MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
OF NEWTON-McDONALD COUNTIES, MISSOURI
September 24, 2018
There being a quorum present, the meeting of the Crowder College Board of Trustees of the Community College District of Newton-McDonald Counties, Missouri, was called to order by Board Chair, Mr. Andy Wood, at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 24, 2018, in the Crowder College Student Center Fireside Room.
Members present for the meeting were:
Andy Wood, Chair
Diane Andris, Member
Vickie Barnes, Treasurer
Rick Butler, Vice Chair
Al Chapman, Secretary
Larry Vancuren, Member
Also attending the meeting were:
Tom Burke, Interim President
Martha Nimmo, Administrative Assistant to the President
TJ Angel, Director of Physical Plant
Cindy Brown, Director of Public Information
Kathy Parker-Collier, Grants Director
Mitch Cordray, Director of Information Technology
Christina Cullers, Controller
Jim Cullumber, Director of Institutional Advancement
Chett Daniel, Director of Institutional Research
Curtis Daniels, Career and Technical Education Division Chair
JP Dickey, Director of Admissions
Kristi Enloe, Accounts Payable Accountant
Mark Fitch, Director, Webb City Instructional Center
Tom Franklin, Associate Director, Crowder Training and Development Solutions
Mickie Mahan, Associate Vice President of Information Services
Adam Morris, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs
Melissa Oates, Director of MARET Center
Monte Padgett, Director, Nevada Instructional Center
Amy Rand, Vice President of Finance
Angela Seymour, Director, Cassville Instructional Center
Tiffany Slinkard, Vice President of Student Affairs
Sandra Wilson, Director of Nursing/ Division Chair
Phillip Witt, Associate Vice President of Career and Technical Education
Keith Zoromski, Title III Curriculum Specialist/Social Sciences Division Chair
A few moments of silence were observed to prepare for the meeting. The following new employees were introduced and welcomed: Nathan Martin, Performance Consultant; Abbey Snyder, Community Education/ Office Assistant; Rachel Sanders, Secondary Para-Professional, and Nick Doughty, Assistant Baseball Coach.
Minutes of Previous Meetings
Minutes of the August 22 Tax Hearing and regular meeting, and the September 14 Board Retreat minutes were approved as written and previously distributed.
Financial Reports
Mr. Wood noted the monthly cash flow statement with the anticipated bank balance as of September 30, 2018. He said two sets of checks were provided for August 7-31 and September 1-10. Mr. Wood said his questions have been answered previously, and there were no further questions. Checks in the amount of $1,082,509.90 were approved ON MOTION by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mr. Vancuren and unanimously carried. The rest of the fund balances and agency accounts were reviewed. Mrs. Andris asked why the Roughrider Rodeo Scholarship agency fund was not handled through the Foundation. Mr. Cullumber said that fund is from fundraising done by agriculture students for their international travel trips so it is not an academic scholarship fund. Mr. Butler asked why the Maddox Hill Center is showing negative revenue. Ms. Rand said there are still funds due from the prior fiscal year. Mr. Wood noted the centers appear to be down generally as a result of enrollment. Dr. Burke announced the Joplin Advanced Training and Technology Center has more than doubled their enrollment this year with about 50 students last year and about 130 students this year. The revenue and expenditure accounts were reviewed.
Nursing Division Program Review
Mrs. Wilson reported a State Board of Nursing site visit took place in March, and in preparation, self-study reports had to be written for each campus that provides nursing which included Nevada, Cassville, McDonald County and Neosho. She said the site visit went very well and they gave beneficial direction on the curriculum changes that we had been working on. Mrs. Wilson said we received a Nursing Education Incentive (NEI) grant in 2017 which allowed us to purchase additional simulation equipment, and the State recommended expanding the labs at all four Nursing sites. She said plans are now developing at each location to make those expansions as requested. McDonald County had already expanded their lab space; Nevada was able to add a second classroom; Cassville is in the process of a remodeling project that will double the nursing space, and in Neosho, this led to moving the Allied Health Program to Smith Hall. Mrs. Wilson reported in May, the State Board unanimously approved our new curriculum proposal. She said McDonald County was also approved to increase the total number of students there where our strongest applicant pool is located. Mrs. Wilson said the need for a new, updated curriculum became evident in 2016, and in 2017, faculty were challenged to educate themselves on what Concept-Based Curriculum is. She thanked the College for supporting the hiring of a consultant who came for two days to assist with the development process. She said the program has required 72 credit hours, and the new curriculum is for 67 credit hours. She said there were more general education hours than nursing hours so some of them were taken out in order to decrease the number of required hours. Mrs. Wilson explained what concept-based learning is which focuses on assisting patients to meet their basic medical needs initially maybe even before the medical diagnosis is made. She said it focuses on critical thinking, active