Language Provisions...MSCA Perspective, 04/2001: Massachusetts State College Association

Language Provisions from the BHE-MSCA Tentative Agreement

MSCA Perspective

The following provisions are changed or amended from the current contract. If there is no information below, the current language is unchanged. The most important changes in language concern a new Article, VIIIC, Post-Tenure Review. All full-time tenured and tenure-track unit members, as well as those who hope to hold a tenure-track position in the state colleges, should read this language carefully and attend the ratification meeting to be held at each local campus to have questions and concerns answered.

(Subject to Ratification by MSCA Day Bargaining Unit)

Duration: July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2003

Post-tenure review will become operative September 1, 2001. Unit members must be paid the FY 01 and FY 02 increases and bonuses by May 31, 2002. If they are not paid by May 31, 2002, all post-tenure reviews conducted to that point will be null and void and no further post-tenure reviews shall be conducted until those monies have been paid. Any unit members evaluated under post-tenure review during AY 01-02, whose evaluations have been nullified, shall not be re-evaluated under post-tenure review again until AY 06-07.

Both the BHE and MSCA proposals on distance education, technology, intellectual property, as well as all attendant issues, remain on the table. The parties will continue to negotiate over these issues as part of successor negotiations.

Article VIII (Evaluation)
Provisions on pages 103-104, Section 2 b. of the collective bargaining agreement are deleted.

Article VIII-C (Post Tenure Review)
The review period shall be defined as it is in Article VIII. The Òreview yearÓ shall be the equivalent of the evaluation period in Article VIII. There should be no missing years between review periods in this Article.

I. Frequency of Post-Tenure Reviews
A. Post-tenure review shall be conducted during every seventh year of the unit member's employment in the bargaining unit measured from the unit member's tenure evaluation or last promotion evaluation, whichever is later.

B. Transition: Initial post-tenure review for those for whom tenure took effect or who were last evaluated for promotion before September 1, 1995, shall be determined by lot, selecting 20 percent of such unit members each year beginning with the academic year 2001-2002 and ending with the academic year 2005-2006. This lottery shall be conducted for each campus before the first post-tenure reviews, randomly allocating one-fifth of the group to each of the five academic years in question. The lottery shall be conducted by the Chapter President and the Academic Vice President and shall be open to all tenured unit members. Unit members shall be notified immediately after the lottery of the year of their post-tenure review.

The lottery selection shall occur no later than September 15, 2001.

C. Exceptions:
1. When measuring the duration of a personÕs employment, continuous leaves of absence (other than sabbatical leaves) of more than a semesterÕs length will not be treated as a period of employment for purposes of computing length of service under this Article, except that the unit member may include in this review professional work done during such leave.

2. Any person who takes a binding action to resign, whether or not to retire, effective no later than the end of the work year during which he or she is to be evaluated will not be evaluated during that year.

II. Scope of Review
A. The post-tenure review will address itself to the unit member's performance during the period since the last post-tenure review, or tenure evaluation or promotion evaluation, whichever most recently occurred. The review period shall commence no earlier than September 1, 1997, until seven-year review periods are established. At the request of the unit member and for good cause shown, (including serious illness or an emotional or other disruption of similar magnitude), with documentation from a physician or licensed mental health practitioner, the President shall postpone for one year a review otherwise required to be conducted. The period of such disruption shall not be included in any subsequent review.

B. Review materials shall consist of:
1. student evaluations during the review period (if applicable), provided that no comparative/normative numbers (e.g., means, percentiles) shall be included or referenced with regard to student evaluations;

2. Appendix B, including an updated resume;

3. additional reports for alternative responsibilities assigned in accordance with Article XII, Section D or equivalent non-teaching duties including the department chair, the coordination of laboratory experiences, in-service work with groups in the state, pupil supervision, and/or work in program and curriculum development during the review period;

4. all classroom visitations conducted during the review period;

5. a statement prepared by the unit member not to exceed 750 words describing those things selected by the unit member from Appendix A-1 or A-2 during the review period.

