November 20, 2003
Members Present: Judy Benavides, Gene Brown, Fran Emory, Charlie Errico, Barbara Hathaway, Joe Horobetz, Barbara Howard, Diane Kownacki for Alison Baker, David Lavis, Michel Marette, Ella Moore, and Ellen Wertman.
Members Absent: Ray Bailey, Kathryn Blackwell, Jean Braden, Gert Heslin, Patti Hill, and Kurk Lew.
1. Call to Order: Dr. Errico called the meeting to order at 2 p.m.
2. Review and Approval of the Minutes: Copies of the minutes were distributed at the meeting. The minutes were approved.
3. Chair’s Report: Dr. Errico welcomed the group, and stated that during the next meeting, the group would divide into two groups. The classified members would review the Classified Emeritus nominations and the remaining members would review the President’s Sabbatical applications. The next meeting will be December 18 at 2 p.m.
Dr. Errico reported that no one has applied for the President’s Sabbatical. He urged members of the committee to go back to their campus and encourage faculty to applying. Dr. Errico will send out a college-wide email to remind faculty to apply.
David Lavis will check with Janet Bush regarding the Classified Emeritus nominations.
The committee is still short 1 Manassas classified staff.
4. Vice President’s Report: The Classified Compensation Committee met and submitted a recommendation to the President regarding equity increases for classified staff. The Administrative Council allocated $150,000 for equity adjustments for classified staff. The committee utilized a formula accounting for the average salary of cohorts and longevity. The committee worked under a very tight time frame to ensure that the increases were applied prior to the 2.25% increase effective November 25. The purpose was to increase the base salary of employees prior to the application of the 2.25% increase, thereby awarding a higher dollar amount to affected employees. The committee recommended that 157 classified employees receive an equity increase. The President approved the recommendation, and the increases will be seen in the December 1 paycheck.
There was discussion regarding the best way to use the $150,000. Dave Lavis raised a question as to why the money could not be used across the board, so that classified staff would receive a 2.5% increase in November instead of the state allotted 2.25%. Dave added that he thought a published explanation as to why and how Richmond allocates money for increases would be helpful.
Dave Lavis made a motion that the Administrative Council should provide an estimate of the amount of money available to fund the classified compensation plan by October 1 of each year. All issues including equity should be examined regarding the distribution of funds and the Classified Compensation Committee should have 2 months to formulate recommendations. Gene Brown seconded the motion.
There is no news to report regarding the executive searches.
5. Chancellor’s Faculty Advisory Committee: Ray Bailey was not in attendance. This item will be discussed at a future meeting.
6. New Business:
A. ERP Sign-up date – December Retirements: In the discussion, it was noted that 6 months notice for a December retirement seemed reasonable. This item will stay on the agenda. A copy of the ERP policy is attached to the minutes.
B. Summer Work Schedules: The report by Institutional Research was distributed. There was some discussion that the schedule was too restrictive, the mandatory schedule didn’t work, being mandatory didn’t help morale, and there was no financial savings. The question was raised as to could an alternate schedule be implemented year round. This item was tabled until the committee members have an opportunity to review the report prepared by Institutional Research.
C. Teaching Faculty Compensation Issues: The same inequities that exist in the classified staff exist with faculty. The ranges have increased. New faculty have been hired at equal or higher salaries than the faculty who have served for many years. Diane Kownacki contacted the VCCS regarding this issue. The VCCS did not appear to recognize this as being an issue. Diane Kownacki has contacted Ruth Stanton and Ray Bailey to request a copy of the SACS study, and will forward a copy to the VCCS upon receipt. This item will be kept on the table.
D. Part-time Appointments with Benefits: There was discussion regarding adjuncts being able to purchase benefits. This topic will require more research. Is the college able to sponsor a group policy? Adjuncts are not guaranteed employment, so how would the group benefit work? What are other colleges doing?
The committee is going to give more thought regarding the 80% FTE employment with benefits. With this policy the college could develop a ten-month contract. This would allow counselors/librarians, with the permission of their supervisors, to have a more flexible schedule and also open the door for assistant deans to have a contract that would pay them for administrative duties during the summer.
7. Other Issues: Is there any outcome from the working groups appointed by the President?
Dave Williams provided a criteria grid to evaluate the Presidential Sabbatical candidates. Dave Lavis will contact Dave Williams to obtain a copy of the grid.
