September 28, 2018 District Newsletter

Note:  The District Newsletter is intended to share updates from various participatory District-wide decision-making groups, Board Policies and Administrative Procedures, updates from Cabinet, District Services (Educational Planning, Fiscal Services, Information Technology, M&O, and Human Resources), and excerpts from the Chancellor’s monthly Board Reports.

Chancellor’s Newsletter

The Chancellor’s Newsletter is posted monthly at www.yccd.edu.  The September issue has news about Senate Bill 577 Teacher Credentialing Partnership Pilot Program that will authorize community college districts to offer a teacher credentialing program, subject to accreditation by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and approved by the California Community College Board of Governors.  Chancellor Houston has been working with community college leadership and California State University leadership to repurpose the bill as a means of advancing CSU and CCC partnerships for preparation and credentialing.  He is currently working with CSU Assistant Vice Chancellor Marquita Grenot-Scheyer to host a summit on November 30th at Woodland Community College.  CEOs, VPs and Deans of Instruction from CCCs and CSUs in northern and central counties will be invited to attend and strategize the path for implementing this Teacher Credentialing Partnership Pilot program.

For more information in the Chancellor’s Newsletter on statewide issues affecting community colleges and events he has attended or are on his calendar, see the September issue.

Cabinet

In September Cabinet worked on developing board agendas items, the Board’s directive that the Chancellor’s Office work with the Colleges to develop a Master Calendar of Events.  CTO Crosby will work on the existing master calendar database and look at using WordPress as a possible site for posting information on events that are of interest to the Board, students, faculty, and staff.

Cabinet held a retreat on September 18th and talked about timelines to implement the Chancellor/District Goals.  Chancellor Houston told Cabinet members that after reviewing the Colleges’ student success measures and the new Student-centered funding formula, the Trustees were enthusiastic about future years for our District.  Cabinet talked about planning for guided pathways, enrollment management, facilities, and what the 21st century means for community college education

District Consultation and Coordination Council

DC3 reviewed the 2018-19 budget as it would be presented to the Board of Trustees for adoption at its September 13, 2018, meeting.  Vice Chancellor Brewington explained elements of the Governor’s Student-Centered Funding Formula.  Revenue from the State for districts is allocated on three factors:  Base Allocation (primarily credit FTES), Supplemental (Equity or low income students), and Student Success (student outcomes). 2018-2019 is the first year of a three-year transition for the new funding formula.  With this adopted budget YCCD received $6,463,578 over the tentative budget.  Chancellor Houston acknowledged that if the Colleges have no growth and no additional improvement in student outcomes than what has already been seen, and all other things are unchanged, second and third years will mean less apportionment for our district.

The Board of Trustees and the Chancellor identified strategies for the District’s financial outlook in the second, third and fourth years.

  • Balancing the Budget
  • Investing in the Irrevocable Trust
  • Fund Balance (compliance with Board Policy)
  • Full-Time Faculty Hiring Needs
  • Investment in Innovation – advance identified student success strategies to set the stage for future success of the District
    • Guided Pathways
    • Developmental Education Reform
    • Enrollment Management
  • Other ongoing Categorical Apportionment Sources

The Chancellor explained that the District should expect that some initiatives the Colleges intend to launch will result in enrollment growth and that the work in improved student outcomes will result in additional funding.  Without a way of modeling this, the Board’s Finance Committee and the Chancellor made a decision to treat the lion’s share of the 2018-2019 additional funding as one-time.

The updated 2018-19 District Handbook is now available for reference.  The handbook has information about governance, the board of trustees, District Committees and Councils, the budget, planning, and evaluation processes, and a description of each department in District Services, including contact information for personnel.

District Services also developed a document, Delineation of Functions, that delineates functional responsibility between the District administrative departments and the Coll

eges.  It is intended as information for a visiting team to show and describe the relationships between the Colleges and District Services.

DC3 reviewed DC3 Effectiveness Survey Results for 2017-2018 and recommended sending the survey out earlier next year to promote more participation; only half of the members participated.  Another recommendation was conduct an annual orientation for DC3 members and send a calendar of annual topics for DC3 to work on.