III. Procedures for Review
A. By September 30th of the post-tenure review year, the unit member shall submit to the Department Chair/Library Director/Campus School Principal the materials listed in Section II B 2. and 5. of this Article. If the Chair is not tenured or is being evaluated, a tenured member of the department, elected by and from among the tenured members of the department, shall substitute for the Chair. If the Chair is being evaluated under this Article, s/he shall submit the materials listed in Section II B 2. and 5. to a tenured member of the department, elected by and from among the tenured members of the department, who shall initially evaluate the Chair. If a tenured member other than the Chair is not available for the purposes of this paragraph, a tenured member of a cognate department shall be elected by the tenured members of the affected department, (or tenure-track members if there are no tenured members other than the Chair.)

B. By November 30th of the review year, the Chair/Library Director/Campus School Principal shall evaluate the unit member's performance and rate the performance as “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” For faculty, this evaluation shall include one classroom observation by the Chair conducted in accordance with the procedures in Article VIII, Section D. 1.b. The unit member shall have the right to submit a response for inclusion with the review material. The evaluation by the Chair/Library Director/Campus School Principal is not separately grievable.

C. The review material shall be transmitted to the Academic Vice President by December 15th of the review year.

D. The Vice President shall review all materials and by January 25th of the review year shall provide to the unit member a finding that the unit memberÕs work is “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” The unit member shall have the right to submit a response for inclusion with the review material and shall be given the opportunity to meet and discuss the evaluation. The unit member shall have the right to bring an Association representative to any meeting that is held for the purpose of discussing the evaluation.

E. Any finding that a unit memberÕs work is unsatisfactory shall be supported by a detailed and complete statement of the reasons.

F. After a finding by the Vice President that a unit memberÕs work is unsatisfactory, the unit member shall have the right to grieve the finding (which shall include any finding of unsatisfactory by the Chair/Library Director/Campus School Principal). The grievance shall be heard within thirty days in accordance with the Procedures for Expedited Labor Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association.

IV. Professional Development Plan
A. Whenever the Vice President gives a unit memberÕs performance a rating of unsatisfactory, the unit member shall be required to undertake a plan of professional development for a period not to exceed one academic year and may be denied a promotion and/or a bonus, unless the arbitrator reverses the finding of unsatisfactory performance.

B. The Vice President shall prescribe the plan of professional development by March 31st of the review year after consultation with the Chair/Library Director/ Campus School Principal and the unit member. The unit member shall have the right to bring an Association representative to any meeting with the Vice President when the plan of professional development is being discussed.

C. The plan of professional development shall prescribe the action that should be undertaken for improvement and the criteria that will be used to determine whether the unit memberÕs performance remains unsatisfactory. The college shall bear any costs associated with the completion of the plan of professional development, including the cost of workload reductions necessary to complete the plan. The plan of professional development under this Article is different from the plan described in Article XIV of the Agreement.

D. The content of the plan of professional development is not separately grievable, but may be appealed to the President. The unit member shall have the right to a meeting with the President to discuss the appeal and to bring an Association representative to such meeting. The President shall decide on the content of the plan within a week of the meeting with the unit member.

E. At the conclusion of the period of professional development, and by May 1st of the development year (or sooner if a request is made under paragraph J), the unit memberÕs performance shall be reviewed by the Chair/Library Director/ Campus School Principal and the Vice President. The unit member may grieve a finding of unsatisfactory by the Vice President which shall include any finding of unsatisfactory by the Chair/ Library Director/Campus School Principal and any questions about the appropriateness of the completed plan of professional development. Such grievance shall be in accordance with the procedure in paragraph F of Section III of this Article.

F. If the Vice President rates the unit memberÕs work unsatisfactory, and if the finding of unsatisfactory is not reversed by an arbitrator, the unit member shall be required to participate in an extended/ revised plan not to exceed an additional academic year, and may continue to be denied a promotion and/or a bonus and may also be denied a step increase. The implementation of the plan and challenges to the plan shall be in accordance with paragraphs C. and D. of this Section.

