Professional Staff Leadership Team
Un-Adopted Meeting Minutes
May 14, 2012 2-4 pm
CJI, Room 219
Present
Johnny Aplin, Josh Murdock, Donna Kosloski, Julie Balassa, Shauna Anstey, Jeff Hogan,
Elisha Gonzalez-Bonnewitz, Todd Hunt, Dwayne Smoot, Liz Jusino
Absent
Jerry Reed, Joe Sarrubbo, Patti Riva, Mariann Swenson, Heidi Shugg
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
Approval of
Minutes
The April 9, 2012 meeting minutes were reviewed and will be updated before being
adopted.
Julie asked for clarity on the official “voting” process on topics and meeting
minutes for PSLT.
Topics of
Discussion
Liz informed the team there would be no formal agenda for the meeting.
She opened the meeting with the main theme of employee morale and concerns
over job security. She has a meeting scheduled with Dr. Stone on May 22 to voice
concerns on behalf of the professional staff and has two main topics:
Topic 1
Liz has been approached by other professional staff expressing concerns about
issues such as:
 Lack of job security
 Non-renewals of contracts
 Staff members leaving quickly with little explanation
 Some staff members being held to PDP’s and possibly placed on PIP’s
while others don’t have to have a PDP (why aren’t they required by all?) –
Inconsistent use
Additional comments:
 BOT meeting minutes show all contracts not renewed (may not reflect
employees who were asked to leave)
 Some cuts in positions may have to do with the current condition of the
budget
 Employees are giving 100% but still feel that they could be cut at any time,
leading to fear
 Lack of collaboration (shared governance)
 Concern was expressed that the qualities and innovation that got Valencia
the Aspen award are disappearing due to the current work load and low
PSLT Minutes
Page 2
March 19, 2012
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morale
Lack of understanding of where Valencia is headed – what is the
reorganization plan?
Staff feel overworked and that no reclassifications are being allowed
Questions about Brent Nakagama’s departure came up – why aren’t there
announcements when there is a change of staff?
Lower levels of staff feel invisible
Concern over the length of time it takes to fill a position
Concern over the current state of staffing could start to affect the student
experience
Staff members need to have “time” to be innovative and give more than
100%. Workload has staff overscheduled just to get the basics of a job
completed.
Discussion followed about creating a “tree” to show how these concerns factor into
the student experience and ideas for solutions were presented.
Student Experience
↓
Communication/Collaboration (shared governance)
↓
Reorganization → → → →
↓
↓
↓
PDP Contract renewals
Human Capital
Possible Solutions:
Better communication regarding the reorganization and what it means to each
department
Communication directly from Sandy Shugart
Cover staffing changes, reorg issues in the Grove
It was agreed that this conversation would be continued via email before the May
22 meeting with Dr. Stone.
Topic 2
Liz expressed concern over the hiring practices of staff and the lack of diversity,
particularly in the area of Latinos and the hiring of upper level positions. She is
working with HR to bring the Safe Place Program to the college and wants to have
more conversation with Dr. Stone on this topic.
PSLT Minutes
Page 3
March 19, 2012
Council
Reports
Elisha reported on the College Operations Council and distributed their meeting
agenda and documents. Some of the covered topics:
SPD Recommendations – tied more directly to an employee’s job
description
Grants – new form for the Grant Summary to make it easier to read
Career Service Compensation – paid time or comp time, overtime process
Josh reported that the College Planning Council discussion covered the upcoming
Big Meeting.
Liz Jusino and Julie Balassa have both volunteered to be part of a dispute
resolution committee.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 4:10 PM.
Next Meeting: June 11th, 2:00 – 4:00pm at East Campus, Room TBD