Monthly Archives: June 2011
Advice for Rahm: Lay off the Unions and the People
This wasn’t goin’ to be the post for the day but when I went online to grab the link I wanted, I ran across this headline: Emanuel: 625 city worker layoffs if union won’t accept reforms
I’ll try to keep it short and offer some advice. Per the article, our new mayor is threatening the unions with layoffs IF they don’t meet his demands. Well, it wasn’t stated that way. Part of the article reads, “He insisted that job cuts will not be necessary if organized labor will “be my partner” on $20 million in work rule changes …”
Here’s my advice:
- Have a nice long talk with the old mayor, not the unions. He got us into this mess. Partner up with him and solve your problems. Internally.
- Stop making unions out to be bad guys. A signed agreement is a signed agreement. Honor it. It was in your office when you got there. Show decency. Show respect. Give it and you’ll get it.
- Be honest. You want money, not partners. There’s a former mayor out there with a nice circle of wealthy partners. They’re “worth” talkin’ to.
- Stop humanizing this inhumane demand for moey. Going public with this threat… it’s embarassing.
- Learn how to manage my 26 yearly contributions to the city. Either that, or let me operate in the red as long as the city does.
- Afraid to bite the hands that feed you? Go talk to your business partners. Tell them to cut their salaries and profit margins for the sake of balancing a city budget. What’s wrong? They bite back?
- Stop bullying the working class of this city. We’ve given. You’ve taken, and you’ve mismanaged. How is that our fault?
- Can you be civil and reasonable? I feel like I’m witnessing a hostage negotiation.
- Have you given that zero-based budget thing a try?
What’s the mission behind the call for submissions?
Here’s the specialannounce email we recently received (I made some modifications to the format) followed by my comments:
June 27, 2011
Dear Colleagues:
We are busy preparing for the annual Faculty Development Week. This year we’ll be hosting a 2-day event, scheduled for August 8th and 9th at Malcolm X College (1900 W. VanBuren). Attendance is mandatory for all full time faculty members. So put those dates on your calendar.
Faculty Development Week will feature several interesting and enlightening concurrent breakout sessions. This is where we need your help.
Call for Submissions:
Academic Affairs is calling for submissions for general sessions during faculty development week. All faculty and staff are encouraged to submit a session by filling out the following form: http://www.tfaforms.com/206667
Submissions will be reviewed, accepted, and scheduled by a committee of faculty and administrators in early July.
Deadline for session descriptions: 5:00 PM, Sunday, July 3rd.
Several interesting submissions have come in already, and we are excited about having a broad palette for offering professional development. Sessions may include information on pedagogy, technology, tenure projects, lab activities, and safety, to name just a few. As always, we look forward to the start of another academic year together. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.
Mike Davis
Associate Vice Chancellor for STEM
My comments:
It may sound like I’m splittin’ hairs, but I’ve got to say what I’ve got to say.
Who’s deciding on the topics? I ask ’cause, to be honest, I didn’t hear good things ’bout last year’s sessions and I’d like to know the rationale for pickin’ this year’s selections. No offense, but planning could have been better last year and I’d like for us to learn from our mistakes, rather than repeat’ ‘em. IMHO, looks like we might be headin’ towads the latter than the former. Bein’ honest, while I drink out of my half-full cup.
I know seminars I’ve attended in the past plan their sessions without my input, but this is different. We are being asked to help. Says so in the email. I just think the askin’ should have come sooner. This is suppose to be OUR development week (well, two days). It’s either going to be a spectacular two days at MX, or we’re going to have faculty running for the (out)doors. Again. (Peeps gave a new meaning to the word breakout. HA!)
Speakin’ of peeps, what do ya’ll think? What are you interested in learning during these first two days of FDW? What kind of sessions do you look forward to attending? What’s going to keep you inside the building rather than outside? What would you consider to be a waste of your time? What would be worth your time? What say you?
Give Mike (a former peep) some input.
Quiet as it’s kept: new provost candidate to be announced at next board meeting
Well, that’s the news as I heard it via an email exchange between FC4 and District HR.
Apparently, a provost search was conducted and completed, and a candidate for the position will be recommended to the board at their July meeting.
Given that the provost’s purview will encompass all academic/curricular activity at CCC as CCC’s putative academic leader and given that shared governance has been on the discussion table between faculty leadership and District this past academic year, it seems odd to learn about a new provost candidate and a concluded search in a random email. Of course, it also seems sad (to me) that this happened over the summer after all the talk of transparency and trust-building, but I digress. . .
