Novels2Search

Chaper 22: Faculty Reactions

“First of all, I’d like to note that we will be having meetings like this one on a regular basis—most likely at two or three times a year. I don’t know whether you’ve had regular meetings before as there is no record of them. Have you had regular meetings in the past?”

Most people stared at him blankly, with a few shaking their heads. Harry Benton, one of the electrical engineers who taught the math and electronics courses, replied, “No, not regularly. We have had them in the past only when there was a problem that needed to be discussed at the Dean’s discretion, but the last meeting was at least three years ago.”

“Thank you, Mr. Benton,” Dan replied. “I suspected that might be the case but wanted to make sure. I don’t want these meetings to be overly formal—no Roberts Rules or formal votes, in general. I just want us to have an opportunity to share information and discuss issues any of us thinks important for the benefit of the group and of our students. I also want all of you to feel comfortable coming to me when you have anything you’d like to discuss privately. It has to be a two-way street. I do want there to be a very general record of what we discuss, however, not so much for my benefit but for the benefit of whoever succeeds me.”

“Thinking of leaving us already?” Martha Washington, one of the business education instructors, quipped with a clear note of sarcasm in her voice.

“No, Ms. Washington. I just got here. However, I serve at the pleasure of both Director Lantz and the owners of PEMTI, so I can be here today and gone tomorrow. I may also choose to leave in the future if I find that I am not a good fit for PEMTI or it for me. And, of course, just as I serve at the pleasure of the administration, so do you.”

“You mean we serve at your pleasure, don’t you?” Ms. Washington again interrupted.

“If you want to put it that way, yes that is true. You all serve at my pleasure—that is the nature of this business. But it is my intention to make this as welcoming and rewarding an environment as I can for all of us. That means I intend to do everything within my power to provide a workplace you want to be in and can be proud of—where good people feel appreciated and respected. And, of course, as is always the case with appreciation and respect, that too is a two way street. You won’t stay if you are not appreciated and acknowledged for the good work that you do here, and neither will I. I also will not stay if it becomes apparent that I am either not up to doing my job effectively or unsatisfied with my job. And the opposite is also true—I won’t keep anyone who proves unable or unwilling to effectively do their job.”

There was no response from the group, just intense stares.

“I would like a volunteer to take minutes for the meeting and would ask that the names of anyone who speaks not be mentioned—unless it is me, and you think it relevant as everything I say is on the record. Would anyone be willing to serve as our secretary for purpose of this meeting? I’ll ask for volunteers at every meeting and will take minutes myself if no one is willing to do so, though I prefer an objective observer to do it.”

Ms. Pearl Smith raised her hand and volunteered.

“Thank you, Ms. Smith. I know you know shorthand, so it will be easier for you to take the minutes than for most of us. And I really appreciate it. You can begin after you finish your lunch or simply write down your recollection of what was discussed later, if you prefer.”

“I can eat and write,” she replied smiling while taking out a steno pad.

“All right, with that settled let me begin with the top of the agenda,” Dan said. Starting next week, I will be visiting your classes at least once every year—more at my discretion if I think it necessary or helpful to do so. I randomly selected the first faculty members whose classes I will visit next week. They are Vanessa Hunter, Abbas Haddad, Homer Gachette and Martha Washington per the listing under Item One. I will individually contact other faculty after next week whom I select for a classroom observation. As to our four colleagues on the list, I would like you to inform me by the end of the day today which of your classes you would like me to attend. I will leave it up to you. I don’t want to schedule a visit on a day when you are giving an exam or having students work on some sort of project, so please choose a day and class when you will be lecturing so there is something meaningful for me to observe. If you don’t get back to me before you leave today, I will assume you have no preference or exams next week and I will choose a class based on what best fits my schedule. Any questions about that?”

Advik Singh raised his hand. “Yes Mr. Singh?” Dan said.

“Some of us teach days and nights, Dean Amor. Do you want us to select classes just during the day?”

“No Mr. Singh, you can choose whatever class works best for you. And please call me Dan. Unless I have a conflicting meeting, I will attend that class. If there is a conflict, I will tell you immediately and give you an opportunity to select a different class. I’m not just here during the day. I’ve been putting in long hours this week and will continue to do so as long as needed. But whatever schedule I choose to work, be assured I will attend whatever class works best for you—be it 9:00 a.m. or 9:00 p.m.”

“Why was I chosen as one of the first four to be evaluated?” Martha Washington asked.

“As I said, I chose the first four randomly.”

“What system did you use to choose the names”?

“No system. But please understand that I don’t need a system, nor do I need to tell you why or how I choose to evaluate anyone at any time. It is at my discretion.” Dan was having a tough time not showing his annoyance at this particular instructor’s attitude. In fact, he had singled out faculty that he had good reason to know were not doing their jobs effectively either through personal observation or by the quality or lack of lesson plan submissions. “But that’s a good Segway into Item number two on the agenda. I will schedule an in-person meeting to discuss each evaluation within a few days after my classroom visitation. If I did have a reason to single out any individual for early evaluation, I would not disclose it publicly—though be assured I will discuss it during the face-to-face meeting along with my classroom evaluation with the faculty member and give him or her a written, signed copy that they will also be asked to sign with or without adding their own comments. These will be added to each faculty member’s permanent file.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“We have not been evaluated like this before,” Ms. Washington again interjected.

