Faculty Council Minutes 1-23-01

I.  Announcements

A.     Planned Giving: If you are interested in giving to the school, please contact

Barbara Namkoong for information on donating real estate, stocks, etc.

B.      Money (Dot Doyle):  Recommendation for spending faculty-donated travel money in the foundation (231.00 to faculty travel – 77.00 to each department; 500.00 to student academic competition)

C.      SIG (Jonathan Bennett):  The results of the faculty survey are in and posted on the NCSSM web at http://www.dlt.ncssm.edu/ncssminfoservi/SIG.htm

D.     Math Exam (Julie Graves):  The next February Alt Day is the ASME.  Please sign up to proctor the exam that day; it is a chance to help the math department and get some work done in 75 minutes of silence.

E.      Lock-in (Dot Doyle):  The Lock-in went well, overall, despite some minor mishaps with a lip-synch episode.  The faculty felt that the kids were no more asleep than usual on Monday after the activity.

F.      Counseling apologized for missing the meeting – they are in the middle of sending transcripts.

G.  Reports from liaisons to the December Board of Trustee meeting

1.      Gretchen Skidmore (Fiscal Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees:  The last payment has been made on the lot for the new Director's residence, electrical upgrades and air conditioning installation have been completed in the dorms, Boiler Plant demolition is still in the works.  If you are interested in learning more about the status of various construction projects and upgrades, please email Gretchen for the full report.

2.      John Woodmansee (EEPC -- Educational Policy and Practices): Six students shared with the Board about their experiences at NCSSM.  John remarked that the students gave glowing reports and said all the right things.

3.      The Development Committee (Brock Winslow) is locating legislative support for the school.

4.      Gloria Barett and Elizabeth Moose have been attending the SLI meetings.  The RLA selection process is changed from last year.  The SLI’s are on track to receive laptops and wireless connections for next year.  Joan barber urged SLIs to be a strong, setting a good model for valued behavior.  Dr. Boarman is concerned about student performance, including Coffee House; at this moment there is a moratorium on them.

II.  Approval of the minutes of the last meeting.

III.  Discussion Items   

A.     The faculty debated whether or not telling the students their final and quarter grades during exams was in their best interest.  Dr. Warshaw explained the rational for the policy of not telling the students – which informing students of low grades might cause them to lose focus on their other classes, and perform poorly on some other exams.  Steve clarified his earlier email, noting that he felt it would be OK to tell a student their quarter grade, but not their semester grade, before the student completed exam week.  The general consensus of the faculty, after discussion, was that we, as teachers, should treat them as adults, and inform them of their progress, especially if we knew the grades.  General consensus was that the faculty endeavor to keep students up-to-date on their performance throughout the semester and the policy of sharing information should not change when students most need to know how they are doing.  John Keohane made a motion that we keep students informed of their grades, including at the end of the semester if we knew the grades.  The faculty then voted (20 in support of the motion, 4 opposed, 4 abstaining).

B.     Consideration of requirements necessary for enrollment in the second semester of the junior year. Junior students who are doing particularly poorly at the end of the first semester are advised to consider withdrawal.  This policy was a result from discussions with faculty, academic dept heads and Steve. Should it be reconsidered/strengthened?  A change would require the Board to revisit graduation requirements, as they previously determined that students have a right to fail at NCSSM. Joan and Steve have examined the data, determining that 80% of those juniors with two or more Ds will not graduate.  They have coordinated their efforts to conduct parent/student/teacher/counselor meetings to advise students to withdraw.  These students who are in this population this year are not the late admits.  50% of them have extenuating circumstances.  The faculty expressed appreciation for Steve and Joan’s work with these students; they are saving a few through the process.  The faculty decided that it would like to see these efforts continue.