AHE Minutes

February 11, 2025

Attendance

In-Person

  • Amstadter, Logan
  • Anselmo, Paula
  • Bagwell, Geoffrey
  • Bem, Greg
  • Campbell, Holly
  • Carlson, Bobbi
  • Cary, Chris
  • Clark, Sam
  • Daily, Bev
  • Dalsanders, Christie
  • Deyo, Robert
  • Dubois, Rick
  • Eggerman, Jason
  • Flock, Barb
  • Franklin, Jackie
  • Gamble, Anna
  • George, Kathy
  • Goffinet, Renee
  • Green, Sabina
  • Hein, Bradley
  • Kier, Laura
  • Lopez-Schindler, Lenora
  • Megow, Lyn
  • Morrow, Corrine
  • Newcomer, Tybre
  • Nix, Jason
  • Pearson, Michelle
  • Rambo, Bill
  • Roe, Timothy
  • Satake, Scott
  • Stack, Brian
  • Throop, Judith
  • Trujillo, Cindy
  • Wanke, Colette

On-Line

  • Anderson, Amy
  • Anthony, Jared
  • Bailey, Ian
  • Bishop, Adriana
  • Blake, Karmen
  • Browning, Kristen
  • Butcher, Jacob
  • Cartwright, Ben
  • Case, Emma
  • Cavegn, Ambrose
  • Christman, Zachary
  • Coffey, Jeff
  • Commers, Ken
  • Cosner, Rebecca
  • Cuisinier, Eddy
  • Cusack, Jessica
  • DeBolt, Katella
  • Deffe, Cindy
  • Dimick, Susan
  • Doyle, Diamond
  • Drake, Leigh Anne
  • Fadeley, Megan
  • Fick, Karen
  • Fox, Gigi
  • Garcia, Sylvia
  • Hain, Ronda
  • Hanson, Callie
  • Henry, Chad
  • Hilton, Samantha
  • Jeannie Isern
  • Islam-Zwart, Khalil
  • Johnston, Landon
  • Jones, Tina
  • Keller, Dave
  • Khattry, Roshan
  • Krestian, Kenneth
  • Lackey, Ray
  • Lahr, Andrea
  • Lowe, Brent
  • Martin, Charlie
  • Martin, Melinda
  • McCormick, Cameron
  • McCoy, Jennifer
  • McKirdie, Rob
  • McLean, Scott
  • Michel, John
  • Mills, Sharde
  • Moore, Michele
  • Moorhead, Ronda
  • Morgan, Heather
  • Moser, Heidi
  • Murphy, Helen
  • Nagel, Mary
  • Nemri-Webber, Rabab
  • Nemri, Kamilia
  • Odlevak, Janine
  • Osborne, Diana
  • Pelham, Alex
  • Pelham, Sabra
  • Rasmussen, Angela
  • Roewe, Liz
  • Shelton, Shawna
  • Smith, Angela
  • Spencer, Jennifer
  • Steele, KayDee
  • Ugaldea, Ben
  • Volkmann, Natasha
  • Wash, Shawn
  • Weaver-Forsman, Britni
  • Wizner, Angela
  • Wolfsen, Amy
  • Woods, Laura
  • Wylie, Mark
  • Zirotti, Laurent

Call to Order:  The meeting was called to order at 2:45 p.m. by Bev Daily.

Minutes

Approval of Minutes

Geoffrey Bagwell motioned to approve the minutes; Bobbi Carlson seconded. The motion passed. 

Treasurer’s Report

The January treasurer’s report will be presented at the March meeting.

Old Business

Bargaining

We reached a tentative agreement on all remaining issues on Wednesday, January 22. The proposed new contract would be for three years, and the dates for the new Master Contract would run from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028. The bargainers have discussed the package with the AHE Executive Board, which has recommended ratification. We have also discussed the package with the Bargaining Commission, and that group has also recommended that we ratify this contract.

The two remaining issues that were the last to wrap up were related to Counselor scheduling (Article 4, Sections 11, 12, and 13) and our full-time salary schedule. We met with both counseling departments last week, and both groups are satisfied with where things ended up on the topic of counselor scheduling.