learning, and addressing the health issue first. She said all faculty were involved in developing the new Concept-Based Curriculum which begins in Spring 2019. Mrs. Wilson provided a copy of both the new curriculum as well as the more than 200-page self-study that was written for the ACEN national accreditation site visit that takes place this week. Mrs. Wilson reviewed some of the state legislation involving nursing saying nursing faculty participate in various statewide groups that track changes and influence decisions. She reported legislation requiring the BSN in ten years after completing an associate’s degree will not likely be passed in Missouri although it has been approved in a few other states. Mrs. Wilson reported the majority of Crowder Nursing students who complete their associate’s degrees do plan to continue their education for a bachelor’s or master’s degree. She said although the AACN (American Association of Colleges of Nursing) came out in support of only allowing nurses with bachelor’s degrees as entry level, many organizations are not in favor of that. She thanked MCCA for recently helping to keep some legislation from passing that would have negatively impacted our students. Mrs. Wilson provided the program review data and noted that retention rates have dropped to 65%. She said a committee was formed last semester to review what keeps students from succeeding, and students entering the program are given a survey to help identify those issues. She said the applicant pool has decreased in some areas although McDonald County has remained strong. She said 20 of 21 McDonald County graduates last fall were licensed in Arkansas. She reviewed licensure pass rates saying the Accelerated RN program was dropped in 2014-15 after two years of low test scores. She reported since then, Neosho pass rates for the past three years have been 100%, and Cassville also had a 100% pass rate in 2017. Mrs. Wilson responded to questions saying we have articulation agreements with at least eight universities to encourage students to continue their education. Mrs. Wilson said we do need more applicants and marketing, and we converted one of our faculty positions to a pre-nursing advising position which has helped. The Board thanked her for the good report.
Personnel
Dr. Burke recommended approval of the retirements of Rufus Kelly, Transport Training Instructor, and Lee Evans, Custodian, who has been here seven years. A MOTION to approve their retirements as requested was made by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mrs. Andris and unanimously carried.
Dr. Burke recommended approval of the resignation of Balyssa Taylor, Textbook Coordinator in the Bookstore after twelve years of service. A MOTION to approve her resignation with thanks for her service was made by Mrs. Barnes, seconded by Dr. Chapman and unanimously carried.
Dr. Burke recommended approval of the following six employments: Melanie Tarrant, Custodian, First Shift; Victoria Munsterman, CAMP Administrative Assistant; Lisa Adams, Upward Bound Director; Shannon Hatfield, Talent Search Director; Amelia Vazquez, Secretary/Receptionist (PT), Crowder Webb City; Shelia Dossey, Business Division Departmental Assistant (PT), and Jackson Lewis, Database Specialist (PT). A MOTION to approve all six employments as requested was made by Mr. Vancuren, seconded by Mrs. Andris and unanimously carried.
Tuition and Fees Recommendation for Spring/Summer 2019
Dr. Burke reported tuition and fee rates were not set for the spring and summer 2019 semesters at the time that the fall 2018 rates were set so this is a delayed action. He said the recommendation is to raise the base in-district tuition rate to $90 per credit hour which is a two dollar increase, and the out-of-district rate to $143 which is a five dollar increase, and the international rate to $194 which is a seven dollar increase. He said we recommend that fees stay the same for spring and summer 2019 as the current fall 2018 rates. Mr. Wood said we have had a decrease in enrollment which is more than was expected, and additional revenue will address that issue. Dr. Burke agreed saying we have a preliminary enrollment decrease of 8.2% in credit hours, and we plan to do an in-depth analysis of our enrollment data. When asked, Dr. Burke said even with these rate increases, we will still be in the lower third of the state in total tuition and fee rates. Mr. Wood asked if there was any further discussion or any objection to passing this to next month for final action, and there was none.
Community Service Leave Policy
Dr. Burke provided the draft of the Community Service Leave policy recommended by Servant Leadership Cohort 4 saying this addresses some of the previous concerns that were expressed when the Board previously approved the leave concept. Mr. Wood said this is Board policy 2.7.1 under Other Absences which would allow professional and classified staff employees to take up to eight hours of paid leave for “events sponsored by nonprofit organizations or Crowder College projects that are out of an employee’s typical scope of work. The leave may not be used for political, religious, or for-profit purposes and is noncumulative and nontransferable.” Mr. Wood noted the policy would be effective January 1, 2019, and we understand the procedures for requesting and tracking the leave have been put in place. Dr. Melissa Oates concurred. He asked if there was any further discussion or objection to passing this to next month for final approval, and there was none.
