Mister Chair, Members of the Board, Superintendent/President Garcia, and Members of the Leadership Team,
CODAA extends warm congratulations to the Board on the appointment of Val Martinez Garcia to be our new Superintendent/President. Val, CODAA has the deepest respect for your commitment to service of our students, our college community and the entire Coachella Valley. We look forward to supporting you and working together. While our roles may differ (some of us are Giants fans, and, well – go Dodgers!), we are united by a mutual purpose – the success of our students.
I remember a few years ago COD leadership proposed that we focus on growing our enrollment. I was a member of the enrollment management committee at the time, and I saw how the idea caught on, and people became excited, contributing ideas, different perspectives, it was a snowball effect – and because we all were working for a shared goal, we forgot our differences. And, against all odds, COD became the fastest growing community college in the state! It was magical. Fast-forward to now. This spring, despite huge enrollment losses from the pandemic, under our Superintendent/President’s leadership COD has now achieved our enrollment target of 10,200 full time equivalent students (FTES). It seems like maybe some of that magic is returning.
In the latest CODAA collective bargaining agreement, the District agreed to participate in the 100% State Funded Part-Time Faculty Health Insurance Program. This is a ground-breaking program for part-time COD faculty. Why? Full-time faculty teaching the same courses as their adjunct colleagues were receiving health benefits worth, on average, about $1700 a month in addition to their salaries. But adjuncts were excluded from that coverage. Under the new CBA, qualifying adjuncts can now be reimbursed for their health insurance premiums. It’s an important step toward parity, a step toward equal pay for equal work.
Naturally, as any program gets started, there will be growing pains. There seems to be some confusion over what documentation will be accepted, and it appears that some adjuncts who should be reimbursed are being denied. CODAA offers to work with the District over the summer to improve this situation. We hope the college can take a second look at some of these denials, and refine the application language for a closer alignment with the State’s wording to make the application and approval process crystal clear, both for applicants and for those reviewing the applications.
Also, CODAA looks forward to reopener negotiations, following the sunshining of initial proposals. Our negotiating team requests the District to propose negotiation dates as early as possible.
Looking back on the past academic year, I took part in a wonderful Flex meeting on restoring trust in our college institution. We had just survived yet another turnover in leadership, and we felt disillusioned. This gathering included employees and administrators from all over the campus, full-time, part-time, support staff, public safety, you name it – Val, you were there, along with many on the leadership team. We connected. We shared our stories. We encouraged each other. We agreed we wanted to restore trust by improving honest, heartfelt communication, and re-establishing a culture of recognition and respect. What can we do this coming year to build on this momentum? As the Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier wrote, “Community is not an ideal. It is people.”
Michael Gladych, MFA, MDiv
President, College of the Desert Adjunct Association
