District Academic Senate Executive Meeting
March 11, 2010
12:00-2:00 p.m.
District Office
Minutes
Attendance: David Beaulieu (President), Kathleen Bimber (Vice President), Angela Echeverri
(Secretary, Mission), Alex Immerblum (Treasurer, East), Tom Rosdahl (Pierce), Don Gauthier
(Valley), Kindra Kinyon (Trade)
Guests: Financial Aid Directors: Vernon Bridges (City), Dennis Schroeder (Mission), Anafe
Robinson (Pierce), Linda Fong (East), Cynthia Sandico (LACCD Office); Director of Accounting
Andres Guerrero (LACCD)
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order by President Beaulieu at
12:15 p.m. Agenda was approved (Kinyon/Gauthier M/S/P).
2. Approval of Minutes for January 28 Meeting: Minutes for 1/28/10 were approved with
corrections (Immerblum/Gauthier M/S/U).
3. Public Speakers: None
4. President’s Report: Beaulieu reported that five candidates for the chancellor position are being
interviewed today and tomorrow by the Board. All of them are external. An announcement may be
made as early as tomorrow. He mentioned that some of the Board members wanted to prescreen
the candidates in the beginning of the process. The new chancellor may not be in place until July.
The next consultation meeting will be on Monday 3/22/10 at 2:00 pm. Bimber asked members to get
curriculum chairs to go over the Board rules and administrative regulations (E-regs) under review.
The next DAS meetings will be on 4/8/10 (West) and May 13 (Valley).
4. Late Exclusions, Grades (Andres Guerrero): Mr. Guerrero stated that the late submission of
exclusion and grade rosters is affecting financial aid and state apportionment. Each semester, a
list of pending exclusion rosters is given to Academic Affairs. One concern is that students may
get financial aid improperly if they are excluded too late. Additionally, state auditors may
question enrollment figures and seek reimbursement of funds and/or fine the district if the rosters
are not on file. Guerrero distributed a handout with a list of the compliance rate of exclusion
roster submissions by campus. One campus, Mission has gone completely electronic and has
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the highest compliance rate (80%). The lowest compliance was 31% and the district average
was 49%. He added that grades also affect financial aid eligibility, because students placed on
academic probation do not qualify for financial aid the following semester.
5. Financial Aid Support (Cynthia Sandico): The Financial Aid Managers discussed how faculty
could help advertise and increase student awareness of financial aid opportunities. Some faculty
are reluctant to allow classroom visits and distribution of materials by financial aid staff.
Robinson reported that this year’s financial aid disbursements were ahead of last year’s total of
$140 million. However, we are still not reaching a lot of students, especially those who think
(incorrectly) that they have to save their financial aid for later years. Fong stated that many
students do not understand the difference between the Board of Governors (BOG) fee waivers
and Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) applications. Beaulieu inquired whether financial aid might
be treated in the budget as a “flexible” categorical program. He added that the ASCCC has
dragged its feet on promoting financial aid, postponing a plenary breakout dedicated to the topic.
Echeverri mentioned that in the Faculty Teaching and Learning Academy (FTLA), she had
developed a list of campus resources, including financial aid contact information that could be
included in the syllabus. Rosdahl agreed that information in the syllabus would be very helpful to
students. Gauthier suggested having this information included in their orientation. Rosdahl
suggested giving presentations to new faculty as well. Immerblum reported that East will be
awarding 10,000 students financial aid this year. The term Financial “Awards” is viewed more
positively than Financial Aid. Beaulieu invited the group to come back to address the entire
DAS and urged the Exec members to keep up their efforts to boost awareness.
6. Bond Steering Update (tabled)
7. Budget (tabled)
8. Honorary Degrees and Professorships
9. Financial Transactions by Faculty
10. Student Success Report: Kinyon said she was presented with ARCCC data indicating that ESL
success rates at Trade are lower than those of their peers (and lower than English rates). She
stated she was not sure how to interpret the data. Beaulieu suggested she discuss the figures
with George Prather.
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Transfer Update: Efforts are going well, there is now a teaching faculty representative
attending from almost every college, along with the transfer center director. The next
meeting will be 4/6/10 at 2:30 pm at Trade. Seven California State University
representatives have been invited. The next meetings will be on May 11 and June 1.
Faculty Teaching and Learning Academy (FTLA): The 2010 FTLA is going very well at
Mission and will be featured in the next issue of Academically Speaking. Kinyon asked
about the status of the proposed Personal Development class (College or Academic
Success), which has counselors up in arms at Trade, as they argue that they alone have
the minimum qualifications to teach such courses. Bimber replied that Personal
Development does not have MQ’s defined at the state level. Instead it is a subject that we
have come up with and faculty can develop multiple MQs. She added the goal is to
involve more faculty in teaching the class and weave it into the departments and
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programs. The counseling portion would be under Personal Development 20 or 40, but
the discipline specific class could be taught under the departments. It also might be team
taught. Beaulieu replied that a committee was formed to look at this issue, but it has
languished. Additionally, under the current budget crisis it is unlikely that a mandatory
Personal Development course will be offered any time soon. Rosdahl opposed a
mandatory course, especially for CTE students. Beaulieu replied it was never designed
for students taking CTE or personal enrichment classes, but rather for those planning to
transfer. However, Vice Chancellor Gary Colombo and Dean Deborah Harrington have
not really supported the idea of a stand alone class.