Neosho Police Department Contract
Vice President Rand reported this is the third year for this annual Intergovernmental Agreement which provides two full-time Neosho police officers to work on the Crowder Neosho campus for twelve hour shifts seven days a week, generally 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. She said the only change in the Agreement was to list positions instead of individual names of employees. Mrs. Rand said TJ Angel, Director of Physical Plant, is the liaison who works with the officers, and the arrangement is working well. She said current officers on campus are Donna Hall and Josh Buckner. She said Crowder pays their salary and benefits while the Neosho Police Department provides their training and background checks. When asked, Mrs. Rand said when new officers come in, they have allowed one Crowder employee to sit on the selection committee, and the officers do attend some special training for dealing with school issues. VP Rand said this Agreement has already been approved by the City Council of Neosho. Without further discussion, a MOTION to approve the Intergovernmental Agreement Regarding Law Enforcement Services was made by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mr. Vancuren and unanimously carried.
Title III Year One Report
Mrs. Parker-Collier reported our Title III grant award is $2,249,463 over a five-year period, and Title III is one of the few grants that allows funding to improve infrastructure for which we are very grateful. She provided the monthly newsletter saying these will be sent to the Board regularly when they are also sent to all employees. She said we will be receiving $364,900 over five years for infrastructure improvements, and $121,000 was budgeted for the first year’s work which included upgrading main campus cabling and 38 wireless access points in Farber, EPCC, CTEC, Brown Residence Hall, and the Gym so that wireless Internet access is available throughout campus soon. She said we are improving education technology equipment by spending $149,625 over five years, and in year one, this included upgrading 15 classrooms with Smart TVs with computer set ups. She said continued improvements are scheduled at the branch campuses in the future with year two at Webb City, year three at Cassville, and year four at Nevada. Mr. Zoromski said the purpose of the grant is not only for digital connectivity, but also to improve student and faculty connectivity. He said we developed a UConnect Cohort which is being piloted this semester in Neosho in which 11 general education courses were compressed into 8-week courses so that instead of five or six 16-week courses, students will take two or three intense 8-week courses. He said the cohort students all have the same classes which provides a built-in support group; Mr. Zoromski serves as the advisor for all, and they are provided with supplemental instruction as well to support their success. He said this is what the ‘Guided Pathways’ system is about by removing roadblocks and putting up guardrails, while still expecting academic excellence. He said similar to the technology schedule, we will begin another cohort in Webb City in year two and so on. Mr. Zoromski said our goal is to see if this framework will work for students and replicate it for others, if successful. He said we currently have 100% retention at six weeks into the program. Mr. Zoromski reported we have conducted 22 professional development opportunities for faculty this past year including a summer book club. He said faculty are being trained in how to teach the compressed curriculum which includes meeting all of the competencies in a shortened time frame. He said if students are not successful in these first 8-week courses, they can still be added into second 8-week courses to complete the work within the semester. He said nationwide data shows that compressed courses work, although it is not for all students. Mr. Zoromski said ten general education students were selected for the pilot project this fall, and another group may be selected for the spring. Mrs. Parker-Collier said the annual on-site evaluation of the Title III grant will take place next week.
President’s Update
Dr. Burke reported the Agriculture Division sponsored the Veterans Appreciation Dinner last week in which there were well over a hundred attendees outside on the Quad. He thanked Maintenance for the set-up and Agriculture for the nice event. Mr. Wood noted the trumpet player had played at Camp Crowder in 1943. Dr. Burke said also last week, Admissions hosted ‘All Things Crowder’ in which area high school counselors were given Crowder information to pass on to their students. He said the important Nursing accreditation site visit begins tomorrow in which he and others will be meeting with ACEN visitors. Dr. Burke announced this Friday, September 28, the College will close at noon for employees to attend afternoon professional development activities to learn about incident training for security purposes. He recently received copies of letters from the Commissioner of Higher Education to Cheryl Ingram, Math/Physical Science Division Chair, and Ryan Combs, Biology Instructor, thanking them for their participation in a statewide committee to coordinate math and life science courses throughout the system. He congratulated them for their great work in this effort. In conclusion, Dr. Burke read a letter from nine Puerto Rican students in Transport Training thanking “the great team” at Crowder in Transport Training and the Cafeteria saying their “dedication and patience” helped them as they were all “teachers, mentors, friends, family, and counselors” to them. The students said, “People like them are what this nation needs to move forward.” The Board thanked Dr. Burke for the great report.
Adjournment
Mr. Wood noted the next regularly scheduled meeting is set for October 22. The meeting adjourned to lunch at 11:11 a.m. followed by a brief campus tour and the Freeman Roughrider Fieldhouse Groundbreaking Ceremony at 1:00 p.m.
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