Board Meeting Recap

Here is a recap of the work session discussion and board meeting discussion as it pertains to faculty:

Tuesday evening I called Doug Murray, board chairman to inform him about a potential contract violation. The attached budget assumption will show you that our 3.25% raise has been removed from the budget. This is different than what the budget team presented to Dr. Yowell at Presidents cabinet. He indicated to me that he would inform the board.

Work session, Wednesday 2-3;

Chairman Murray informed the board of our discussion. Followed by the statement that he did not see a problem with the budget not including the raise, if the budget was preliminary and subject to revision. The raise does not take effect until the second August pay, August 31. He also indicated that the union would be negotiating in August (I do not know where he got this information from).

The board agreed to remove the budget from the consent agenda so they could discuss further during the regular meeting.

Regular meeting, Wednesday 3 to ?

The budget was removed from the consent agenda and discussion centered around a preliminary budget or a month to month continuing budget. The board opted for a preliminary budget that could be subject to change. Trustee MeHaffe raised the question of violating the contract. The board agreed they would not willfully violate the contract and hoped that once the State budget is approved, the raise could be paid. Again there was mention of negotiation in August.

The budget was approved.

The board went into executive session, but I spoke to Chairman Murray and indicated to him that the budget the board saw is different than the budget the team gave to Dr. Yowell at Presidents Cabinet.

I will contact our legal representative at OEA to get a clearer picture and to see what Ohio Revised Code can be used if and when we need to file suit.

7 comments:

Chance said...

Nothing about Steve Marlowe?

We know the Board was informed by Yowell that he terminated Marlowe to achieve the so-called Eng-2-Math balancing. It has been chronicled by others that Yowell's convoluted reasoning is absurd, ridiculous, and possibly the most transparent act of retribution we have ever seen. Marlowe's firing is unquestionably a serious breach of the collective bargaining agreement. (ESEA, where's YOUR response?)

The reaction from the Board? Nothing. Not a twitch. Not a word of discussion. Pass the nuts. Coffee anyone? How disheartening. How very disheartening.

Most of us have been looking for the Board to awaken from its long slumber and take Yowell to task for his failures and misdeeds. If they aren't going to react to this very obvious act of retribution and breach of agreement, then it appears almost certain that they will never hold Yowell accountable for anything. How gutless.

Board members did have the privilege of hearing about Yowell's self appraisal, which was positive, of course. Ken thinks he's doing well, as you would expect, and so the Board congratulated Ken on a job well done. Atta boy, Ken. It's amazing they didn't extend his contract a few more years. Maybe next meeting.

The point? If you are waiting for the Board to step in and do what we all believe needs done most (that is, removing Yowell), then forget it. Not gonna happen. Not with this Board.

(Do you hear the sound of people packing their bags? If not, you are not listening. Seriously.)

At this time Marlowe's firing is what matters most, and it is Marlowe's firing which may well become the defining point for the entire crisis with Yowell.

The lack of outrage and outcry over Steve's termination is very frightening. It suggests there are too many who may be willing to accept the loss of Marlowe as some kind of collateral damage. It is not acceptable. Absolutely not acceptable.

There should be dozens upon dozens of comments and posts condemning this outrage, and demanding Yowell be removed for this most serious of transgressions. Where are you, people? Where are you?

If you can read this post, you certainly can figure out how to respond, to comment, to demand better, to stand up for Steve Marlowe. Steve deserves nothing less.

There is nothing more important for you to do today.

-CTG

From the dark said...

KY and JS both lied to the Board members' faces and they just counted millions of hand-ballots in less than three hours. What parallels run cruelly through the world!

TR said...

CTG, it's rather hard to predict how things will develop. But regarding Marlowe's case, while I can't speak for ESEA, I am confident that they are responding. The proper response, however, at this point is done in private--filing grievances, retaining attorneys, figuring out as the process grinds along what legal actions to file.

Posting comments, expressing outrage, pressuring the Board? Certainly a privilege we should all exercise as we see fit. But I'm confident that the administration and the Board have already figured out the sentiments of various constituencies in the college and community--after all, a 44-1 no-confidence vote is a fairly clear message. I wouldn't get my hopes up that their "inconsequential" response is going to change anytime soon.

From the dark said...

I agree with TR. The Board is not going to be pressured by Edison staff. They can be pressured by their true constituency, the public. If there is no media coverage there will be no Steve Marlow at Edison next year.

Chance said...

So what is going to have to happen to make the public aware enough of the problems at Edison that the Board members will get pressure from their business and social peers and/or from the public in general?

Surely, prominent media attention is a requirement at this point. But it has to paint a detailed and clearly undeniable picture that Yowell is destroying an important community asset from the inside out. Also, it has to show the Board's complacency is a major contributor to the problem.

No argument here that the Board has total disregard for the concerns of the college's fine and dedicated employees. The 44-1 faculty's no-confidence vote being deemed "inconsequential" is the perfect example, as is tolerating Yowell's unnecessary non-renewal notifications of 86 professional employees.

Let's hope the dirty laundry and skeletons in the closet all get to see the brightest light of day.

While I wait for the media cavalry to arrive, I'm just gonna keep squawking to everyone I can get. It can't hurt.

Hang tough, Steve, as I know you will. You're gonna get to kick some executive ass real soon.

CTG

From the dark said...

Surely Chance someone has a news contact that they can send the Illuminator's URL to.

Chance said...

Been there. Done that.

One or two people trying to alert the media to a crisis at the local community college generally gets a yawn. (I know, I've been yawned at). But if person after person after person reaches out, then the media WILL check it out.

What we need is as many of the Edison family (current, former, or related -- employees, students, and grads) as possible to send the URL for The Illuminator to their favorite media sources.

Talk to 2.
Talk to Steve Baker at Channel 7.
Talk to Dave Larson at Dayton Daily News.
Talk to Piqua, Troy, Sidney, and Greenville newspapers (editors and publishers are listed in every copy every day). Some even still have reporters that report local government and school news.
You know who you rely on for your local news.
Reach out to them today.

Tell them there is a story here. An important story. A story of failures, and lies, and misdeeds, and retribution. Tell them Edison is in crisis. Tell them the public needs to know the truth.

Use a pseudonym if you fear retribution (gee, why would any worry about that?). If that's not safe enough, then ask a friend or family member to reach out. This CAN be done.

Just try.

Consider this. There have been 10,000 visitors to this site. Imagine what might happen if just one percent of them contact the media. That's 100 voices. 100 voices saying there is something seriously wrong at Edison.

And if 10 percent did it, wow. It would be really hard to ignore 1,000 voices, or deem them as being "inconsequential".

Doug Murray and Edison's shamelessly complacent Board of Trustees have refused to listen. OK, then. Let them read it in their hometown newspapers, or hear it on the 6 o'clock news.

That should get some action.

Be part of the solution. Contact someone today.

CTG