Minutes from June 24 and June 25 Faculty Council Meetings

Please select this link to access the DCCFA Faculty Council meeting minutes for June 24 and June 25, 2020.

Message from DCCFA President Ryan Pettengill Regarding Mandate for Facilitators to be Enrolled in Sections with 100% Dual Credit Students

Good People:

 

On behalf of the DCCFA I would like to provide you with an update regarding the recent mandate that faculty add facilitators to sections that are exclusively dual credit. Most of you are aware that faculty have been included in conversations involving dual credit. While your faculty representatives discussed the possibility of including facilitators in classes to support our dual credit students, at no point did they recommend or support any measure to require facilitators be added. 

 

I would like to take this opportunity to provide a timeline of events that led up to the email we received this afternoon mandating facilitators be added. Numerous discussions had taken place at the highest level of the District regarding the best ways to support dual credit students.  Around June 4 (the start of Summer I) an email went out explaining what facilitators were, what their roles would be, and how to add them to a course. That email noted that this practice was highly recommended but not mandatory. This process prompted further conversations among District leaders, in which input from the Faculty Council regarding the "mandate" was heard and considered, but ultimately not implemented.

 

I am currently teaching Summer I courses and I have always taught courses throughout the summer. I completely understand how demanding the accelerated pace is. I realize that there was very short notice for this requirement and it added to the general challenges of getting classes off to a good start. I can promise that the faculty representatives working on District dual credit committees will provide critical feedback to ensure faculty interests as well as the best interests of all of our students are taken into consideration. The DCCFA will continue to monitor this situation and offer our feedback whenever we meet with the provost and other officials. As always, if you have questions please do not hesitate to let us know.

 

Onward,

Ryan

 

DCCFA Business Meeting Minutes: June 12, 2020

Select this link to read the June 12, 2020, DCCFA Business Meeting minutes.

Faculty Council Seeks Member Input via Survey on Current Enrollment Management Practices

The District Faculty Council seeks your feedback regarding the enrollment management practices (class caps, merging classes between multiple campuses, etc.) that have been employed in recent weeks, for May Term and Summer 1 courses, and are likely to continue for Summer 2 courses. We have heard individual anecdotal accounts, but robust survey data is necessary so the Council can advocate for improved practices for Fall 2020. 

Please select this link to complete the survey. It should only take 3-4 minutes of your time. You will need to be logged in to the District Outlook/SharePoint system to complete the survey, either on a desktop computer, or on a tablet or smartphone. Please complete the survey as soon as possible so that we can incorporate your input to inform our discussions with the Provost on Thursday and the Chancellor on Friday. 

This survey closes on Sunday, June 14, but there will be more surveys in the coming weeks and months.

Update on Dual Credit "Facilitators" in Summer Courses; Adding Facilitators to eCampus Course Shells Is Optional, Not Required

On Thursday, June 4, 2020, many faculty across the District received an email from LaShonda Green with the DCCCD Dual Credit Office, requesting that DCCCD faculty enroll a facilitator from the Dallas and Garland Independent School Districts into their eCampus courses into which students from these ISDs are enrolled.

Many faculty were surprised to have received this email and coincidentally began contacting their respective faculty association presidents while those presidents were in a DCCFA Faculty Council meeting. Consequently, the DCCFA Faculty Council acted immediately to learn more about the request to enroll facilitators. Specifically, BHCFA President Jennifer Hudson-Allen, who both teaches Dual Credit sections and already serves on numerous DCCCD Dual Credit committees, agreed to serve as the Faculty Council liaison for all dual credit issues.

Jennifer began asking questions with her numerous contacts on Thursday afternoon, June 4, and subsequently learned the following contextual and clarifying information:

As Dual Credit enrollments have grown rapidly across the District, some faculty have requested representatives from partner ISDs or Collegiate Academies serve as monitors in the classrooms to ensure dual credit students are not causing disruptions to the learning environment. Indeed, many faculty reported in the DCCFA dual credit faculty survey that the behavior of minor students was among the hardest and most vexing problems that needed to be addressed in our many dual credit and Collegiate Academy partnerships. Many faculty also reported that some high school students were not taking their academic work seriously; moreover, some high school officials were attempting to pressure Dual Credit faculty to lower academic standards and ensure that low-performing students would earn passing grades.

According to what Jennifer and others have been able to learn over the last twenty-four hours, the message should be treated as a request, not as a requirement. Faculty are free to add the facilitator if they wish, or they may decline.

Meanwhile, Jennifer will continue to advocate on behalf of the Council, and all faculty broadly, on Dual Credit issues and concerns, and will report back to the Council. Additional updates for all faculty will be shared via the Advance Blog using the Dual Credit label/tag.

