The Adjunct Faculty Federation held its spring membership meetings on February 24, at the Main Campus, and February 26 at the West Essex Campus.
We want to thank the members who attended, as we always appreciate your support.
In fall 2020 we will try a different schedule for our meeting to see if we can accommodate more members’ schedules.
Some of the highlights of the meeting are as follows:
- Use of the Early Alert System is encouraged to alert students of areas they need to focus on to successfully complete their coursework.
- The Retention Task Force has been meeting and actively addressing issues related to retaining students. There is a lot of focus on the Developmental Math and Developmental English classes. Tutoring services have been ramped-up and there are improvements being noted in those areas. In addition, there is a restructuring of some of the same Math and English classes.
- It is important to submit “No-Show” and attendance reporting on time. It has a direct effect on the College’s funding.
- Timely mid-term grade and final grade reporting are important, as students need their grades in order to register for classes and/or graduate.
- We distributed New Jersey Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 185. It is an Adjunct Faculty Bill of Rights. This Resolution acknowledges adjunct faculty in the State of New Jersey. It is a first step in helping adjunct faculty make legislative progress. Unemployment Insurance is another issue we are working at improving for adjunct faculty.
- The AFTNJ Convention will be April 18, 2020, Saturday, at Rutgers University Cook Campus, 59 Biel Road, East Brunswick, NJ. Go to http://aftnj.org for details.
- The national AFT Convention will take place in Houston, Texas from July 27-30, 2020. As of this meeting, there were no details available. Go to http://aft.org for details or call (800) 238-1133.
- Our Chapter scholarship applications are available for students and adjunct faculty who are interested and who qualify. They are available on this website in the Resources tab.
- Members were reminded to use personal contact for John Smith, (973)856-1133, by phone or his email, jlsmith119@yahoo.com, when they need to express concerns or complaints NOT the essex webmail email addresses.
- It is important for adjunct faculty to come to the adjunct faculty unit officers with their concerns BEFORE going to the College Administration. More often than not, we can get answers and reach solutions before things get too serious. We cannot “fix” everything but we can try, if adjunct faculty work with us.
- Our 4th quarter financial documents have been completed and certified by our accountant, CPA Natalie Pitts. All of our taxes have been paid for 2019
- We are transitioning our bank account from TD Bank to Investors Bank.
- According to the College Roster, there are a total of 308 adjunct faculty teaching spring 2020. There was a total of 304 in the fall 2019 semester.
- There was an update on the state of our negotiations with ECC Administration. The process has slowed, since ECC brought in the outside attorney.
- We looked at comparisons of pay and a few items contained in contracts of our sister County Colleges. The comparisons illuminate their differences from ECC.
- Discussion of strategies to obtain a contract that is acceptable and reflects our worth.
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. Until then, do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns you may have.
In Unity,
Lynne Peterson Cummins, (973)856-0767, lynnepcummins@aol.com
John L Smith, (973)856-1133, jlsmith119@yahoo.com
Mark Brodsky, (201)341-8811, Mark@csa-nyc.org
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