieu stated this is a problem because DE is primarily an academic matter.
He will complain to Ornelas and the Chancellor about the proposed changes. We need a provision
for what happens when the AFT and Administrators violate senate prerogatives. Brent asked if
there is a way we can check the contract language before it is finalized.
12. Achieving the Dream (AtD) Summit Plan: The summit has been scheduled for Friday,
September 23rd from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at Valley College. Deborah Harrington is back at the
district as a dean to work on student success (and, in particular, help coordinate AtD). Echeverri
inquired about an AtD faculty coordinator position at 0.5 reassigned time that may be paid for by
the LACCD. Miller said there was initial support for AtD at Valley, but now there are concerns
about the centralization of data and the definition of basic courses. Bimber replied that Vice
Chancellor Maury Pearl came to last Friday’s DCC meeting and clarified many of those issues to
the DCC’s satisfaction.
13. DCC Report: Bimber reported that the DCC’s last meeting focused on AtD. The next DCC
meeting will be on August 17.
14. Transfer Degree Update: At the June BOT meeting Trustee Scott-Hayes accused the DAS of not
being supportive of SB1440. Next Wednesday there is a big hearing at Southwest College with
Padilla to allow people to express their concerns about the bill. Elizabeth Atondo is helping
organize the articulation and transfer coordinators. Bimber said the CSUs are furious because
their suggestions were ignored (e.g. they wanted a degree named Early Childhood Education
instead of Child Development). Gauthier said students were not consulted on the development of
the transfer degree legislation and they don’t take the degrees we already have.. ASCCC Vice
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President Michelle Pilati did not reappoint the faculty representative on the SB1440
implementation panel who had been very critical of the implementation.
15. Strategic Planning Committee: Meets on July 21 from 1-4:00 pm in the Board Room.
16. Automatic Payroll Deductions: Michael Phillips retired today; he is the business office person
who was not willing to establish the payroll deductions for senate dues. Immerblum will meet with
Beaulieu to figure out how the LACCD can help with processing payroll deductions. The minimum
deduction is $5 a month, for 10 months. Immerblum added that East has a payroll deduction
process through the college foundation.
17. Personnel Commission: Beaulieu said the DAS needs to revisit the issue of how the Personnel
Commission is impeding academic programs.
18. Other:
a. Constitution/By Laws (not discussed)
b. Schedule: Meetings dates are for Fall 2011 are:

August 11: Executive Meeting

Sept 8: DAS at City

Sept 22: Executive Meeting

Sept 23: Summit at Valley

October 22: Area C? (2 weeks before plenary)

October 27: Executive Meeting

November 3-5: ASCCC Plenary Session in San Diego

November 17: Executive Meeting

December 8: DAS at Trade

December 15: Executive Meeting
19. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 4:21 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri
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