UPDATE AS OF 7:30 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 5:

The following information was provided to Jennifer Hudson-Allen from Anna Mays, who has been supervising the consolidation and alignment of the various Dual Credit partnerships with all seven DCCCD campuses:

"During the current unprecedented circumstances, rapid responses to emerging issues are necessary that require immediate action and limited time for mass discussion and communication.  Emails to faculty of specific courses that were impacted were sent as soon as all information was available so that the communication sent was not incomplete or confusing and the follow-up email was provided to further clarify questions the same day as the questions were received.  Dr. May has been talking with Superintendent Hinojosa (DISD) and Superintendent Lopez (Garland ISD) to discuss alternatives to support dual credit, ECHS and P-Tech students in lieu of in-person classes that were and could have been scheduled this summer and this pilot has evolved from further joint meetings, which included Dr. Christa Slejko, Dr. Linda Braddy and Dr. Joe Seabrooks.  The relatively high Spring semester withdrawal rates for ECHS students accelerated the discussions  within the last two weeks and the high school facilitator pilot was recommended as an immediate need, given previous successful partnerships between individual school district personnel and the faculty to provide additional support both to students and faculty and promote student success in courses.  The Academic Success Rapid Response Team (led by Dr. Braddy) and the Dual Credit Faculty Professional Development Committee comprised of fourteen representative faculty was enlisted to provide guidelines and recommendations to determine initial implementation plans for Summer 1 session, which started 6/4.  All of these recommendations were integrated into the two emails that were sent to faculty and instructional leadership."

Faculty Council Names Standing Committee Chairs; Adopts Strategic Approach to Advocate for Current Emerging Faculty Concerns in One College Environment

The DCCFA Faculty Council met via video conference Thursday, June 4, 2020, to inaugurate the new Council term and to discuss a number of pressing issues that faculty across the District have raised in recent days and hours. The June 4 meeting minutes are located at this link.

DCCFA Standing Committee Chairs Named

In order to take a strategic approach to issues that are shared by faculty at many or all of the seven colleges, and in accordance with the DCCFA Bylaws, the Council prioritized the naming of its members as ex officio chairs to the seven standing committees of the DCCFA, as follows:

Budget & Finance: Keith Baker (North Lake)

Communications: Wade Hyde (El Centro)

Convention Planning: Ryan Pettengill (Mountain View)

Instructional Goals and Academic Freedom: Jennifer Hudson-Allen (Brookhaven)

Membership: Tommy Thompson (Cedar Valley)

Political Information: Matt Hinckley (Eastfield)

Welfare and Benefits: Carlos Martinez (Richland)

The Council members all agreed to submit to the respective committee chairs, the names of the members from their respective campuses, who have been elected to serve on these seven DCCFA committees.

Council Approach to Instruction in the One College Model

In past years, the Faculty Council met monthly with the seven academic vice presidents, in a group called The Instructional Leadership Team (TILT). Over time TILT also included several District Office personnel who helped to manage curriculum and other instructional issues at the District level. In Spring 2020, the instructional vice presidents indicated they wished to disband TILT, as instruction for the combined Dallas College would soon be supported by a Provost supervising seven Vice Provosts, each of whom would support a “School of” organized around a particular Guided Pathway. The dissolving of TILT therefore has left a gap in the structural means by which the Council effectively can represent faculty interests in discussions about instructional matters across the District. Consequently, the Council today agreed that it intends to establish a precedent to meet with the current Interim Provost, Dr. Linda Braddy, and continue that practice when the new Provost is named. President Ryan Pettengill agreed to take the initiative to that effect. In the meantime, though, the Council is aware of the numerous issues and concerns that are being raised by our members all across the District.

Enrollment Management Practices

The Council agrees that it supports a District-wide approach to enrollment management practices, particularly during a time when we are all teaching online and campus distinctions are, by necessity, in many cases becoming less apparent. However, the Council also believes that “one size fits all” approaches are not appropriate. For instance, the Council takes very seriously faculty concerns over decisions that are being made to combine sections, stack/bundle sections (or not), and/or cancel and move students to sections offered by other instructors at other campuses. The Council also agrees that not all academic disciplines – or even courses within a given discipline – should have the same enrollment thresholds to “make.” Certain courses in certain disciplines, such as studio art courses, some journalism courses, private music lessons, and co-ops and internships, among many others, need to be handled more like many CTE courses, where individualized instruction is the foundation of the particular student experience. In addition, different courses in various CTE disciplines also are different, where lab safety and industry accreditation concerns must prevail. Likewise, developmental studies and ESOL courses must consider that students need additional individual attention. In all cases, therefore, the Council maintains that faculty subject matter experts must be consulted before deans or the current academic vice presidents, make unilateral decisions to cancel or combine sections.

Because these enrollment management decisions are being made absent faculty subject matter expert input in many programs and disciplines across the District, the Council agreed to address this on a District-wide, systemic basis. First, President Ryan Pettengill intends to engage with District senior leadership to make the case for additional faculty empowerment in enrollment management decisions. Second, the entire Council will press these concerns when we next meet with the Chancellor on June 12. Third, the two Council members on the Rapid Response Team, Carlos Martinez and Wade Hyde, will continue to articulate these concerns with the Provost during the numerous times the RRT meets each week.

