Pierce College Council (PCC) members discussed budget allocation for the newly constructed buildings on campus, established a landscape and grounds task force, and approved the implementation of a WiFi network in all classrooms, in a meeting Thursday, Oct. 27.
The buildings awaiting budget deliberation include the Automotive Technology Building, the Green Technology Building and the Digital Arts and Media Building.
“This is a very serious matter that we are facing at this point, and we need to consider everything because this will design the future of our campus,” said Clark. “We need to think of this not just in our own discipline but we need to think about this in terms of what we want Pierce College to be from a total point of view.”
A motion to establish a temporary landscape and grounds task force that will recommend training programs for groundskeepers was also approved during the meeting.
The task force will help familiarize groundskeepers with landscaping and facilities that may be new to them.
“There will be no budget impact unless we have specific training,” said Instructor of Physics Don Sparks, who proposed the task force. “We are way understaffed in terms of custodial and grounds folk, so if we can do anything to help that situation then this is a possibility.”
The task force will operate for six months and if it proves to be useful, a permanent committee may be established to create ongoing solutions for any landscaping issues.
Implementation of a virtual local access network was also approved, to allow teachers in all classrooms to connect their personal devices directly to the internet to create a more efficient learning environment for students.
“I think everybody would just freeze and be paralyzed if we didn’t have Internet connection,” said Clark.
Pierce currently offers free WiFi for all students and staff; however, some areas on campus have limited or no signal strength.
“Teachers will be able to get online and connect to the Internet right away without having to deal with any types of connection issues,” said Associate Vice President of Administrative Services Bruce Rosky.