DC3 also received information about the following BPs and APs from the District Colleges Academic Senates Committee with the board policies went to the Board’s Policy Committee in September:

District / College / Academic Senate
Leadership (DCAS) Highlights

Equivalency Policy: DCAS discussed issues and recommendations for improving the equivalency process. The WCC and YC Academic Senate Vice Presidents will coordinate revisions of the Equivalency Policy and work with their respective senates for approval. DCAS will recommend the final version to the Board for approval.

 Curriculum Management System: One criteria for the Curriculum Management System is that it interface with Chancellor’s Office Curriculum Inventory (COCI). The first-round evaluation of four systems has been completed. The District Technology Committee will review the results and work through DCAS and other groups once there are clear candidates.

DCAS Policies and Procedures: DCAS has completed its review 10+1 Board Policies (BPs) and will now focus on updating Administrative Procedures (APs).

  • AP 4100, Graduation Requirements for Degrees and Certificates – The Academic Senates are reviewing the final version of this AP and DCAS is expected to approve it at its October 4th meeting.
  • AP 4021, Program Vitality/Discontinuance – DCAS approved a new version of AP 4021. In developing the AP, the Academic Senates collaborated to rewrite the process for program vitality and discontinuance. Chancellor Houston commended the individuals who put the draft together saying it was truly courageous work.
  • AP 4231, Grade Changes – DCAS approved revisions to clarify the process and to allow students up to two years following completion of a course to request a grade change. This change is retroactive. The Grade Appeal Form and Appeal Process Timeline were revised to bring them in line with the AP.
  • 4300, Field Trips/Excursions and Authorized Student Absences – DCAS last reviewed this draft AP in February 2017. The WCC Senate approved the draft and related attachments. Edits were subsequently made to reinstate language protecting the District from liability.
  • Chapter 5 Policies and Procedures – Student Services Area – DCAS is reviewing the list of BPs and APs to determine which fall in the purview of the Academic Senates

Allocation Model: DCAS is documenting the allocation model which Academic Senate and District Leaders agreed to use for new and one-time funding showing the use of intent and purpose in allocating new and one-time funds.

 Retention of Instructor Records: With approval of AP 4231, Grade Changes, the Academic Senates support requiring faculty to retain their records for two years. Concerns include 1) collection of records for part-time faculty who may come and go, 2) length of time gradebooks are kept in Canvas, 3) do we have authorization to access grade records in the absence of the instructor, 4) collection and storage of paper records, and 5) FERPA issues.

Academic Calendar Committee:  The Academic Calendar Committee shared two options for the 2020-21 Academic Calendar with their constituent groups. One draft has two professional development days scheduled within the fall semester and the other one has the professional development days before the semester starts. Members will present constituent input at the October 5 Academic Calendar Committee meeting. DCAS discussed the Academic Calendar process and reiterated that agreement of both academic senates needs to be obtained for issues that touch on Academic Senate purview may not be overridden. In cases where the two Senates do not agree, the Academic Senate Leadership will work to reach agreement by consulting with each other or through DCAS.

 Faculty Evaluation Task Force: The task force finalized the forms and timeline for 2018-19 evaluations and will evaluate the new process in the spring. The HR Department conducted trainings at WCC on October 19th and at YC on October 26th.

Sabbatical Leave Committee: At its 8/28/2018 meeting, the committee made a temporary a change to the timeline approved by DCAS on May 17, 2018 to serve as a transition to the new process. For fall 2018 only, they kept the application deadline as December 1. Beginning in spring 2019, the committee will revert to the October 15 deadline. At that meeting, Chair Kevin Ferns also indicated FAYCCD would have an MOA in place for spring 2019.

District Services Updates

Vice Chancellor Education and Planning

VCEP Board Policies and Procedures

 Revised – Minor Changes:

 AP 4220, Standards of Scholarship – Delegation (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Updated legal citations

BP 5030, Fees (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Updated legal references.

AP 6365, Accessibility of Information Technology (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Revised title to “Contracts – Accessibility of Information Technology and corrected a typo.

