District Academic Senate Exec. Meeting
October 6, 2008
District Office
Minutes
Members Present: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Angela Echeverri, Alex Immerblum, June B.
Smith, Ken Sherwood, Kindra Kinyon, Donald Gauthier
Guests present: None
1.
Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order at 3:45 pm. Agenda was
approved (Gauthier/Sherwood MSU)
2.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the 6/9/08 meeting were approved (Gauthier/Smith MSU.)
3.
Public Speakers: None
4.
Meeting Schedule and Locations for 08-09: Meeting schedule and locations were briefly
discussed.
Executive Meeting dates: 10/23/08, 12/11/08, 1/22/08, 2/26/09, 3/26/09, 4/23/09, and 5/28/09.
DAS General Meeting dates: 11/13/08, 2/12/08, 3/12/09, and 5/14/09.
Area C meeting: 10/25/08 at Compton Educational Center 10:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
5. Consultation Follow-Up: The possibility of changing the consultation meeting times was
discussed, but no consensus was reached. President Beaulieu argued that the district needs to
establish a policy to require consultation with faculty leaders on all acting administrative positions.
Gauthier stated the administrative hiring guide was updated a month ago. Beaulieu added that
Chancellor Drummond anticipates mid-year cuts for 2008-09 and severe budget cuts for next year
(2009-2010). Drummond proposed setting up an ad-hoc group as a subcommittee of the District
Budget Committee (DBC) for contingency planning. He added that there are 34 faculty positions for
which Notices of Intent (NOI) were approved that were not filled. Chancellor Drummond’s position is
that hiring of additional faculty positions will be frozen unless the process has been initiated.
Immerblum argued that if a hire was not completed because the applicant pool was not strong
enough, the college should not lose that position. Gauthier inquired about the state’s 75/25 full-time
faculty obligation. Beaulieu replied that the LACCD came up short of its full-time faculty obligation by
17 or 18 positions district-wide, which would result in a $ 1.5 million fine. The LACCD can request that
the Board of Governors (BOG) waive the fine for one year. Next year there will be pressure to hire
faculty to fill retirements.
6.
DBC Report: DAS President Beaulieu stated that the new Fiscal Policy Review (FPR) Committee
would hear from Trade and Mission on Wednesday morning. He added that the committee is larger and
more effective than the former Allocation Task Force. For example, minutes are kept of all committee
meetings, making it easier to keep track of decisions. All decisions regarding debt forgiveness will be
made on a case by case basis. He added that Southwest and Harbor have had chronic debt problems,
Valley and Trade are currently in debt, City, West, and Mission are breaking even, and East and Pierce
are financially healthy. Smith inquired whether the committee will generate policies that are uniform
for all campuses. Sherwood argued that there should be different funding levels for academic versus
high cost career and technical (CTE) programs. Beaulieu stated that the DBC has been trying to
address the funding of high cost programs, but the state budget crisis of the last few months has
derailed those discussions. Bimber agreed that CTE programs are not fully funded in program 100 and
are suffering as a result. Beaulieu added that Vice Chancellor Marvin Martinez’s salary will be paid by
with grant money. He inquired whether anybody would be interested in serving on an ad-hoc
committee to look at central accounts. Sherwood and Smith volunteered to serve.
7.
DCC Report (Kathleen Bimber):
Framework for Student Success: Vice President Bimber distributed a handout titled
“Framework for Student Success” which was approved by the DAS in December, 2007. The
document states that Basic Skills are Essential Academic Skills. She added that implementation
of all but two of the 17 recommendations would be locally determined. The district will take the
initiative in instituting a Student Success course (item #4) and spreading essential skills across
the curriculum (item #8).
 Essential Academic Skills (EAS): Bimber distributed a draft document titled “Essential
Academic Skills”. She asked that members review the document and discuss it at local senates.
Once approved, the form would become part of the course outline of record and would require
faculty to describe how students will gain skills in the following areas:
1. Effective Reading and Communication in the Discipline
2. Critical Thinking in the Discipline
3. Seeking Help form Academic resources or Student Support Services
4. Purposeful Collaboration
5. Self-Reflective Learning
Bimber explained that items number 3 and 5 may not be appropriate to all courses. She added that
the course outline of record already has some of this; Title 5 requires item 2 and the writing part of
item 1. The document would add purposeful collaboration and self-reflective learning. Immerblum
expressed concern about how to demonstrate essential reading skills and argued that many faculty will
need to receive training to be able to teach reading. Some faculty have expressed concern with
making the course outline of record even longer than it currently is. Bimber explained that a few years
ago, the DCC voted to combine the PNCR and course outline.
 Advanced Placement: A handout titled “Advanced Placement Credit” was distributed.
Discussion of this item was postponed.