So, I ask the following questions and welcome any answers:
1) When did the search begin? How long did the process take?
2) Were faculty included in the search process?
3) Were District faculty council, local faculty councils, and appropriate union leadership included in the search or notified about the search?
4) Regarding the search itself, how many applications were read and how many candidates were interviewed?
5) If neither faculty at large nor faculty leaders were notified or included, who was included on the search team?
6)What board rules or by-laws governed the selection and search process for this relatively new position?
Again, any answers to these questions are welcome.
Blagojevich anyone?
So our former governor was found guilty on 17 counts of corruption. I’ve created this here post just in case you’ve got somethin’ to say about it. Lots o’ chatter yesterday on the radio and TV. Weigh in if you’d like.
Partial Closure to Completion. Maybe.
Have a read of Don’s postings regarding Completion on his blog. To date there are three posts related to completion. As he has stated, “The discussion of completion has been fruitful.” Agreed Don. Let me chime in with the last of my two-cents for now and to also address some related issues.
First, it’s been a most wonderful pleasure to have this interaction with you. I had no intention of taking the discussion this far, yet the results have been a good learning experience. I’ll need some time to digest the NY Times article and the report. I’ll add it to my summer readin’ list. I rather not give an incomplete response now. I will say that I agree on this: Education matters. A good quality education. Not completion. Not retention. Not success. Not quantity of graduates. Simply, a good quality education. (“…there are valid alternative means to any end, as well as valid alternative ends in themselves.”)
Second, I read some of the comments left on your blog related to the ratings game and your tenure as our HWC president. For the record, I am not out to get you and I’m not tryin’ to be a bully. I’m simply writing away on my own virtual desk (thanks to the owner of this blog) and voicing my concerns. I am practicing what I preach in my classroom: Be objective, understand others, observe and ask questions, think critically, and respond with support for your words.
Third, you’ve not heard the last of me. I’ll continue to be critical of our college and our district. I will not stop making observations. I will take what I hear from my fellow faculty members (peeps) and question the institution that is suppose to be a model of academic integrity.
Related issues:
1. If we are a community of thinkers, why can’t we meet the educational needs of our citizens? What’s wrong with us. By us, I mean everyone from the Chancellor down to the new adjuncts. We’re like chefs teaching students how to bake a pie without knowing how to measure ingredients. Good luck completing that dessert.
2. We are seen as a melting pot of experts in so many fields when it comes to applying and receiving funding and accreditation from our many sources, yet we are seen as a boiling pot of trouble when it comes to the retention and success of our students. What gives? Can we have some consistency?
I’ll stop here. For now. I’ve got more in store. I may respond to future posts on your blog or I may just create a post from scratch based on what’s happenin’ aroud HWC and/or CCC. Depends on how complicated matters may get.
T-K-P Summer Weekend 2011
No, it’s not the usual TKP, this is the ‘where you TRAVELIN’, where you KICKIN’ it, and why dont’s you POST it‘ edition. Where do you find yourself this weekend?
Are ya comin’ or are ya goin’? Been somewhere or done that? Let us know. This is the weekend before the big July 4th weekend. What up? Check in! (BTW, did ya’ know Christmas is just 6 months away?)
Phriday Photo of the Week
Photo of the week will be a summer phriday pheature where I’ll offer an image taken with my phantastical camera phone. The photos will range from phunny to thoughtphul with a sprinkle of phoolishness. You are welcomed and encouraged to provide a caption to compliment said photo in order to keep that mind thinkin’ critically while you’re away from the college.
In my mind the story went like this: Thomas needed to blow off some steam. Thomas left home, got lost, and found himself on the wrong side of the tracks. The Metra bar cars showed him a thing or two. Then the CTA trains took him to places he’d never seen before. When he hit the Loop, Thomas threw caution to the wind. Thomas really liked it when kids weren’t watchin’ his every move. In short Thomas chugged and got tanked! Then Thomas was found. I snapped this photo as he was being taken to an undisclosed rehab location.
If you have a photo you’d like to share, send it to chicagorealist@yahoo.com
I’ll post anonymously or otherwise; you tell me, and I’ll do it.
CPS: Chicago Political Schools
This one goes out to our CPS peeps. I feel your pain. I’m reading the article from the Sun-Times titled 1,000 CPS teachers protest canceled raises while execs get higher salaries.
