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, June 22, 2020, as a ZOOM meeting with participants attending virtually from home or office locations.
Andy Wood, Chair
Diane Andris, Member
Vickie Barnes, Treasurer
Rick Butler, Vice Chair
Al Chapman, Secretary
Larry Vancuren, Member
Also attending the meeting were:
Glenn Coltharp, President
Martha Nimmo, Administrative Assistant to the President
Joseph Brenner, Associate Vice President of Finance/ Controller
Kathy Parker Collier, Grants Director
Jim Cullumber, Director of Institutional Advancement
Aaron Divine, Director, McDonald County Instructional Center
Mark Fitch, Director, Webb City Instructional Center
Genesis Grace, CTEC Administrative Assistant
Ike Isenhower, Allied Health Programs Division Chair/ Paramedic Instructor
Mickie Mahan, Associate Vice President of Information Services, Enterprise Applications
Adam Morris, Vice President of Academic Affairs
Monte Padgett, Director, Nevada Instructional Center
Angela Seymour, Director, Cassville Instructional Center
Tiffany Slinkard, Vice President of Student Affairs
Al Stadler, Vice President of Information Services
Vickie Todd, Programmer/Analyst
Jamie Ward, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs
Phillip Witt, Associate Vice President of Career and Technical Education
Keith Zoromski, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs
Anonymous Call-in Attendee
A few moments of silence were observed to prepare for the meeting. Two employees were introduced for their new positions: Jamie Ward, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Joseph Brenner, Associate Vice President of Finance/ Controller.
Minutes of Previous Meeting
Minutes of the May 18th ZOOM meeting were approved as written and previously distributed.
Financial Reports
Mr. Wood noted the monthly cash flow statement saying we are getting close to the end of the fiscal year. Dr. Coltharp reviewed the checks written, selecting various checks on each page to point out. He said several checks this month reflect that we have increased advertising efforts this summer. Dr. Witt explained a joint NEWCAPS program that has been started with the Neosho School District designed to get high school business, healthcare, and manufacturing students into the workplace. He said students will receive college credit for their work, and we hope to grow the program to other schools in the future. Dr. Coltharp thanked the Foundation for half of the needed funding to remodel the bathrooms on the first floor of Newton Hall, which have turned out very nicely. Board members asked additional questions as needed. Mr. Wood noted two sets of checks needing approval for May 7-31 and June 1-5, 2020. Checks in the amount of $795,834.36 were approved ON MOTION by Dr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Andris and unanimously carried.
The rest of the fund balances and agency accounts were reviewed. Mr. Wood noted that on the current fund balance statement, we are about $700,000 behind last year. Dr. Coltharp agreed that it is due to a combination of factors including the ransomware early in the year, the current pandemic, and an overall reduction in enrollment. He noted that Transport Training students are slowly returning to instruction. When asked, VP Rand stated that we do not anticipate needing to use reserve funds at this time for the current fiscal year, 2019-2020. The rest of the accounts and centers were reviewed as well as the revenue and expenditure accounts, and concluding with the graphs and reserves.
Personnel
Dr. Coltharp recommended approval of the retirement of Cheryl Hedrick, Nursing Clinical Coordinator/Instructor. Mr. Wood noted that she has been with the College for 21 years and has received several awards over the years. A MOTION to accept her retirement with thanks for her years of service was made by Mrs. Barnes, seconded by Mr. Butler and unanimously carried.
Dr. Coltharp recommended approval of the following seven resignations: Teresa Boston, Secretary, Cassville (PT); Amanda Carcamo, Behavior Consultant, Maddox Hill Center; Reba Clark, Behavior Technician, Maddox Hill Center; Matthew Decker, Teacher Education Departmental Assistant (PT); Victoria Garton, Communications Instructor, Nevada (HT); Heidi Henderson, Instructor, Cassville (HT) and Devin White, Student Support Services Director, Nevada. A MOTION to approve all seven resignations as recommended was made by Mr. Vancuren, seconded by Mrs. Andris and unanimously carried.
