May.... What ever happened to April? Seems like there is never enough time! Before I begin giving you some updates on specific items, I wanted to tell about the student scholarship committee I participated in. I have served on the Leadership Scholarship Committee for the Scholarship Office for several years now. What a great experience this was. You meet so many diverse and fascinating students. I saw that we have an impressive group of future leaders we have for this world. The students we interviewed in this committee were intelligent, innovative, enthusiastic and deeply committed to both their personal goals as well as devoted to being philanthropists for life. Many of them in their interviews remarked how much their experiences at Santa Monica College changed their lives and even how they remembered not only their instructors but the classified staff they encountered as well. I would wholeheartedly encourage everyone to serve on one of these committees next year. It is a wonderful experience.

Now on to other matters....

In the past several weeks, I have seen the classified staff apathy growing and growing. I have personally asked people to volunteer or take on a specific task and they have declined on each occasion. People said they just "didn't feel like it." Or they were "not interested." People are overwhelmed and/or disillusioned. I started getting the feeling that the Classified Senate was heading for the same downward spiral which griped the Classified Forum four years ago and propelled it into dissolution. The Executive Committee met and brainstormed what the role of the Senate would be for classified employees. It still seems that we need to publicize our existence to the general classified population more effectively. Our classified colleagues don't know who we are and what we do. It seemed appropriate since, for the last three years of our existence, we struggled with those same questions. It is important to remember that AB1725 gives the faculty through the Academic Senate several important responsibilities. One of them is development of curriculum. So whenever a new class is proposed, it is brought to the curriculum committee of the Academic Senate and is refined and subsequently approved and offered. Unfortunately, AB1725 language is extremely vague and non-committal when it describes classified employees' role in governance. As you know we have had to essentially carve and mold our roles and responsibilities, while not infringing on the areas of collective bargaining. As we have discussed, our role is primarily giving input on policies and procedures that have an affect on classified employees, which don't involve collective bargaining. This limits our scope in some ways and opens doors in other ways. It takes commitment from classified staff to provide this input. It means going to committee meetings it means taking more time. We have talked about this all before, but classified aren't stepping up and taking those responsibilities. The committee assignments are going unfilled and our voice is being lost. We have over 400 employees. It seems illogical that we can't get 40 employees to volunteer. What is the key to getting them enthused? What is the reason they are "not interested?" Maybe they think it doesn't matter or someone else will do it. There are many reasons. The Executive Committee feels we need to be targeting the newer employees more. I would agree. We have discussed the possibility of devising a pamphlet of who we are and what we do to be given out to new employees. Additionally there has been and idea of publishing a newsletter periodically alerting all classified staff of what the Senate is doing for the classified employees. It still comes down to the question of do classified employees want this opportunity for involvement? Some would probably say "It doesn't matter if we are on there or not, Administration is going to do whatever they want anyway." To those I would say that is not always the case. All the committees I have ever served on were extremely interested and committed to classified involvement and input. Since this is a key issue for the future of our organization, I have placed this issue on our agenda for this month. Please think this over and maybe come up with some answers and solutions.

Joanne Guercio has had to resign as Corresponding Secretary of the Classified Senate. She has been elected as a member of the 1999 Negotiating Team and Per CSEA Bylaws cannot remain in both leadership positions. Joanne has been an invaluable Executive Board member and it is a tremendous loss for the Senate. Joanne is still able to retain her Classified Senator status. Once the new bylaws are in effect, we will add this officer position to the election process to fill vacant Senator seats for 1999-2001

At our last Coordinating Council meeting on April 28 each constituency was asked review the 1998-99 Educational Master Plan Goals and Objectives and determine if we have met specified objectives and decide if new ones should be added for 1999-2000. Please review the attached document and if you have additions or comments you can send them to me by email or regular mail. Deadline is Tuesday, May 25, 1999. We also reviewed the Interim Facility Plan. As soon as the revised plan is available from Rocky, I will forward it on to you.

On Friday, May 7, 1999 the Executive Committee of the Senate met with Kathy Becker and Dot Gelvin regarding the new proposed business card policy. The significant changes to the policy are that ALL employees will need to justify their need for business cards. If their Vice President approves the employee to receive cards, they will be charged to their supply budget. The Executive Committee had questions and wanted clarification that this policy would indeed apply to ALL employees and not only to classified staff. The policy is included as an agenda item this month for the full senate to discuss and vote on.

The final adjustments are being made. Upon final review, it seemed a few sections needed a little clarification. Since they are minor adjustments it doesn't seem necessary to send it out again to all of you. The changes don't dramatically alter the document but rather clarify some sections. I will send out the last final copy to you by email as information. We still hope to send the document out next week for the vote.

There are activities planned for the week of May 16-23. Classified Employees were presented with a certificate at the May 3 Board of Trustees meeting. Also a resolution was made honoring classified staff. I have attached it for your reference.

We have received information and application forms for anyone wishing to run for an officer or Area Representative for 1999-2000. So as not to waste paper, please let me know if you wish to receive a copy of the forms and duty descriptions and I will copy them for you.

That is all I have to report at this time. See you this Thursday.