Show Cause Special Report

I wanted to provide an update on what's happened "relative to" the organizational elements of the writing of the Show Cause Special Report. Based on our past experiences, participation in the ASCCC Accreditation Institute and seeing what our colleagues in other institutions have done, we've come up with an organizational structure that we feel confident will work. Yesterday I met with Dr. Waits, Dr. Steinback, and our own Erin Farmer (Editor extraordinaire) to hash out the details of an organizational model that makes sense for us.

While the recommendations that need to be addressed, in essence the problems that need to be fixed, are not on the "faculty side of the house" it is our responsibility to be part of the production of the Show Cause Special Report. In the past, most notably the Recommendation 7 response when a single administrator produced the response, it did not reflect our college well. While administrative voice is important, it should not and cannot be the only voice heard. To meet accreditation standards the document must be produced collaboratively. It is in this spirit, this requirement, that we've decided to go forward with Recommendation Working Groups (RWG) that are loosely related to the ACCJC Standards. I hope that these working groups will be the foundation of institutionalizing accreditation as an on-going process at Solano College.

Each RWG will have two Co-Chairs. For now, one is a faculty member and the other is an administrator. In future accreditation reports, anyone from the four constituents will be encouraged to serve as a co-chair. The other members of the working groups will come from committees or groups on campus that are the principal stakeholders or agents of change for that particular recommendation. (Keep in mind that what we've produced represents our best sense of the recommendation and the related committees. Nothing is written in stone so if you've got a better idea, let me know!) Other salient points include:

• All meetings are public and will be announced in advanced.
  
• All meetings will either be organizational or actual "write-ins".
  
• All progress will be recorded onto the Show Cause Special Report wiki. (The wiki is up, but not complete. It should be ready to go by Friday, February 13.)
  
• CSEA has put forth a list of volunteers to serve who will be added to the list below.
• Following the ACCJC Show Cause letter, the ERs are assigned within different recommendations.

Here is the way it looks today:

Recommendation One: Productive Dialogue

(Core groups: Superintendent/President, SCCFA President, CSEA President, Local 39 President, Board of Trustees President and Academic Senate President) Co-Chairs TBA

Recommendation Two and Three: Improve Institutional Planning and Effectiveness (respectively)

Co-Chairs: Vice President of Student Services and Tracy Schneider, LOAC Core group: representatives from Enrollment Management and Student Success Committee, Basic Skills Initiative Committee, Student Learning Outcomes Committee)

Recommendation Six: Staffing and Organizational Stability

Co-Chairs: Human Resources Director and Michael Wyly (if he's willing) Core group: TBD

Recommendation Seven: Reporting and Fiscal Stability

Co-Chairs: Vice President of Library Resources and Technology, Jay Field and Dorothy Hawkes. Core group: FaBPAC

Recommendation Eight: Leadership

(Core group: Superintendent/President, SCCFA President, CSEA President, Local 39 President, Board of Trustees President and Academic Senate President) Co-Chairs TBA

The Timeline, as indicated by Dr. Waits today:

March 9 -- Deadline for Working Groups Chairs to send information to Erin

March 19 -- Report Draft posted to the Intranet

March 20 -- Accreditation Summit (part I) from 12:00 to 5:00 pm with Shared Governance Council (SGC), Academic Senate (AS) and interested community participants

March 23 -- Accreditation Summit (part II) from 3:00 to 5:00 pm; SGC, AS, and others to approve the document.

March 25 -- Special Board meeting to present report as information

March 30 -- Special Board meeting to adopt report

April 1 -- Report due to ACCJC

What can you do? Read the ACCJC Show Cause letter. Read the "Observations of the Visiting Team Mid-term and Special Reports" (November 3rd). Reflect on ways you can provide evidence-based input. Attend the RWG meetings or add your evidence-based input to the wiki.