“I am well aware. That is one of the issues I am changing immediately. I am unwilling to simply either support or oppose faculty retention or raises on the formal annual evaluation that the Director will use to make such decisions based on my personal feelings. I intend to make recommendations based on the record—neither rubber stamping everyone nor blindsiding anyone with a negative recommendation when they had no idea I had issues with their performance.” Dan concluded.

“If there are no other questions, I’d like to move on to the third item on the agenda,” he looked around the table but no one else spoke. “Fine,” he continued. “Item three relates to scheduling for the AOS cohort that begins Monday,” Dan said, while reaching into the folder in front of him and pulling out the schedules of everyone affected. He then passed them around the table saying, “Please take the schedule with your name. I tried as much as possible to roll over classes based on your current schedule or, if that did not work based on faculty availability, classes you taught in any of the two years prior. Please take a look at it and let me know now if you see any glaring issues as classes begin Monday and I will not make any changes after today.”

No one spoke up. Then, as Dan was about to move to the next item, Harry Lippmann raised his hand.

“Is there any possibility of swapping the Business English course you assigned to me for the fourth period for a math or technology course?”

“But you taught that last year, is there a problem?” Dan asked.

“No, I can teach it, it’s just not a course I’m comfortable teaching. I was assigned it last year when our dean at the time needed me to teach it due to a staffing change at the last minute.”

“I’m sorry. I did not know that.” Dan said. “Is there anyone that would be willing to change the fourth period English course for a business math, accounting or business technology course?

“I’d be happy to do that,” Jazmin Cole piped in. “It makes no difference to me. He can have my Business Math course if that’s o.k. with you and I’ll take his Business English.”

Perfect, Thank you Ms. Cole. I really appreciate that,” Dan said.

“Me too,” interjected Mr. Lippmann laughing, then added “Thank you both.”

“That too is a good segway to my next item. I don’t have any information about your teaching preferences on file—just your degrees and the courses I can extrapolate you can teach based on State Ed. requirements. So please do let me know at your convenience if you have a preference for teaching courses that you are not already teaching but can teach, or if you would prefer not to teach courses you have taught in the past three years. I will always do my best to give you your preferences when I can. I won’t always be able to accommodate you but will do my best. Just send me a memo or a simple listing of courses with your name and the programs the courses are attached to and I’ll add them to a database I began with Katie, my part-time secretary’s help.” He noticed a lot of heads nodding and smiles at that, and a couple of people actually clapping in approval.

“That brings me to my final item on the agenda. I am working on a new program proposal that I intend to submit to SED Monday for a short, three-month self-paced course that will prepare our students for office support and related positions requiring proficiency in WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase III, and DOS. I am structuring the courses as tutorials with students using a workbook and included student-software. This is designed not as a cohort where all students begin and end at the same time, but as a rolling admissions course where the maximum number of students is 20 but every time one completes the course and earns a certificate, a new student can immediately replace them. I’ve selected books for each module that are intended for self-paced instruction. The students will read and then apply concepts by following step-by-step instructions with the faculty member serving as a guide and mentor, getting each student started and then circulating around the room reviewing their progress and giving help when they get stuck. Initially Jaime Castro, our Lab Technician, will be assigned to classes where these modules run, and as soon as we can hire a student worker who has expertise with the programs in question, one will be hired to take Jaime’s place and assist the instructor in every class.”

“You realize,” Harry Benton began, “That we have not had a new program approved by SED in many years, and that we would need a new computer lab for the software you mentioned, right?”

“Yes, I do, Mr. Benton. I have someone coming in Monday with a proposal to swap one of our two Apple IIe labs and replace it with 20 PC-compatible clones. We’ll have someone from corporate here on Monday as well to help evaluate the clones and anyone interested in seeing the sample is welcome to join us for a demonstration. The PCs will be low end—256K RAM, dual floppy disks and the usual monochrome amber or green monitors and keyboards. But they will run the free student version of the software packages that come with the textbooks and much more. I’ve already evaluated these, and anyone interested in seeing the books and software is welcome to come to my office where you can try it out. The clones will be the turbo models running at twice the original PC speed.”

“And the Melameds will spring for the cost?” Harry asked incredulously.

“Actually, I found an outfit that will swap out our Apple IIe computers with the clones at no cost—including free delivery and take-away of the old Apples.”

“If you can pull that off, you should be a candidate for sainthood. Do you know how long we’ve been lobbying to make the switch?” Harry interjected excitedly.

“This is just at the proposal stage, but I need to get a new program proposal to SED as soon as possible as that is my leverage for getting corporate to agree to the change. The computers will come with a one-year warranty on parts so if anything fails, we can swap out the offending part and have it replaced in days. What I’d like to know is how many here who are qualified to tech computer software would be interested in participating in the program if I can get SED and the corporate to agree? I intend to run both a day and evening program to maximize the lab use for an initial total of 40 students as a trial run.”

Three instructors immediately raised their hands. Martha Washington then asked, “What about the typing simulations we use on both Apple labs now. Will the new lab run the same software?”

“Yes, I have a copy of the PC version of the same software we now bundle with the typing simulation textbook and the price is the same for the Apple and PC versions of the book, so no additional cost will accrue to us or to our students. Anyone who wants to preview the PC versions of the software is also welcome to stop by my office at their convenience.

A buzz rose around the table as faculty members chatted with one another excitedly. And Dan chose the opportunity to end on a positive note. “All right folks,” he announced, “unless anyone has any further business, we can adjourn with eight minutes to spare.” Everyone immediately rose and several faculty members stayed behind to speak with Dan excitedly about the new program, trying to get additional details and a better idea of how likely it was to be approved.