Dr. Coltharp recommended approval of the following four employments: Steven Brunson, Web Programmer/Analyst; Brett Cline, Student Services Coordinator, Crowder Nevada; Amy Mosburg, Upward Bound Academic Coordinator and Phillip Whiteman, Drug Free Communities Program Coordinator. A MOTION to accept all four employments as recommended was made by Mr. Butler, seconded by Dr. Chapman and unanimously approved.
Crowder McDonald County Program Review
Mr. Aaron Divine reported the number of full-time faculty at McDonald County has been consistent with two nursing faculty who also travel to other campuses, and one full-time life science faculty. He thanked life science instructor Abbi Nicholson for her exemplary ability to shift to online instruction and in providing consistency for the students. He said the number of adjunct faculty dropped from 2018 to 2020 in an effort to be more efficient in class scheduling. Mr. Divine said we have increased our Nursing Program by an additional ten seats per class, and we are requesting an additional increase. He said there was a record 95 nursing applicants this year, and those who are not accepted here will likely positively impact the Neosho and Cassville Nursing Programs. Mr. Divine said our success with minimal advertising means nursing graduates in the field are recommending our program. He said when the increased student count is approved the McDonald County Nursing Program will be comparable in size to Neosho’s program. Mr. Wood asked how many students here are either in the Nursing Program or working towards that goal. Mr. Divine said the degree offerings data shows that about half of our students are in either nursing or pre-nursing with the rest being in a variety of general studies, business or teacher education degrees. He said allied health students are here as well, and we are slowly transforming into a healthcare centered campus, which suits our strategic location.
Mr. Divine said about 60% of our students are from Missouri and 40% from Arkansas while in nursing applicants, about 65% are from Arkansas and 35% from Missouri. He said that improves our advantage of out-of-district tuition for Arkansas students and differential tuition for nursing students. He reviewed the sending schools data showing that although McDonald County High School is the largest sending school, the largest number of students are coming in as transfer or non-traditional students. He said these students are coming from all over the country who have recently moved to Northwest Arkansas for employment purposes. When asked, he said we believe they come because it is an easier commute this direction and they simply prefer a smaller campus with more individualized, personal service. He said the number of home schooled and dual credit students has increased over the past few years. Mr. Divine noted consistently high overall pass rates in the 90th percentile for students at this site. He reviewed the impressive licensure pass rates for Nursing, CMA, CNA and EMT, and responded to questions. Dr. Coltharp thanked all the campus directors for working on class sizes this summer and improving overall efficiency. Dr. Morris said class sections would be filled before more sections were opened, and faculty were shared among the campus sites. Mr. Divine thanked faculty at the sites for providing such flexibility. The Board thanked him for the good report.
Allied Health Program Review
Mr. Ike Isenhower reported that many people do not understand what Allied Health includes, and it covers all medical jobs in hospitals and prehospital settings except for doctors and nurses so any frontline workers in the medical field. He said students can take classes for one semester and go into the workforce immediately as well as take stackable classes to be more marketable. He reviewed the Allied Health and EMS classes saying Community Health Worker, AEMT and Community Paramedic are new courses starting this fall. OTA and Fire Science are also part of Allied Health programs. He said there are currently seven full-time faculty with varying numbers of adjunct and dual credit instructors depending on the number of classes needed. Mr. Isenhower reported most Allied Health fields do not require a full degree to complete, but simply a certificate or licensure to work in the field, and there is no financial incentive to complete the degree. He reviewed the data for associate completers in Paramedical Science (PS), CMA, Fire Science (FS), and OTA saying we encourage students to complete their degree although it is often a financial burden to take those additional courses.
Certificates are provided in CMA, CNA, FS, Paramedic and Pharmacy Tech although students can get a job without the certificate. Mr. Isenhower reviewed licensure pass rates that are impressive with many having one hundred percent completion rates. He said although the EMT rate was only 66% this past year, it is the national average for first-time pass rate. He said the EMTP pass rate was 90%, which is much higher than the national average. He noted pass rates are posted on the website for public viewing.