For salary, we were able to reach an agreement that helps make some improvements to our salary schedule. The improvements are spread out over two years, and they are not as much as we had hoped for. However, given the budget uncertainty and OFM mistake, we are happy with the salary negotiations for this contract. For this year (2024/25), all full-time faculty will receive a one-time $1,000 stipend after the contract is ratified. Next year (2025/26), the COLA will be automatically applied starting September 1, and then an additional $1,000 of local funds will be applied to each step of the full-time schedule. This same adjustment of adding the COLA September 1, plus an additional $1,000 per step, will occur again during 2026/27. In 2027/28, just the COLA would be applied starting September 1, unless there are additional funds from the legislature, which creates an automatic opening to discuss salary.

There are many updates, edits, changes, additions, etc. that are part of this proposed new Master Contract. We have created a document that shows an itemized list of all the work that went into this package. The document will be available to those who provide a personal email. Please note that providing a personal email also implies that you are opting in to receiving future AHE communications at that email address. Based on the communications survey and based on the need to keep AHE business out of the college system, Bev will be compiling a list of personal emails on an opt-in basis, and emails used for this document will be part of that list. Those present can include their personal email on the sign-in sheet. Or, you can email Jason at jasoneggerman@yahoo.com for a copy. Be sure to send your message from a personal email, since this file will not be sent out through college email. Please also include your first and last name, your college (SCC or SFCC) and your subject area in your email.

There are three information sessions scheduled. These are the times and places that you will be able to see more specific language changes to the contract. Meeting makers were already sent out, but as a reminder, those are scheduled for:

  • Wednesday, February 12 at SFCC from 1:30 to 3:30 (Building 24, Room 110: auditorium)
  • Friday, February 21 at SCC from 9:00 to 11:00 (Building 6, Bigfoot/Sasquatch Rooms)
  • Monday February 24 on Zoom from 3:00 to 5:00 (link provided in meeting maker)

Please note that the sessions scheduled for SFCC and SCC are in-person only and do not have a Zoom option. There is a separate session for Zoom. The same information will be covered at all three sessions, and faculty from both colleges are welcome to attend any of the sessions that work best for them. 

Those faculty present asked general questions about the new contract. This included topics like the full-time pay scale, adjunct pay scale, and workload categories.

Communications

Please consider adding your personal email address to the sign-in sheet or share it with AHE so that we can communicate more directly with you. You can send an email from your personal email to any of the following to get added to our communication list:

We are working on putting together a text messaging approach utilizing Hustle for information as well. We already have access to this service through WEA so there is no additional cost for this service. If you would like to be included in the text message distribution list (to be used sparingly) you can let Bev or your VP know that as well by sending your phone number to their email. Again, please only send your number from your personal email; do not use your SCC or SFCC email for sending your personal information.

Thank you for completing the communications survey. Most people wanted email (which can only be your personal email). There were some interested in receiving text messages as well. We will communicate sparingly via text message.

We need to be more careful with what information is shared via official CCS email. We will be careful with what comes through and will share information sparingly and only when needed.

If you opt in to personal email and/or text messaging we will be able to share more information with you. If we do not have your email or phone number we will be limited as to what information we can share with you.

Senators can also collect email addresses for members in their senate group and share those with Jason or Bev.

If you want to make sure you are part of the text message list please share your phone number with Jason and/or Bev as well.

WEA Grant

We are partnering with other locals to build connections between educators in our areas at all levels. The next event will be at Rogers High School on Wednesday, February 19 from 5:30-7:00 pm. Please consider attending and building bridges between our local educational partners. Dinner will be included!

New Business

Lobby Day

AHE representatives Jackie Franklin, Bev Daily, Rob Deyo, and Tim Roe, along with some board of trustees members, administration, and students attended the lobby day in Olympia on January 29-30.

We had scheduled meetings with several legislators to talk about our needs and the impact that higher education has in our communities across the state. We made a lot of connections and were able to talk with legislators from both parties about our needs and why higher education needs to be supported.

AHE worked hard to tell the stories of our programs and our students. We were able to emphasize the impact that our colleges have on the individuals and families in our community. Further, we were able to talk about the need for higher education for the workforce in the future. Higher education is critical for our economy in our communities and across the state both short-term and long-term.

Overall, revenue in the state is holding steady but requests for money are going up. Our ask is simply to keep our funding steady rather than cutting us.

Contract Ratification

We are completing a paper vote to ratify our contract, which is the same process we have done in the past.