8. The meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
6.9860 Enhanced Retirement Program
The
enhanced retirement program (ERP) allows qualified teaching faculty to continue
teaching at Northern Virginia Community College after retirement with a reduced
workload. This program also allows NVCC
to continue to benefit from the expertise of retired faculty.
A. Program: Nine-month teaching faculty
who are appointed as members of the ERP faculty are assigned a workload that is
up to 40 percent of the full-time load for faculty in the particular teaching
discipline. This assignment may
continue with the mutual agreement of the College and the faculty member for
three years, or six semesters beyond formal retirement. Teaching in the program must start the Fall
Semester immediately following the effective retirement date and may continue
for no more than three (3) years after that.
There shall be no extensions of this three (3) year limit.
Faculty
appointed as members of the ERP faculty will be paid on a proportional basis at
the same rate of pay they received just prior to retirement. No fringe benefits are paid for members of
the ERP faculty beyond those otherwise available to any retired state
employee. No salary increases will be
granted to ERP faculty members during their three years of service.
Members
of the ERP faculty are appointed to serve only at the campus from which they
retired. The program carries no right
or expectation of an appointment at any other campus or VCCS college.
B. Eligibility: To participate in the ERP
faculty program, applicants must be members of the instructional nine-month
faculty and must meet all of the following criteria:
1. Officially retire from full-time state
service,
2. Have summary evaluation ratings of
"very good" or "excellent" in every year for the five years
immediately prior to retirement.
3. Submit all required application and
retirement materials before October 1 of the faculty member's last full-time
teaching academic year.
4. Be approved for appointment to the ERP
faculty by the College President.
C. Application and Appointment Process:
1. Faculty
members planning to retire and interested in the ERP faculty program must:
a. Discuss the possibility of appointment to
the ERP faculty with the division dean.
b. Complete an application for appointment to
the ERP Faculty, NVCC form 105-013, and send it to the division dean before
October 1.
c. Before October 1, send a letter to NVCC's
Human Resources Department announcing retirement and giving the effective date.
2. Evaluation of the application:
a. The division dean will review the
application for appointment to the ERP faculty with the faculty member's personnel
record and will make a recommendation regarding the appointment for the
provost's review.
b. The provost will review the application
materials, consider the division dean's recommendation, and send the materials
to the President with a recommendation.
c. The President will review the application
materials, consider the recommendations of the dean and provost and notify the
faculty member regarding appointment to the ERP faculty. Applicants will be notified regarding
appointment to the ERP faculty by November 15.
The President's decision is final and may not be appealed through the
faculty grievance process or to the Chancellor.
D. Work Assignment:
1. The workload of ERP faculty includes teaching,
student advising and College service, as well as maintaining currency in the
discipline. The base workload is
calculated using teaching credits. The
40 percent maximum is calculated based upon the standard teaching assignment
within the particular discipline, with obligations for advising and service
scaled back proportionally.
2. There is no overload or course release
available for ERP faculty.
3. ERP faculty may teach in the summer session,
as well. There is no obligation on the
part of the College to appoint ERP faculty to summer teaching positions. If a ERP faculty member is appointed to
teach in the first summer session after retirement, the summer pay is
calculated in the same way as is continuing full-time faculty pay. After the first summer, ERP faculty will be
paid regular adjunct rates for summer teaching.
4.
Faculty appointed as members of the ERP faculty meet with their division deans
in the Spring to discuss their teaching assignments for the following academic
year. The faculty member and the
division dean will mutually agree on the teaching assignment, and both will
sign a letter of agreement wherein the specific courses to be taught are
described. ERP Faculty members may opt
to teach less than a 40 percent load.
5.
The College reserves the right to offer a lower course load or no courses to a
member of the ERP faculty if there is not enough work to justify adjunct
appointments in the discipline. The
division dean shall give members of the ERP faculty as much notice as possible
of any lack of available work.
Similarly, courses taught by ERP faculty that do not enroll sufficiently
may be canceled. In cases of class
cancellations, division deans shall make assignments first to full-time
faculty, then to ERP faculty and last to adjunct faculty.
E. Evaluation:
1. ERP faculty will be evaluated in the same
way as are adjunct faculty.
2. Students will evaluate the courses ERP
faculty teach in the same way as those taught by adjunct faculty are evaluated.
3. Continuation in the ERP faculty program is dependent on continuing evaluations at the satisfactory level.