Basic Skills Initiative (BSI) Staffing: Bradley Vaden is now working two days a week on
technology for the BSI. Lynn Wright from Pasadena City College will become the BSI
Director in two weeks. Dean Deborah Harrington will become the administrator over BSI.
As a result, only 20% of her time will still be dedicated to BSI, as opposed to close to 80%
up until now.
Common Assessment Exams: Beaulieu reported that Trustee Sylvia Scott-Hayes has
been pushing for a common assessment instrument for Math and English. The
assessment tests from one college are honored at other campuses in the district, but the
cut scores are skewed somewhat depending on the student population at different
campuses. Beaulieu added that having a common assessment tool does not necessarily
mean all schools would use the same cut scores. He added that he is open to the idea,
and that we need to have the discussion in any case. Echeverri mentioned that there are
problems with English assessment at LAMC, because a large percentage of students
have been reported to be misplaced into English 21 and usually have to wait a year to be
retested. Bimber replied there should be a challenge for the assessment tests. Beaulieu
added that if we are not going to adopt a common assessment, we should provide
Trustee Scott Hayes with an explanation. Immerblum said a common assessment would
result in potential cost savings. Beaulieu stated he would like to discuss the issue with the
Math Council, but they always meet on Wednesdays, when he has either DBD or a Board
meeting. He added that the state is considering a common assessment as well.
Immerblum said that he had concerns about cheating. Kinyon replied that Trade uses
ACT compass, which has an enormous bank of questions. She inquired whether the Cal
States have a common assessment
11. Administrator Hiring: Beaulieu stated that this topic came up in consultation and the DAS
should have some influence on the process. Six or seven years ago, after the Board adopted the
faculty hiring policy, work was supposed to have been done on a district administrator hiring
policy. However, nothing was ever developed, and Vice Chancellor Carleo assumed it would
happen locally between the faculty leaders and the administrators. In fall of 2009, Immerblum
heard that the Personnel Guides were being rewritten and renamed Human Resource (HR)
Guides. This was denied when Beaulieu inquired at that time, but work has now been done. One
essential question is the faculty role in administrator hiring. At Valley, President Tyree Wieder
and Leon Marzillier (the Valley Senate president at the time) worked out an administrator hiring
policy. The policy provides for faculty participation, but it is not assured at the district level. The
draft of the new district policy calls for faculty participation on all administrator hiring panels,
faculty senate and AFT representatives (at least one each), and possibly more if the committee
is larger than five total. Vice Chancellors Clerx, Hirsch, and Barrera argued that faculty
participation on administrative hiring panels was not part of their 10+ 1 duties. Beaulieu was told
the new HR guide would be finalized in two weeks. Immerblum said that he was also concerned
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about college presidents sitting on interview committees because it could unduly influence the
committee members. He argued the policy should specify in writing that a president should not
sit in on first round administrative interviews. Furthermore, he stated he did not know why
candidates could not be ranked. East does rank faculty finalists. Bimber replied that City does
not rank. Immerblum discussed the issue with ASCCC President Jane Patton who believes
faculty should be involved because administrators have retreat rights into the faculty ranks. The
voting ratio on a faculty hiring panel is 4 faculty to 1 administrator. Echeverri felt we would not be
able to get agreement on the president not sitting on the committee and Bimber concurred.
Beaulieu added that traditionally at East faculty had up to 40% representation on administrative
hiring panels.
12. Union Issues
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Faculty Hiring: Echeverri stated that there was an issue at LAMC in which two
counseling positions were posted by the Vice President of Student Services without going
through the prioritization process. Beaulieu stated it would be good to get a statement
from Chancellor Wieder that faculty hiring is primarily a Senate issue. He expressed
concern about articles 32 and 33 of the AFT contract. Kinyon inquired as to the time limit
on replacements, before positions get swept off the books. Bimber said there is no
automatic replacement policy at City. Rosdahl said they consider full time/part time ratios
heavily at Pierce. Immerblum stated that at East everybody applies the same way, but
they have created two lists: one replacement list and one growth list. Kinyon added that
the President of Trade requests a growth list only and specially funded positions are not
included in their hiring document. Bimber said most CTE deans are not following these
processes. Bimber replied that SFP’s are normally treated differently.
13. NSF Grants, CTE Stimulus Grants (tabled)
14. DCC Report: Bimber reported that six action items are coming to DCC tomorrow and will be on
the DAS agenda in May. One is a fix in the system to address an old Board Rule on the
transferability and degree applicability of ESL 3 and above. They are trying to get the changes
into the DEC system to transcript all the way to 1978. Vice Chancellor Clerx is supposed to finish
this before he leaves. Linda Larson-Singer is also working on it.
15. EPAC Report: Bimber distributed a list of HR denials broken down by campus. She stated that
community college credential permits need to be renewed every year by the vice presidents, but
some campuses are slow to get this completed. Carlos Covarrubias went through the list
yesterday. Beaulieu added that the situation is getting much better. There is a very small number
of faculty that are currently teaching without minimum qualifications.
16. Academically Speaking: Beaulieu reported that the next issue can include campus reports.
Send him your information and pictures.
17. Sustainability Institute (tabled)
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18. Proposed Future Actions and Announcements: Beaulieu stated that he needs a faculty
representative from each college for the Dolores Huerta Advisory Board. It is the Senate
President’s call. He added that all campuses also need a representative on the Technology
Policies and Planning Committee.
19. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
Minutes submitted respectfully by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri
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