Though they are rushing to class, students may not make it from the Art Hill to the Village in time. But starting next semester, the college is mandating a passing period, recommended at 10 minutes, so that they can make it across campus in between classes.
Instructors have to figure out how to incorporate a passing period into the schedule without overlapping or cutting into other courses, while also accommodate the new college hour block.
At the Academic Senate meeting on Monday, members discussed adjusting class schedules to turn in to the district.
“We need to have a 10-minute passing period and it really boils down to attendance counting. It is how we correct the portion of it with the clock hour and college hour,” said Professor Adrian Youhanna, the Department Chair of Anthropological and Geographical Sciences.
Second Vice President of Curriculum Margarita Pillado said students only have five minutes to get to class and sometimes the classes overlap.
“We need to update the schedule so at least we have a minimum of 10 minutes during passing period,” Pillado said. “For many years, we had this practice and it worked relatively well, but now that we have a software, it does not allow for those overlaps. We need to clean everything up and reorganize it.”
Instructor of Kinesiology Susan Armenta recommended cutting night classes to have more time to schedule classes and the passing period.
Some professors that teach at night opposed this recommendation.
Adjunct instructor Mark Levick said he was not going to stop teaching his classes if the Pierce president did not approve of schedules.
“I don’t care what she says. I’m still going to teach my classes,” Levick said. “They’re trying to fix something that isn’t broken.”
Levick said the the Physics Department has struggled with the schedule changes.
“The folks is physics say that by having classes start ten minutes earlier than usual, at 6:50 p.m., they wouldn’t have a full schedule,” Levick said. “I been teaching classes at night from 7-10 p.m. for years without a problem.”
Chairman of Psychology/Statistics Maria Perser said that the schedule would not affect her curriculum, but may affect others.
“It needs to be fixed because it can affect other departments,” Perser said. “We are trying to accommodate as many scheduling issues that have been bought up to the senate and hopefully we will be able to share it public with them.”
An agreement was made to have an administrator attend a meeting to settle things.
Another item discussed at the meeting was a vote passed to stop representing the Academic Senate in the College Professional Development Committee, according to Senate President Anna Bruzzese.
One of the main issues between committee members was the unfair pay and the Cost-of-living adjustment or (COLa).
Perser argued that the Academic Senate’s voice should be heard.
“We should coordinate and build trust because if College Professional Development takes over the whole process then the faculty will lose ground,” Perser said.
Bruzzese had a different idea of building trust with non faculty members.
“Lets reduce our presence so that way we could build trust,” Bruzzese said. “nonfaculty members can feel comfortable that way and equally heard.”
Perser still felt it was important to have representation in College Professional Development.
“Committee is for us to work together ultimately besides anything else,” Perser said.
Additional reporting by Richard Espinoza and Dominique Dongo