The one line that gets me reads as follows:
“…board members voted to pay new Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard $250,000 a year, make him eligible for up to $37,500 a year in performance bonuses, pay him $30,000 to move his family from Rochester, N.Y., and give him a free car and driver for school business.”
I need some help here. I thought cuts were being made because there was a lack of funding from the state. If that’s the case, does the salary of this individual come from a different funding source? Does any peep know?
If all slaries of CPS employees are comin’ out of the same pot, then I think we have ourselves a problem here. How can you tell CPS teachers there is no money and then turn around and have your actions demonstrate otherwise? I don’t get it.
Later in the story, it reads:
“Officials called the quarter-million-dollar base salary “on par” with most similar-sized districts.
So if this is CPS’s “business” philosophy, wouldn’t CPS want the salaries of their teachers to be on par with similar-sized districts?
I add up all the words from the article and it only confirms that children and faculty are nothing more than pawns in the world of chicago school politics. This line only confirms it for me:
“Emanuel endorsed the new salaries as well as a decision to give Cawley, a Winnetka resident, two years to meet the city’s residency requirement instead of the normal six months.”
Ya think 20 newly hired HWC peeps will be granted a similar extension by the mayor?
Just in case you don’t check your e-mail
In case you missed this announcement…check out the forward message from Mike Davis.
For those of you who already expressed interest in doing a session, please consider submitting your idea for the 2 days of district-wide FD. We need to ensure that those 2 days are worthwhile. Obviously, some sessions are better suited for a district-wide FD than others. If you do submit your session, please let me know. I’m assuming the role of point person between district and local. I’ll bug those of you who expressed interest in a separate e-mail within a day or 2. We’ll need to firm up a schedule at HW. If you have an idea for a session, but didn’t complete the survey that I sent before the end of the semester, please let me know so I can add you to the list of possibilities.
So here are a few overdue details. I was waiting for the call for submissions before sending this e-mail.
1) There will be 2 district-wide days at Malcolm (Mon and Tues 8/8 and 8/9). The programming for those days has not been determined but the days will last from 9-3:30
2) There will be 3 local FD day at HW (Wed-Fri. 8/10-8/12). The days will run from 9-3:30. Wed. and Thurs. will tentatively consist of various breakout sessions (possible concurrent) on a variety of topics. Friday will include a larger meeting likely with Pres. Laackman and then, most likely, time in departments. Nothing is set in stone.
3) Nothing is set in stone with respect to programming. That is what we need to figure out. If you’re interested in working on this with me (I know of a few people already) please let me know. I’m hoping to do most of this work via e-mail and perhaps some other form of technology (chat, skype, etc.)
Thanks for reading. Look out for more details when I have them. I’m very excited for FDW this year and am looking forward to working with several of you to make it fantastic.
Chris Sabino
CAST coordinator
Assistant Professor
Mathematics Department
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: ”specialannounce” <specialannounce@ccc.edu>
To: <*.mailco.postdom@ccc.edu>,<*.mailda.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailhw.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailkk.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailmx.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailoh.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailtr.postdom@ccc.edu>, <*.mailwr.postdom@ccc.edu>
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:33:19 -0500
Subject: Faculty Development Week — Call for Submissions
June 17, 2011
Colleagues,
Get ready for the annual Faculty Development Week. It promises to be an enlightening and engaging event and will get us ready for the new academic year.
This year we will host a 2-day event, tentatively scheduled for August 8th, and 9th at Malcolm X College (1900 W. VanBuren). Dates and times will be finalized and confirmed shortly. Attendance is mandatory for all full time faculty members.
Day One (August 8th): 9:00 am – 3:30 pm. Faculty Development Week begins with addresses from administrative leadership and a keynote speaker, followed by a breakout session.
Day Two (August 9th): 9:00 am – 3:30 pm. The second day of Faculty Development Week will be comprised of a series of concurrent breakout sessions.
Call for Submissions: This is where we need you to get involved. Academic Affairs is calling for submissions for general sessions during faculty development week. All faculty and staff are encouraged to submit a session by filling out the following form:
http://www.tfaforms.com/206667
Submissions will be reviewed, accepted, and scheduled by a committee of faculty and administrators in early July.
Deadline for session descriptions: 5:00 PM, Sunday, July 3rd.
As always, we look forward to the start of another academic year together. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Mike Davis
Associate Vice Chancellor for STEM
Summer Music – Vol. 2
I step away from the usual reinvention-themed post to remember our Isabelle Belance. It’s been two quiet years. This one’s for you and your family Isa.
Feel free to share your thoughts and memories.
