Colleagues,

After several meetings with district management, AFT achieved a tentative agreement on 2 MOUs related to Distance Education.  AFT’s goal was to place a “pause on all evaluations” due to the transition to online teaching/working remotely for all faculty during this time of COVID. The MOU on evaluations, even though some evaluations will still take place, AFT advocated that the intent of the evaluation process shall be conducted in a compassionate and supportive manner, not in a punitive manner. The District agreed with that intent.  The first MOU is simply an extension of the MOU we had for faculty training/mentors and the 2nd MOU is related to the suspension of most faculty evaluations for this academic year (see attached MOUs).    

Summary of MOU related to Suspension of Evaluations for Fall 2020 - Spring 2021:
 
1.  Suspend all evaluations of tenured faculty and non-contract faculty on the longevity list.
2.  Temporary full-time faculty and non-contract faculty will be evaluated in their first semester using Article 12. This is for newly hired faculty.
3.  Non-contract faculty members who are in their fifth semester will receive an evaluation if requested by the faculty member.  Faculty members must  request to be evaluated by October 15, 2020.
4.  Tenure-track (probationary) faculty will continue to be evaluated as stated in Article 11 of the CBA.
5.  Faculty teaching hybrid or face-to-face in Career Tech programs and Athletics may be evaluated if BOTH the faculty member and supervisor approve.  
6.  The term for this MOU covers Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.
 
Questions:
a)  Will student evaluations be conducted?   Yes.
b)  If a faculty member is on an improvement plan, will they automatically be evaluated? No.
 
Both MOUs are subject to the VCCCD Board of Trustees approval on Tuesday, October 13.  We expect them to be approved.
 
You may download a copy of the MOU's here:
​
COVID distance education training
Faculty evaluations during COVID
 
In Unity,
 
 
Steve Hall
Chief Negotiator
Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, AFT Local 1828

Dear Faculty,

The District will be sending out the Open Enrollment information today or tomorrow--via email and also via USPS-- regarding the process for selecting your new CALPERS medical plan.  The effective date of the new medical plan is September 1, 2020.  The current medical plans sunset on August 31, 2020.

The Open Enrollment time-frame is from June 24, 2020 to July 10, 2020.  This is about one week less than the normal, regular open enrollment process we have had in the past. 

Due to COVID-19, the information on the Open Enrollment process will also include the schedule of the online activities that the District is offering to all employees such as Health Fairs, Q & A sessions with the medical providers and Q & A with the District's insurance broker, Burnham. The primary role of the Burnham representative is to follow-up on any questions you may have on the specific medical plans/pharmacy benefits, in the event your questions may not have been answered during any of the sessions, or if you need additional information. 

Our dedicated District Human Resources Benefits Reps, Katy and Janice, will also be available online via their own Q & A sessions so that all faculty have plenty of opportunities to ask their questions before making this very important decision. 


Bea Herrera
President

On Thursday March 23, 2020 the VCCCD Board of Trustees held a special board meeting.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the meeting was held via Zoom conference and permitted only public comment by email.  Participants were asked to submit written comments to the board recording secretary prior to the meeting and during public comment prior to the closed session the chairperson would read a select number of emailed comments.  The AFT Local 1828 encouraged all faculty to send email comments to the board expressing their thoughts on Board's desire to continue the negotiations/factfinding process during this global health emergency.  We have archived the comments here to share with everyone.  Here is a link to the statement sent by the AFT Negotiations team on behalf of the faculty.