G. After completion of the second plan of professional development (or sooner if a request is made under paragraph J) the unit member shall again be evaluated in accordance with the procedure in paragraph E of this Section.

H. If the Vice President rates the unit memberÕs work unsatisfactory after the second professional development plan, and if the finding of unsatisfactory is not reversed by an arbitrator, the unit member continue to be denied promotions, bonuses, and/or step increases until found satisfactory.

I. Denials of promotions, bonuses, and/or step increases may be grieved by the unit member in accordance with the procedure in paragraph F of Section III of this Article. The arbitrator shall have the authority to reduce or eliminate a penalty.

J. During the period when a unit member is being denied promotions, bonuses, and/or step increases under this Section, the unit member shall be entitled to be re-evaluated upon his/her request by the Chair/Library Director/Campus School Principal and the Vice President in order to try to improve his/her rating to satisfactory. A re-evaluation shall be done within thirty (30) days of the request, and if rated satisfactory, the unit member shall receive the previously denied bonus on a pro-rated basis, and/or the step increase prospectively, and shall be eligible for promotion effective on the date rated satisfactory. If found unsatisfactory, the unit member shall have the right to grieve the finding in accordance with the procedure in paragraph F of Section III of this Article.

V. Grievances
A. No unit member's performance shall be given a rating of unsatisfactory without just cause, and every aspect of post-tenure review shall meet the standard of just cause.

B. The arbitrator shall have the authority to issue any make-whole remedy for violations of the just cause standard.

VI. Miscellaneous
A. Nothing in these provisions shall limit, or constitute a condition precedent to, the application of any provision of Article IX, Section E of the Agreement.

B. No record of any evaluation conducted or any action taken pursuant to post-tenure review shall be introduced into the record of, or otherwise used in connection with, any proceeding conducted pursuant to Article IX, Section E of the Agreement. The following items produced or implemented under this Article shall constitute the record for purposes of this Section:

1. Findings of satisfactory or unsatisfactory;

2. Classroom observations;

3. Professional development plans;

4. Penalties;

5. Statements of up to 750 words.

Article III (Facilities)
B. 8 The Employer shall maintain reasonable security for instructional equipment, libraries and offices. The Employer honors unit members' expectation of privacy in campus areas such as their offices, the offices of the Association, restrooms and locker rooms, and shall not use surveillance technology in such areas except as necessary for criminal investigations and in accordance with judicial standards. Additionally, no surveillance technology shall be used in classrooms, studios, laboratories, or meeting rooms except as necessary for criminal investigations and in accordance with judicial standards.

Article VII (Governance)
During academic years that fall within any period following the expiration of the Agreement and preceding the execution and funding of a new or extended agreement, members of the bargaining unit will participate in decision-making under Article VII. This undertaking is given in consideration of the College's undertaking to continue during such academic year(s) (a) to pay promotion increases, terminal degree adjustments and department chair stipends and (b) professional development monies to full-time unit members and salaried part-time unit members in a per capita amount based on 1% of the AA payroll in accordance with procedures in Article XIV A and G.

Article XII (Workload)
Leave the table of equivalencies as is, with the proviso that there shall be no changes in practice at any college during the term of this Agreement.

Article XX (Appointment)
For full-time temporary faculty: After 4 semesters of full-time temporary employment at a college, the individual, in order to be reappointed in the day unit, must be either appointed to a tenure-track position or given no more than part-time employment in the day unit for one semester at that college. After one semester of part-time Day unit employment, the unit member may be reappointed to a full-time temporary position, a tenure-track position, or another part-time position.

OTHER PREVIOUS AGREEMENTS
A. Addition of five arbitrators to the panel in the collective bargaining agreement.

B. Anti-nepotism provision for search committees.

C. Inclusion of agreements reached with the COP, e.g., sick leave bank.