Faculty Council Meeting of Tuesday, 19 November 2002
President: Joe Liles; Vice-president: John Woodmansee; Secretary: Floyd Bullard
Minutes
Announcements
The meeting began at 3:51PM. A motion was made that Faculty Council minutes remain public (on the web) but become more of a summary and less of a transcript. The motion was seconded and voted upon. 16 in favor, 6 opposed, and 8 abstentions. Therefore, beginning with this week's minutes, the secretary will attempt to comply.
Ed McBride reported that faculty would receive letters tomorrow with their salary statements included. Any salary increases would be retroactive to the beginning of the school year, but we will not see that until the paycheck at the end of December. He addressed a few questions faculty had regarding discipline leaders' salaries, the pay scale for public school teachers at the top of the pay scale last year and this year, and our overall increase in our faculty salaries when compared with last year.
Steve Warshaw gave us an update about Miniterm. Next year's Miniterm will remain 8 days long and may be moved to abut Spring Break.
Agenda Item 1: Discussion of Deputy Executive Director Position
Joe asked Jerry to speak to the faculty about the reason for wanting a Deputy Executive Director position at NCSSM.
Jerry said that included in both last year's and this year's evaluation of the Executive Director by the Board of Trustees is the recommendation that he hire a Deputy Executive Director. Jerry reassured us that he did not want to create a new administrator's position. He would instead like to reallocate resources available. He would like to create a position for a Deputy Executive Director while eliminating a position he felt was seldom needed: NCSSM's in-house legal counselor.
Jerry had three conditions he required before creating a DED position. 1: no money taken from existing programs, 2: no money taken from equipment budget, 3: no money taken from EPA faculty salaries.
This person (if the position is created--Jerry assured us it was not a done deal) would be the administrative hearing officer in discipline hearings. He would be in charge of security. He would take some of the time Jerry presently spends meeting with parents and signing purchase orders. The position would be someone who has some background in school law (to fill some of the void that would be created by the elimination of the other position) and can take some of these other responsibilities on.
A job description has been written for this position, but the position has not been advertised and there is no time line for hiring anyone, though Jerry would like (if they hire anyone) to hire someone in the Spring of 2003 so the person could get adjusted before the next school year.
Faculty then questioned Jerry about the position and made comments. It was desired that we look for someone with residential school experience. How can we could justify the position when our budget is so tight and so many people are getting small or no raises? One or more positions have been recommended (by SACS, twice) to help science faculty with lab preparation. We've ignored this recommendation twice. Also, years ago we lost 1.5 faculty positions--that we've never gotten back--in order to maintain administrators' positions during a freeze. So a precedent has been set for taking money from faculty positions and using it for administrative positions. Is there not a greater need, given students' present level of anxiety, for more counselors or SLIs? Adults who can advise and support our students? What would the DED do on a day-to-day basis? How can you say that you can't change the past (regarding the 1.5 faculty positions) when, as Executive Director, you can--if you think it's important enough? We need more SLIs in the dorms.
Jerry responded to all these questions and comments; for example, assuring everyone that we have requested extra faculty positions in our extended plan: six or more just to accompany the increase of the student body by 50 students. He said he would never take money from faculty positions and use it for administrative positions. The estimated salary and benefits for this DED position would be in the ballpark of $110,000.