FACULTY MEETING MINUTES
South Royalton House
South
PRESENT: Cara Berryman, Dennis Bonanza, Jim Candon, Jeff Cassarino, Kathi Cassidy, Diana Chapman, Allen Clark, Wade Cole, Chris Colwell, Sheila Commo, Anne Cote, John Cross, Pauline Dwyer, Anne Emerson, Jenny Estey, John Gorczyk, Barb Hagen, Lisa Harrington, Audrey Irons. Dan King, Mary Koen, Sue Kuzma, Mark Lather, Steve LaTulippe, Dianne Lawrence, Tod Lessard, John Long, Bob Lucenti, Paul Major, Eric Marchese, Mary McCallum, Mo McIntyre, Katherine Miller, Maryanne Murphy, Mary Poulos, Gene Rembisz, Bob Salzman, Bob Sattelberger, Bobbi Shutts, Guy Smythe, David Strong, Claire Swaha, Scott Tomlinson, Peter VanWageningen, Bob Walsh, Tom Woods.
ABSENT: Richard Anderson, Alan Frost, Mary Nelson, Broni Plucas, Sharon Strange, Tony Washburn.
Introductions and
Announcements:
Bob called the meeting to order at
Roll Call was taken.
Dave Strong made a
motion to accept the meeting minutes of November 17, 2005. Bob Sattelberger
seconded the motion. The motion was called, and it passed unanimously.
Barb
Bob asked the faculty for their feedback regarding the Inmate Legal Education Services provided by Contractor, Jan Peter Dembinski. Bob is asking because his present contract will expire in May, and he wanted input prior to a renewed contract. Discussion ensued. There was very good feed-back regarding Mr. Dembinski's services. One suggestion was to be sure we received the course description, course # and syllabus. The faculty agreed that this contract should be renewed.
Bob announced that Lynn Sibley has resigned from her
position as Title I instructor at the Barre Probation and Parole education
site. Central office and educators at the Barre Probation and Parole have been
discussing how to fill the position. A Correctional Instructor and Vocational
Coordinator position are still vacant at the Burlington Probation and Parole,
as well as, a Special Education position in
Southern State Correctional Facility was recently under a lockdown. If any CHSVT faculty has questions about their role during a lockdown, please feel free to contact Bob at central office.
Local Site
Announcements:
Diana Chapman announced that Northeast Regional Correctional Facility had its second annual adjunct appreciation celebration.
Lisa Harrington and Katherine Miller are working with adjuncts developing a Literacy Project where students are tutoring students. The "tutors" attend a sixteen hour training and are then paired with other students who need assistance. The program has been very successful.
Dan is having a graduation at the Burlington Probation and Parole education site on February 2nd. Commissioner Hofmann will be the guest speaker.
Wade is having a graduation at the St. Albans Probation and
Parole education site tomorrow, January 27th; at
Commissioner Hofmann was asked to speak at some legislative committees. He told them that the CHSVT is the shining light in corrections. He invited the committee members to attend our graduations.
Claire Swaha announced that Jane Kitchell has joined the St. Johnsbury local advisory board.
Maryanne Murphy had two graduates that went to speak to the legislature recently. Rob Hofmann was impressed with their presentations.
Jenny Estey announced that they have a student who is attending VTC and doing very well. The Dean speaks highly of him, and he is getting excellent grades.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Local Standards
Board - Mary Poulos
On-line portfolios are still a work in progress. The first draft of the IPDPs is due tomorrow, January 27th, if you are due. A question was asked; Does a teacher need to earn more credits if moving from a Level I to a Level II endorsement? Mary replied that you do not need to earn more credits if you are teaching in that particular endorsement already.
There was some question about the New England Higher Education Collaborative and special education in schools, whether or not there was information available on the topic through UVM or VTC. Jenny Estey stated that St. Michael's College has an Adult Education Degree Program and that she has an Adult Education Endorsement from there.
Technology
Committee - Pauline Dwyer
The technology committee is in the process of updating the student inventory of computers. Each site was handed a spreadsheet with information about their computers. The committee asks that you check the serial numbers for each student computer, add computers that are not on the list, working or not. The list should be completed and brought to the February faculty meeting, or you may get it to the technology committee before. This inventory will help with the purchasing process and with warranty information. A question was asked if central office has this information so that each site did not need to double the efforts by completing the inventory. Pauline replied that she doesn't believe central office has all of the information that the committee is looking for.
Bob Lucenti reported that the proposals for a student Computer Lab Technician should be completed in a couple of weeks. The labs will be worked on in order of most immediate need.
Dennis installed Microsoft Office XP Professional software into available laptops during the meeting.
Special Education
- Mary Koen
The next special education meeting will be held on January
31st, in
Bob briefly discussed the two pieces of legislation, the rewrite of Title 28 §120 and a draft to the department of education that is still being reviewed. Copies are available to look at upon request to central office.