Revised – Substantive Changes:

BP 3440, Service Animals (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  This is a new policy that is legally required and reflects the language provided by the CCLC Policies and Procedures Service.

AP 3440, Service Animals (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  This new AP is legally required. Community Colleges are required to permit service animals on campus.

AP 4021, Program Vitality and Discontinuance (Final) – Summary of Changes:  The Academic Senates completely rewrote the procedure and changed the title from “Program Discontinuance” to “Program Vitality and Discontinuance”

AP 4231, Grade Change (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Changes include extending the time to request a grade change to two years following the posting of the grade, a notification to the dean/supervisor, and clarification of the process for a student to request a grade change. The two-year timeline is retroactive.

BP 5020, Nonresident Tuition (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Updated legal references and allowed for legal exceptions to nonresident tuition

BP 5040, Student Records, Directory Information, and Privacy (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Updated references and removed directory information that puts students at risk

AP 5130, Financial Aid (Final)  (Markup) – Summary of Changes:  Updated legal references, added language regarding misrepresentation and loss of eligibility for California College Promise Grant, and updated the list of contents of the Student Financial Aid Policy and Procedure Manual

Information Technologies

The Information Technology team finalized the implementation of SARS Anywhere in September and will be completing the last steps on SARS Messaging in October. At Yuba College students can now schedule their own appointments online, receive reminders via email or text messaging including links to their online counseling session via Zoom. Woodland Community College is also live with SARS Anywhere and will be rolling out messaging and online integration with Cranium Café in October.

User Support Services conducted focus groups in September to gather your feedback on the two potential replacements for our existing copy machines.   Surveys were emailed to all participants and results will be used to inform our decision on the new Managed Printer Services contract. Final vendor selection will occur in October with rollout scheduled to start in January 2019. Thank you for your feedback!

System Maintenance Updates

Sunday, October 21 – IT will be performing system updates on Colleague and related systems from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Sunday, October 30 – PG&E is expected to shut down all electrical systems at Yuba College. The impact of this may be that all systems including the login for Canvas and staff online email may be unavailable.  Please schedule assignment due dates and online testing accordingly.

Maintenance & Operations

Maintenance and Operations staff are working hard to prepare all of the District locations for the upcoming Accreditation visit.

The solar and energy storage projects for both Yuba College and Woodland Community College continue to move forward. On Sunday, September 23, Borrego Solar successfully tied in the new solar and energy storage systems to the existing electrical utilities during a partial campus all day power outage.  On Sunday, September 30, Borrego Solar will do the same type work at Yuba College.  This work will also take all day.  A second power outage is being planned for Sunday, October 30th (pending dry weather and contractor/PGE schedules).   This second power outage is only tentatively scheduled and will require a complete campus wide power outage.  Once the date and time are verified, a construction notice will be issued.  If all goes as planned, the Yuba College solar panels system on the carport structures in the west parking lot will be tested and begin generating power sometime in November.  Please note that the solar panels are not cleaned yet and if it rains, the accumulated ash and dust from the summer season will drip down on vehicles.  The solar panels will be cleaned in late October.

The Yuba College Veterinarian Technology remodel project in building 1700 is not beginning. Completion is scheduled for December.  Program move in is scheduled for the winter break.

The Yuba College 14 roofs renewal project is now completed. This project was completed 6 weeks ahead of schedule.  The roofs will have a 25 year no-leak, no cost warranty.  These roofs are white and reflect the sun’s heat during the summer.  This will reduce operational costs for maintenance and electricity.

Building 1200 at Yuba College will soon have new LED lighting fixtures inside and around the exterior of the building. This work is scheduled be completed in October.  This project will also reduce electricity costs and brighten up spaces.

The Lake County Campus Welding Shop received new LED lighting fixtures as a scheduled maintenance project.

The Colusa County Center also has had new LED lighting fixtures installed in all interior spaces. A new lighting control system was also installed.

A Request for Proposals is now published to solicit bids from contractors to replace a failing 150 ton chiller at Woodland Community College.  This chiller services building 600.  Proposals are due in November.  Completion for this project is tentatively planned for April 7th, 2019.

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