Working across the District with Colleagues in our Disciplines

The Council agrees that, along with enrollment management decisions, many other issues require the attention of faculty subject matter experts. As such, the Council strongly advises all DCCCD faculty – not just the individual campus curriculum committee reps, but all faculty in a given program or discipline – to engage with their colleagues in the same discipline/program at the other campuses. There are many issues where consistency and uniformity is appropriate, and in those cases the Council believes the faculty subject matter experts must make those determinations. At the same time, there are instances where the same course is used by different programs at different campuses serving different cohorts of students to be trained for different jobs or careers in different industries. Again, in those cases, it is faculty subject matter experts who need to articulate the reasons for those differences. The greater the cooperation and agreement within disciplines and programs across the District, the easier it is for the Faculty Council to represent those interests broadly when we advocate on our members’ collective behalf.

Faculty Professional Development

The Council agrees with previous work done by previous Councils, specifically, that faculty professional development is, first, separate and different from training required by federal, state, or local laws (such as FERPA, ADA, Title IX, etc.), and second, consists of two broad categories: advancing pedagogy and/or advancing or maintaining subject matter expertise and/or professional certification or licensure. The Council also agrees with the principle that professional development that improves us as teachers and/or advances our subject matter expertise, ought to count toward advancement on the faculty salary range scale, from Range 1 to 2 and from Range 2 to 3. The Council intends to continue to make these arguments as task forces and advisory committees are formed regarding faculty professional development.

Dual Credit

The Council also agrees that a District-wide, systemic approach is needed to deal with Dual Credit issues and concerns, in keeping with the recommendations issued in the faculty-generated Dual Credit Report that the Council delivered to Dr. May earlier this year. Until all dual credit operations and reporting relationships are centralized under one leader at District Office, we anticipate that issues and concerns will continue to arise. Consequently, the Council agreed that Jennifer Hudson-Allen, who both will chair the DCCFA Instructional Goals and Academic Freedom Committee and also serves on numerous District-wide dual credit committees, would represent the Council in advancing faculty concerns about Dual Credit at the District level. As such, Jennifer is representing emerging faculty concerns regarding the “dual credit facilitators” that have been requested to be added to many summer courses. Jennifer will investigate this particular request in more detail and report back to the Council.

Committee and Task Force Membership

The Council discussed the ongoing concern that many faculty feel they are being left out of conversations that are culminating in decisions that affect teaching and learning. Many faculty have expertise in particular areas, often outside of their teaching field, and are willing to help the District advance our shared interest in these areas. Recognizing that the District is moving at a quicker pace than even in recent years, and especially compared to a decade ago, the Council agreed to prepare and maintain a shared spreadsheet of areas where we anticipate work needing to be done, and within each a list of faculty who have particular experiences or expertise in those areas. Therefore, the Council encourages members who have an interest in a particular area, to reach out to their respective faculty association president, to say, “I’d like to serve on a task force or committee that might be formed on (this issue).”

Communications

The Council also discussed the desire for all faculty at all campuses to have equal access to information. Consequently, the Council agreed that, while Jennifer Hudson-Allen would take Council meeting minutes in her capacity as Secretary, and while Wade Hyde would take the lead on overall Communications strategies as the chair of the DCCFA Communications committee, Matt Hinckley would take the lead in writing posts to publish to the Advance Blog, that the respective Council members could also separately send to their members via email. Until a new DCCFA.org web site is published, and as faculty still become accustomed to the Faculty One Stop site on SharePoint, the Advance Blog will be the primary means by which the Council broadly communicates its work with the membership at large.

What's Ahead

The Council next plans to meet at 12 noon Friday, June 12, before its monthly meeting with Chancellor May at 2 p.m. The Council also remains in constant contact with one another via email and group text messaging, ensuring that we are able to respond as quickly and thoroughly as possible to emerging concerns, while leveraging and sharing the diverse array of expertise, experiences, and interests that each of us individually brings to the Council.

2020-2021 Faculty Council Takes Office; New Officers Elected

The 2020-2021 Dallas Community College Faculty Association (DCCFA) Faculty Council assumed office on Monday, June 1, 2020.

Composition:
The Faculty Council consists of the Faculty Association Presidents elected from the seven campuses of the Dallas County Community College District. Five members are continuing, and two members are rotating on to succeed two others who are rotating off, as follows:

Brookhaven College: Jennifer Hudson-Allen, elected to a two-year term in 2020, succeeding Scott Sires

Cedar Valley College: Tommy Thompson, continuing, elected to a two-year term in 2019

El Centro College: Wade Hyde, continuing, elected to a two-year term in 2019

Eastfield College: Matt Hinckley, elected to a two-year term in 2020, succeeding Liz Nichols

Mountain View College: Ryan Pettengill, continuing, elected to a second two-year term in 2020

North Lake College: Keith Baker, continuing, elected to a two year term in 2019

Richland College: Carlos Martinez, continuing, elected to a second two-year term in 2020

New Officers:
The newly-seated Council met Monday morning, June 1, to elect new officers. The following officers were elected:

Ryan Pettengill, President

Tommy Thompson, Vice President

Jennifer Hudson-Allen, Secretary

Keith Baker, Treasurer

The entire Council looks forward to representing faculty interests at the District level during our consolidation into One College, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.