Mr. Isenhower reviewed overall enrollment numbers for Allied Health, EMS, Fire Science and OTA saying there were over four hundred total students in Fall 2019, and students go through the entire program as a cohort within each area. He reported they received a $2,500 grant for Fall 2020 to start the Community Paramedic course and a $14,000 grant for Spring 2021 to start the Community Health Worker course.
He said the EMTP class will be one of the only courses in the nation using Virtual Reality training. He announced due to new clinical guidelines this spring that encourage online attendance, the Hybrid Paramedic and RN to Paramedic classes are opening two sections each this fall with a waiting list for the RN to Paramedic course. He thanked Dr. Witt and Enhancement Grant funds, which allowed the purchase of a new ambulance simulator for EMS. Mr. Isenhower said most of our classes do not come with high paying jobs, and students are in these programs out of a desire to help people improve the quality and quantity of life. He responded to questions, and Mr. Wood thanked him for the good report.
President’s Update
Dr. Coltharp reported plans are being developed to adjust the fall semester academic calendar. He said all Missouri community colleges have shifted to this schedule in which they would start at their normal time and then move Fall Break to the week of Thanksgiving. He said that would make Thanksgiving an entire week long; face-to-face instruction would end the Friday before that week, and the remainder of the semester would be entirely online.
He said the advantage of scheduling it now is so that faculty and staff would be prepared for it ahead of time. He said the reasoning is so that students who travel to visit families over Thanksgiving would not bring back and spread the virus after that time. He said Student Affairs and Academic Affairs are looking at what impact this would have on students and faculty, and our goal is to make an announcement by July 10. He noted several universities that are already planning to make this change as well.
Dr. Coltharp said although we hope we can make it to Thanksgiving before moving to all online, faculty are being encouraged to be prepared to adjust to online classes at any time needed. He said once we make the change to go online after Thanksgiving, we would make every effort to stick with that schedule. He responded to questions saying the advantage of knowing about the schedule ahead of time is so that faculty can ‘frontload’ classes with in-person work early in the semester and then online projects at the end of the semester. When asked, he noted the spring semester calendar may need to be adjusted as well as that time gets closer.
VP Slinkard reported she has been meeting with housing staff to develop plans for prevention, for cleaning, and for what would take place if a suspected case or positive case occur. She said we are currently waiting on the NJCAA to determine if fall sports will take place (soccer and basketball) since that affects our housing needs. She said if we decide to close the residence halls, we could close Brown while leaving Roughrider Village open, if needed.
Further discussion took place about what changes might be needed and what precautions will be taken with international students. VP Slinkard said we are reviewing all CDC guidelines for on campus housing and trying to provide some guidance for students and staff. Mr. Wood encouraged everyone to take precautions saying it may even be premature to make an announcement for plans in November at this time.
Dr. Coltharp reported we were trying to hold off requiring masks as long as possible, but based on the current numbers of Coronavirus cases in our area, the decision was made to require all employees and guests to wear a mask or gator scarf while moving throughout the buildings on all campuses.
Dr. Coltharp said the third item for discussion is the possibility of a virtual graduation, which may be needed in the future due to large audience gatherings being unsafe. He said we are considering videotaping the platform portion of the ceremony and then adding photos of the students. He said we do not want to skip the December graduation because we have a few students from May that would like to attend. He said VP Slinkard, Cindy Brown and various staff are working to develop plans and options for that, and it may involve videotaping with Board members. He thanked the vice presidents and associate vice presidents for their great work dealing with the difficult issues that COVID-19 has caused.
Dr. Coltharp responded to questions saying we hope not to move to all online classes because less than ten percent of our students prefer to learn that way. He said the goal is to make campuses as safe as possible and start in August as normal. Dr. Morris agreed saying we are preparing faculty to deal with any possibility that is required. Mr. Wood said he believes these issues will become clearer in our area in the next couple of months. Dr. Coltharp agreed saying we will keep the Board informed on any issues being considered as the Coronavirus moves through this area.
Adjournment
Mr. Wood noted the next regularly scheduled meeting set for July 27. After brief discussion, it was agreed the Board would try to have the July meeting at the McDonald County campus, if possible at that time. The meeting adjourned at about 12:10 p.m.
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