All of the ballots will be distributed to senators today. Each senator has a packet that includes ballots and envelopes. The vote needs to be secret. Senators will distribute a ballot and envelope to each member in their Senate group. Then, faculty will return the ballots inside of the sealed envelope to their senator. Senators need to mark off that each individual member has voted. Please make sure your senator knows when you have returned your ballot to them.

Senators will return the packet with all the completed ballots at our March senate meeting. If they are completed early, you can give them to an AHE VP or Bev.

Legislative Update

The Keep Washington Working policies were supposed to have been completed for each college in 2020. Our administration is working on modifying the template from then Attorney Governor Bob Ferguson and then bringing that to the Board of Trustees.

Please read through the messaging from administration about what to do if immigration enforcement is on our campus. Please keep in mind that you legally cannot impede immigration enforcement, but also you cannot assist immigration enforcement either. Please do not do either of those things. Immigration officials can be in public spaces, but should not be in areas like your offices. If you see immigration officials you should notify Ken DeMello or President Messina at SFCC or President Martin at SCC.

Please be careful with how you communicate and be especially careful to not spread rumors. If you have questions ask Bev, an AHE VP, or your campus president.

We need to be sure not to add uncertainty right now, so please do not share speculation or rumors. Ask if you have information that you need.

Overall it looks like we likely won’t lose anything in terms of funding. We won’t know for sure for a while, though. On the other hand, it looks like they will take away the funds related to the OFM mistake.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the district’s budget survey. The suggestions have been summarized and shared. There were some consistent suggestions related to combining departments, space utilization, duplication of efforts at the district level, and some other recommendations.

The cafeterias are a revenue for us. Additional revenue ideas were shared as well.

Our current CFO has done a good job adding transparency to budgeting and decision-making at the district level. The district BPAC committee now has some input into the budgeting process.

A member asked us to continue pushing for appropriate utilization of the 65 million dollar surplus.

Trainings

The Culture and Talent department is supposed to be inputting trainings into OTHRS. It may be taking a month or more for OTHRS to be updated.

If you are not getting any reminders about trainings then it is at least recorded in Vector.

Be sure to be checking OTHRS to make sure that your trainings are being recorded correctly.

It is currently a mess. If you aren’t seeing recordings that should be there let Bev know so that she can help.

A faculty member expressed concerns with the Title IX training because it is designed for universities and is too general so it doesn’t’ help us actually work with Title IX concerns at CCS.

Adjuncts should receive a stipend for completing these trainings.

Document that you have completed your trainings, check OTHRS to verify, and reach out to Bev if completed trainings do not show up on OTHRS.

President’s and Vice Presidents’ Reports

AHE President Bev Daily:

Bev let AHE know that she will not be running for the AHE president position again, which means her term will conclude at the end of this academic year. In March we will begin the election process for our next president as well as some other leadership positions that will be up for election. Also, we need SFCC faculty to step into leadership roles within AHE.

An email will go out this week with selections related to who will be on the calendar committee. Guiding principles for the committee will be shared with those who were selected. Thank you to everyone who submitted your name.

SCC VP Jason Eggerman: 

The VPI screening committee is continuing their work. Information sessions about changes at the federal level and possible impacts on higher education are coming up on February 19 and 20.

SCC Extension VP Rob Deyo:

We are navigating all of the new things coming from the federal administration, department of education, etc. Please read the email from Fred Davis that was sent on February 6 if you have not read through it yet regarding how to respond appropriately to requests by government agency officials to obtain information from data or documents in the Spokane Colleges custody. There will be some presentations and other information related to immigration from NEA on February 13th. You can find that information on the AHE website and attend if you are interested.

SFCC VP Jackie Franklin:

Please visit the AHE website to stay up to date on current issues.

Please read the quarterly governance email.    Message is from SFCC, Governance <sfcc.governance@sfcc.spokane.edu> and will be sent out quarterly from the faculty tri-chairs.   This is where you can stay informed and participate with shared governance.

Please call or text me with questions or concerns; please be very careful about what you send in an email and if you aren’t sure just text me.  509-991-2348

Please reach out if you have any questions about getting involved with AHE leadership. We need SFCC faculty to step into leadership positions.

Adjunct Representative Lena Lopez Schindler:

No report

Good of the order:

Michelle Pearson made a motion to adjourn. Brad Hein seconded. The meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.