The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees meets tonight at seven at 333 E. Eighth St., the last board meeting until April 24 (chancellor interviews replace the regularly scheduled early-April session). Management hires galore top an agenda that also features board policy approvals and other more routine matters.
*The district is seeking approval for 27 administrative contracts (two dozen extensions and three new hires). While PFT understands the district’s need for adequate administration levels, it hopes that new hires of contract faculty aren’t far behind. With no new full-time hires this year, the district now has fewer than 300 contract faculty—a historic low, and not
nearly enough to sustain four comprehensive colleges.
*The board will be asked to greenlight $250K in general funds to extend the contract of the EdMAC Recovery Team and Tom Henry through June 30, 2013. The quarter-million-dollar outlay seems like a sound investment: WASC and ACCJC, whose standards EdMAC is being brought in to help the district meet, have endorsed the expenditure.
*Local 39 brings its tentative agreement before the board tonight for approval. PFT and SEIU Local 1021 will hold membership meetings on their respective TAs in the next couple of weeks; the agreements won’t be appear on a board agenda before April 24. Before PFT members vote on the new contract, faculty will have an opportunity to ask questions about proposed changes to healthcare coverage. VC of HR Trudy Largent, benefits broker Peter Wantuch, Benefits Coordinator Jennifer Seibert, and members of the PFT negotiating team will go over the changes at a meeting to be held the week after spring break (details to come).
In other news:
*The 2012 CFT Convention takes place April 13-15 in San Jose. A large group of full- and part-time Peralta faculty will represent PFT and help shape the policies of the parent union.
*After months of hard work, the Chancellor Selection Committee forwarded five names to the board: Jack Daniels, Scott Lay, Jamillah Moore, Jose Ortiz, and Andreea Serban. The district will hold two community forums with the Final Five on April 9. PFT will disseminate information on the hopefuls in the new Peralta Teacher, in boxes upon faculty’s return from spring break.
*PFT COPE’s first friends-and-family fundraiser, a group outing to the March 24 Warriors game at Oracle Arena, was a win-win: the Dubs withstood a late Sacramento surge (and, to be honest, some dangerously sloppy play) to eke out a 111-108 victory, and PFT COPE raised over $300. Look for more PFT COPE get-togethers in the near future!
*The California Teacher, the quarterly statewide publication of the California Federation of Teachers, profiles PFT political organizer/diversity chair Janell Hampton in the current issue. Among the quotable moments: “I became a teacher to make the world a better place, but I wasn’t feeling fulfilled until I got involved in the union.” Expect to hear from Janell in the weeks ahead, as she heads up the spring membership drive for PFT COPE.
In solidarity,
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Debby Weintraub, Communications Director
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
union@pft1603.org, 510.763.8820
Keep up with the board online, and follow the union on Twitter @PFT1603. And like us on Facebook, too!
Question of the Day: How should the district spend the $6,324.20 check it will receive tonight from Converge Alternate Energy Resources, Inc.? (See Item No. 4 on tonight’s agenda.) Email your response to dweintraub@peralta.edu; we’ll publish our favorite answer in Thursday’s PCCD Board Watch.