Classified Senate Meeting
October 9, 2014
12:00-1:00pm, RHN-258
2014-2015 Classified Senate Officers
President: Sandra Belmares
Vice-President: Kevin Williams
Treasurer: Shawn Ledet
Secretary: Rachel Larsen
Past President: Monica Souza
4CS Representative: Deborah Knowles
Attendance:
Sandra Belmares
Kevin Williams
Rachel Larsen
Monica Souza
Quarmaine Bogan
Jerry Pair
Sarah Adamovich
Javier Arguello
Irina Marsant
Pamela Morrison
Barbara Izzo
Rick Brewer
Samuel Esquibel
Craig Hart
Kelly Irwin
Anne Danenberg
May Yang
Paul Raynard
I. Call to Order
 Meeting called to order at 12:04 pm.
 Welcome/introduction of our new Public Information Officer, Rick Brewer
II. Changes in Agenda
 Added introduction of new VPA Laduan Smedley, to speak briefly at 12:20pm
 Kelly Irwin’s report on accreditation moved to occur just before old business
III. Approval of Minutes
 Barbara Izzo motioned to approve both August and September 2014 minutes, Craig Hart
seconded, motion passed.
IV. Officer Reports
a. President - Sandra Belmares
 Executive Council update, a campus issue regarding a memorial tree, will be presented
at today’s meeting for voting.
 The new predictive analytics platform, Civitas, continues to be a big topic for discussion
as the district prepares to roll it out. A presentation on Civitas is scheduled on October
20th at DO for constituency representatives to attend.
 New travel reimbursement guidelines are in place in order to maintain compliance with
IRS regulations.
 Employee Satisfaction and Perceptions Survey – Dr. Jeffery will send a summary on this
survey soon via email.
 Student Equity Plan – Jim Collins gave an update on this plan at our last meeting. If you
would like to serve as a member on the Student Equity Plan Advisory Committee,
contact Sandra.
 Student Success and Support Program Plan – The final draft sent to the D.O. for Board
review. It will be delivered to the State Chancellor’s Office on 10/17/14.
b. Vice President – Kevin Williams
 The Student Senate met and made two new appointments earlier this month.
c. Treasurer - Shawn Ledet
 We currently have $3,277.06 in our account. The rummage sale raised $514.48.
d. Secretary - Rachel Larsen
 No Report
e. Past President - Monica Souza
 Monica attended the State Chancellor Consultation conference.
V. Accreditation Update (moved up in the Agenda) – Kelly Irwin
 The accreditation teams met last month and are currently writing. Drafts are due at the end of
November, due to the D.O. in early spring, then the team gets documents during the summer,
then the visit happens around October 2015.
 There will be two important surveys being emailed regarding 1. shared governance participation
and 2. general accreditation. Please encourage fellow employees in your area to fill-out the
survey. The survey results will be incorporated in the Accreditation writing.
 Please refrain from sending your own surveys, so we don’t inundate people with too many
surveys.
VI. Old Business
a. Reminder – Board Agendas and Minutes are available online.
b. Senate Sub-Committees – Please sign up. People are still needed.
c. SCC Standing and Non-standing Committees – please take a look at the list and sign up if you’re
interested. FSAG and Sustainability especially need classified employee representation.
d. ESTEEM Program – Participants are needed. See Sandra if you would like more information
about becoming a part of this program.
e. New smoking standard – Suggestion made that the DSA in front of the Business Building needs
to be bigger or moved.
ADDED TO AGENDA - Laduan Smedley
 Laduan introduce himself as the new VPA, he shared that he started as a classified employee
and that he’s here to help us so we should feel free to come to him with questions or concerns.
 Laduan entered as we were discussing the new smoking standard and was asked when the new,
permanent structures would be in place. He said he would find out and return with some
information. He returned to the meeting with an update that the structures should be arriving
in the next couple of weeks.
VII. New Business
a. Professional Development Opportunities - Sandra Belmares
 Classified Leadership Academy (CLA) – Session 1 “Pathways to Success” is schedule on
Friday, October 17th, 2014, at the Ethan Way Center. This workshop will present
suggestions and best practices for creating a great resume and interviewing.
b. AB 2558, Legislation for Professional Development Update – Monica Souza
 Monica Souza and Tyler Wyckoff will be attending a statewide Professional
Development Clearinghouse Summit on November 17th, hosted by the State
Chancellor’s Office, as representatives of SCC’s classified employees.
c. Classified Survey on Governance Participation – Discussion
 A suggestion was made to send out a survey to classified employees to find out why
classified employees don’t feel encouraged or supported to participate in shared
governance. However, the Accreditation team is one step ahead and already planning to
release this survey soon. When the survey comes through your email, please fill-out the
survey. These survey results will be used to inform the Accreditation report and
actionable items for improvement.
d. Classified Summer Charette Results – Discussion
The charette provided two prompts for discussion 1. How can we foster engagement with new
and returning students to ensure they stay connected with the resources they need to be
successful in their academic goals? 2. How can we identify and support students who are in
danger of failing, going on academic probation/dismissal, and/or dropping out?
The link to the results from the Summer 2014 Charette was emailed to everyone at SCC. Based
on the results, do you have ideas about how we as classified employees can implement some of
the suggestions that came out of the charette?
 Be more friendly and approachable with students
 Addressing students as Mr. or Ms. may bring about a change in attitude from students
 Be more knowledgeable about the campus and its services
 Provide tours of the campus for employees, especially new ones, so that they are
familiar with the various campus departments and resources
 Coordinate a scavenger-hunt on campus as part of the convocation activities, for
example, instead of a charette, for employees to learn about the campus resources for
students
 At the spring semester Classified Retreat do a breakout session that covers the topic of
campus resources for students, such as presentations from various departments that
provide services to certain student populations
 At the new Classified employee orientation provide detailed information about campus
resources that exist to help students be successful
 At the Connections Training offer information about the topic of campus resources for
students
e. Campus Issue Form – Planting a Memorial Tree
 Executive Council members asked the Foundation to work on a policy for these types of
requests in the future so SCC has a formal procedure in place.
 Classified Senate agreed that we should have a formal procedure in place, and we
would need more information in order to vote, including, where the tree and plaque
would be placed and whether there are building infrastructure implications.
f. SCC Standing Committee Reports
i.
Campus Development– Karen Chewning could not attend but provided the minutes
from the last meeting. These will also be posted on the web.
ii.
Campus Safety – Karen Chewning could not attend but provided the minutes from
the last meeting. These will also be posted on the web.
iii.
Honors and Awards – May Yang
 The committee will be accepting nominations for the Celebration of
Excellence awards. Can be either an individual or a team. The criteria will
be out soon. Recipients will be recognized at our spring Convocation.
g. Classified Sub-Committee Reports
i.
Classified Bylaws & Constitution – Revised Area Reps List draft
 By show of hands, the revised area reps list was voted in with 10 “yes” votes,
0 “no” votes, and 1 “abstention.”
ii.
Fundraising – Monica Souza
 Still working on shirt sales. She is currently working with a vendor.
h. District Committee Classified Tri-Chair Reports – (Hold for the next meeting)
i.
District Budget Committee – Taunya Wattier
ii.
District Matriculation Coordinating Committee – Robert Heisleman
iii.
International Education Committee – Monica Souza
VIII. Good of the Order (Hold for the next meeting)
a. Rummage sale outcome – Karen Chewing
b. LRCCD Adopted budget for 2014-2015
c. Computer access for XP users
d. Student Guides
IX. Adjournment
 Meeting adjourned at 1:02 pm. Next meeting is November 13, 2014, RHN-258.