 Credit by Examination: A draft of Board Rule 6704 was distributed. Bimber stated that it had
been approved by the DCC. Vice Chancellor John Clerx checked the document with legal
counsel. Faculty must assign a grade to a student who obtains credit by examination. Echeverri
stated that LAMC faculty wanted to know whether a student who receives a grade of C through
credit by examination, can decide to take the course in order to obtain a better grade. She
added that Vice Chancellor Clerx responded that a student would not be able to take the class
under such circumstances. The document will go to the full DAS for approval on November 13.

8.
Add Desk Problems: John Clerx explained that whether or not to have an Add Desk (and for
how long it would be open) was locally determined. Each college decides whether it wants an add desk
and how it will operate. A college can set up the last day to add whenever it wants. If faculty give add
slips to students and Admissions and Records are enrolling students at the Add Desk, classes may
wind up over-enrolled.
9.
EPAC Report (Bimber). Bimber distributed a handout titled “Draft language for Board Rule
101201 Article XII on Child Development Centers”. She explained that Child Development Center
(CDC) faculty are not part of state minimum qualifications. Before the 1980s CDC faculty were on a
separate pay scale. In the 1980s they were folded into the regular pay scale based on the premise that
the CDC is a lab school. The existing Board Rule (see handout-original language) has been causing
hiring problems. The new language has developed criteria for the CDC directors and teachers. The
minimum qualification used to be an associate degree; it is now a Bachelor of Art degree in Child
Development or a closely related field. Bimber added that LAUSD and Head Start require a Bachelor of
Arts degree for CDC teachers. This is an attempt to set local minimum qualifications in the absence of
state minimum qualifications. Bimber asked whether this Board Rule change would require a full DAS
review since EPAC already approved it. Beaulieu and Smith replied that it would not because it is
discipline specific. Beaulieu stated that the DAS Executive Committee can overrule EPAC in case of a
challenge and argued that this Board Rule revision needs to be approved, because administrators may
be tempted to hire people without the recommended qualifications. Beaulieu stated it could be sent to
the DAS as an information item. Immerblum argued that the revised Board Rule should go to the DAS
for review because it represents a significant change in minimum qualifications and not alternate titles.
Bimber countered that state minimum qualifications don’t exist for these faculty. Smith stated the DAS
should not overrule the discipline committee. Bimber added that teachers already hired without the
higher requirements would be grandfathered.
10. Salary Increase for Senior Staff (Beaulieu): Two weeks ago, the Board of Trustees approved
a 5% raise for the chancellor, vice chancellors and legal counsel. They also received an increase in
their travel expenses from $900 to $1500 a month. The new dean’s contract has no raises.
11. Automatic Deductions for Senate Dues (Beaulieu): This item was discussed at the July DAS
Executive meeting. East would like to have an automatic deduction provision, want to know if other
colleges would like to participate. Minimum amount that can be deducted is 5 dollars a month.
12.
Academic Matters in Contract
Distance Education (DE): Two handouts titled “On-line Instruction in the Los Angeles
Community Colleges” and “Online Instruction” were distributed. In 2007-2008, 5.6% of all
class enrollments in the LACCD were for on-line classes. The percentage of online instruction in
07-08 varied widely from one campus to another: City (1.8%), East (4.6%), Harbor (5.7%),
Mission (9.5%), Pierce (1.5%), Southwest (3.2%), Trade (6.6%), Valley (2.9%), and West
(24.4%). The rapid growth of online instruction is causing concern about quality. Chancellor
Drummond suggested forming a task force that looked at DE issues. Beaulieu stressed that DE
coordinators should report to the DAS. Kinyon stated that the Trade Senate approved a
substantive change document regulating DE because courses were being scheduled and staffed
without department chair knowledge and approval.
 Nursing: Issues regarding the load and compensation of nursing faculty have not been
resolved yet. A task force to address these issues was formed by the AFT; Bimber was the sole
DAS representative. The task force discussion turned to revamping the nursing program
curriculum. If an AFT task force is discussing curriculum it is infringing on Senate’s area of
authority. May need to form a joint Senate-AFT task force; an AFT task force should not be
meeting to discuss curriculum.

13.-Processes for Initiation of New Program: Smith requested a copy of program initiation
policies from different campuses. Bimber stated that City has its initiation policy under viability
and the Educational Planning Committee makes the decision. New programs must be initiated by
faculty and approved by the state; the state approval process requires president signature. Smith
added that Harbor has a problem because the college president wants to be able to hire full-time
faculty members in certain disciplines without going through a hiring prioritization process.
Beaulieu suggested one solution would be to hire FT faculty on a limited basis.
14. Plenary Session Attendance: Beaulieu stated that the DAS saved between $1200 to $1500
from the summit. Will try to give each college $100-125 to help pay for an additional faculty
member to attend the meting.
15.Academically Speaking Schedule: Beaulieu stated he has increased the run by 400 at minimal
cost. Newsletters will be in courier on Friday or Monday.
16.Announcements and Indications of Proposed Future Actions: None
17.Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by DAS Secretary Echeverri