CLARIFICATION OF INTENT
Class Size Language
This document has been developed by the chief negotiators of the 1995-2000
Faculty & E/TS Agreement in an effort to clarify the intent and proper
interpretation of the class size language in that Agreement.
Class size was
a major concern of both parties during the negotiations of this Agreement and
occupied a great deal of our time. There was a good faith effort made in our
negotiations to build language into the Agreement that would encourage collaborative
decision making processes. Since these processes had worked well for us in
bargaining and the College was moving toward a total quality management environment,
we believed this way of making decisions was in line with the College's goals.
We
also understood that the matter of class size had not been in our Agreements
before and would be difficult to address in a way that would meet both parties'
interests. Since we had used an interest based negotiations process, we found
a way for Faculty to effectively question class sizes through a consensus process.
While
it was not designed as a pre-approval process, the language in Article
26.24did create a role that would be appropriate for a Subject Area Curriculum Committees
(SACC). This process was meant to be deliberative and structured enough to
provide both parties with well considered results that, once again, could meet
most of the parties' interests. Our hope was that both parties would see the
wisdom in making these decisions in a collaborative way. Indeed, we knew of
management staff who were already doing this and it was working well for them.
The
College and Federation intend that the agreement be interpreted as follows:
Prior
to setting the class size for a new class or modifying the class size for an
existing class and at least one full quarter before the class size will be
effective, the manager will consult with the SACC as to the reasons for the
manager's class size decision. The SACC will have a reasonable opportunity
to present alternatives before a decision is finalized and can request the
involvement of the Dean of Instruction. Thereafter, the SACC can review the
class size decision of the manager under Article
26.24.
Signed 7/13/95
. This document language taken directly from Faculty & E/TS
Agreement, 9/1/95 - 8/31/00