Library Committee
- Mary McCallum
Mary passed out the ordering guidelines and forms for the
library site orders. The sheet will show each facility how much money they have
to spend and when the orders are due. Orders can be completed on the sheet
provided, or done on-line. Paul Major will be emailing reminders as the
ordering deadline draws near. Orders need to be approved by the library
committee before they can be processed. Make sure that you use the word
"library fund" on the
OLD BUSINESS
A steering committee needs to be formed to follow the
process of accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and
Colleges (NEASC). Jim Candon, Barb Hagen, Steve LaTulippe and Bob Lucenti informed
the faulty about the training in
Bob
Lucenti moved to discuss the formation of a steering committee consisting of
Jim Candon, Barb Hagen, Dave Strong and Steve LaTulippe to work on school
accreditation. John Cross
seconded the motion. Gene Rembisz asked if they felt that the committee
needed more members. Jim responded that they would like to reserve the right to
add members or ask for expertise as needed. He felt that there would be a need
for future ad-hoc committees. All
approved of the steering committee.
Steve, Jim and Barb shared some highlights of the training. There is no doubt that the CHSVT will be approved as an independent school with NEASC. There are only 14 standards that need to be met, and NEASC is willing to work with the CHSVT to meet those needs. Most of the standards are already being met. Approval may come as early as October of this year. Bob said that the approval process will be on the agenda every month so that updates can be made. Bob handed out a copy of Standards one, four, five and six for Accreditation and Indicators. Standard one is about the schools mission which the whole school will be working on. Standards four, five and six are about programming, experience of the students and resources to support the programming. The faculty already addresses the curriculum through focus groups. Jim handed out a copy of the Guide for the Self-Study. All the standards are related to the mission of the school. The schools mission statement was discussed and how it should be revised. It was decided that some of the areas of concern with the current mission statement are that it's too long, there is no mention of fields of study, subject areas should be mentioned, mentioning Vermont residents only is a concern as we also have New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts students at some of our probation and parole sites. Part of the approval process will be to look at and rewrite the mission statement. Part of the agenda for the next faculty meeting will be to look at the mission statement at greater length. The steering committee will develop a questionnaire for students, corrections staff and parents to ask for their input on improving the mission statement and approval process. Example surveys were handed out with questions like: Do you think that the CHSVT is a difficult school to graduate from? Do you feel like you are treated with integrity? Do you feel that you are listened to? Mary Koen suggested that if anyone has experience with building surveys, they should contact the steering committee. Pauline asked if the mission statement needed to be completed before the surveys were handed out and Bob L. stated yes.
Jim met with the chairs of the focus groups yesterday and discussed looking at the core classes again and how they compare with the standards that were handed out. It would be good to get an outside perspective as to how the class is being taught.
The faculty broke out into focus groups at this time to go over the core classes.
After focus groups and lunch, Steve stated that the steering committee will be meeting on February 3rd, and if you have any suggestions for the survey, send them to Jim. If you have suggestions for the mission statement, send them to Steve. If you have general suggestions for the committee, send them to Barb or Dave.
Curriculum
Committee
The curriculum manual is still being worked on and there should be a written copy soon. The manual is on the P drive and is always kept current. If you are confused about any part of the manual, feel free to contact the committee.
Bob L. handed out a copy of the Facility Admissions: Needs Assessment data to the faculty. This data shows most students' basic skills to be below 20% of the average. Please be sure to enter assessment information into the student database so that as students are moved from one facility to another, assessments do not need to be repeated.
Title I - Mary
Koen
Mary briefly shared the discussion at the last Title I meeting about Pre and Post assessments and the TABE Pilot Testing.
OLD BUSINESS -
Continued
Bob Sattelberger brought the faculty up to date on the process of increasing upgrading the Correctional Instructor Classified Position. Discussion ensued regarding the process and the risks involved in this process. The whole process should only take about six months and pay would be retroactive from the time the RFR is submitted. Bob L. cautioned the faculty to compare "teacher to teacher" and not "teacher to corrections officer" to make it more accurate. Bob S. will keep the faculty up to date on the process.
Dennis made a motion to discuss changing the word "instructor" to "teacher" as he feels it sounds more professional. Discussion ensued. What would the process be to change the name? The contract language would need to be changed through personnel.
John Cross moved to
change the title to "CHSVT Educator". Mary Poulos seconded it. A vote
was taken. All in favor one. All opposed 25. The motion did not carry.
Sue Kuzma made a
motion to change the name to "educator". Bobbi Shutts seconded. No
discussion was made. A vote was taken. All in favor of being
called "educator" 24. All opposed six.
Bob L. will submit the name change of "educator" to personnel for consideration.
Claire asked if the faculty should have new ID's with the new Commissioner's name on it? Mo stated that you could call Elaine Davis, Program Services Clerk for security at 241-2316. She could probably print a new one with your current picture that is stored in her computer.
Bob Lucenti asked for
a motion to adjourn the meeting. Dennis Bonanza made a motion to adjourn the
meeting and Paul Major seconded it. The meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sheila Commo