Fall 2017 Meeting Summary

Laverne Hays - Blackhawk Technical College

Laverne Hays

Keynote Presentation: Key questions Institutional leaders need to ask about Clery Compliance on their Campuses. This keynote presentation was by D. Stafford and Associates / founders of the National Association of Clery Compliance Officers and Professionals.

Since 1990, there have been six revisions to Title IX – ‘cherry picked’ and combined into the Clery Act. There are 114 Policy Statements required in a College’s Annual Security Report (ASR) – including one about portable electrical appliances – if there are residential facilities operated! We are likely better to provide a three to four page summary report! An ASR must be done by October 1st of each year and made available to students, perspective students, and employees. The biggest risk of non-compliance is the loss of Title IV Funding, and Clery audits have recently shifted from four to two year Colleges. Violations have ranged from zero dollars to $54789 – the largest for not reporting assault or civil crime statistics.

Institutional responsibility includes having a ‘campus committee’ of Campus Security Authorities to do an assessment and define why they are doing it. They should be trained to do Crime Reporting, as it is virtually impossible to achieve compliance without it. There should be three-point emergency tests; 1)table-top, 2) functional / live drill, and 3) a follow-up to be in compliance. Everything must be printed or in printable form. Consider all locations within one mile. Create a ‘Clery Map’ and identify all streets and non-campus property. If your College sponsors student trips of more than one night, those locations need to be included. There should be daily Crime Statistics and Fire logs and the retention period for all records is seven years.

The WTCS’s Districts Mutual Insurance consortium has applied for funding to be applied to review and training for the sixteen districts by D. Stafford and Associates. New Trustee training should include Clery information, and we should request updates from our College to ensure we are up to date and in compliance.

Reputation and Recovery: Keeping your school’s credibility intact post-crisis – presented by Jeffrey Remsik and Dr. Vivian Marinelli of fei workforce resilience

Using the recent Didion milling tragedy as a point of reference, Dr Marinelli - a clinical psychologist – delved into how various factors continue beyond events, how they can impact the reputation of a school or business, how events can impact staff, faculty, students and families and other stakeholders, and how we should be prepared to address them.

Crisis characteristics are likely to attract media and often result in conflicting information. To limit misinformation and miscommunication, develop an Emergency Response Plan, and include check lists to get started gathering information, assessing damages, and activating other emergency plans. Prepare for psychological first-aid, practical care and support and basic needs. Seek to normalize current reactions and offer encouragement. Personal factors affecting reactions include age, social environment, previous experiences, support systems and other identifiable connections. Focus on a return to normalcy, and recoup, document, and develop a situational awareness for future reference.

Dr. Marinelli provided a handout with ten crisis commandments, twelve points in responding to the media, and suggestions on how to manage social media.

Reference link: feinet.com

Legal Responsibilities of Boards:

Jon Anderson reviewed ten basic Board responsibilities as specified under Chapter #19 of the Wisconsin State Statutes . Our basic oath of office, fiduciary duty, and duties of loyalty, care, and disclosure, as well as other Statutory Directives can be found within this section. Further discussion pertaining to damages, liability, and other actions in Courts as spelled out in Chapter #895 followed.

Some discussion centered on closed meetings, and Jon stated that minutes do not have to be kept during closed sessions as long as no action is taken. Minutes are required for Actions items only.

Ethics for Board members:

Mike Aldana of Quarles & Brady talked to us about receiving compensation, gifts, etc, and noted #19.45 (8) specifies a 12 month limitation. Private interest in public contracts is a felony under Chapter #946.13. Other recent changes in open records requirements now allow posting at three public places plus an electronic posting.

Public Meetings / Open Records:

Again, reference Section #19.81 – or for a shortened version see the following Open Meetings Guide and Public Records Guide.

Public meetings do include ‘chance gatherings’ if a quorum develops. Social gatherings, however, are generally exempt because business is not expected to be discussed

Negative quorums were discussed. Rather than try to define them myself, I shall insert/quote from the Compliance Guide referenced above – sect B. 1. (b) on pages 6 & 7:

“the Showers test requires that the number of members present be sufficient to determine the governmental body’s course of action on the business under consideration. People often assume that this means that the open meetings law applies only to gatherings of a majority of the members of a governmental body. That is not the case because the power to control a body’s course of action can refer either to the affirmative power to pass a proposal or the negative power to defeat a proposal. Therefore, a gathering of one-half of the members of a body, or even fewer, may be enough to control a course of action if it is enough to block a proposal. This is called a “negative quorum.” Typically, governmental bodies operate under a simple majority rule in which a margin of one vote is necessary for the body to pass a proposal. Under that approach, exactly one-half of the members of the body constitutes a “negative quorum” because that number against a proposal is enough to prevent the formation of a majority in its favor. Under simple majority rule, therefore, the open meetings law applies whenever one-half or more of the members of the governmental body gather to discuss or act on matters within the body’s realm of authority. The size of a “negative quorum” may be smaller, however, when a governmental body operates under a super majority rule. For example, if a two-thirds majority is required for a body to pass a measure, then any gathering of more than one-third of the body’s members would be enough to control the body’s course of action by blocking the formation of a two-thirds majority. Showers made it clear that the open meetings law applies to such gatherings, as long as the purpose requirement is also satisfied (i.e., the gathering is for the purpose of conducting governmental business). Showers, 135 Wis. 2d at 101-02. If a three-fourths majority is required to pass a measure, then more than one-fourth of the members would constitute a “negative quorum,” etc. “

Additional topics included records requests, drafts, meta-data, and contractor’s records. Also noted that 24 hours is the standard for notification of meetings, but two hours is sufficient ‘for good cause’, and it may be possible to go into closed session without notice, although no action could be taken.

FBI’s Role in Cyber-Security:

Special Agent Byron Franz gave an excellent presentation stressing the need to protect out network and our records. Short videos showed our group examples of hackers breaching systems and stealing information / identities on virtually all forms of electronic media, and explained actions such as brute forcing to break passwords, phishing, and spear phishing, and credential mining on social media such as Linked In. It is possible for hackers to turn on your web-cam, steal data from your i-phone, and even breach police body cameras! There are currently some 190 variants of ransom-ware that lock your computer and demand bit-coin payment to release control.

Does our College have Cyber Insurance, and do we have an Intrusion Response Plan? Do we have multi-factor authentication and require complex passwords?

Dealing with an Event in Real Time - Fire, Tornado, Massive Manhunts, & POTUS Visits:

This session was hosted by our DMI, and the four scenarios were actual events within our WTCS. We’re well aware of our own event at Blackhawk Technical College when Joseph Jakubowski mailed a threatening manuscript, robbed a local gunshop, and caused a lockdown on our campuses. Attendees were also given insights into a fire at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC), the tornado that affected Northcentral Wisconsin Technical College (NTC), and the incredible pressure thrust upon Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) when the Governor of Wisconsin and the President of the United States came to call. Lessons learned:

From BTC – Rely on DMI and Interdistrict experience for policies and procedures. We have a better plan for the future.

From NTC – Your footprint will probably change due to code updates. Have a good recovery and reconstruction team (and ample re-insurance) to minimize class interruption. Track recovery time for payroll purposes.

From NWTC – Can get your first check within 48 hours, but expect up to 250 days from fire to final disbursement. Plan for future depreciation as all equipment is new at once. Implement an emergency response plan and use emergency badges to identify who and why.

From WCTC – A nice $2 million in earned marketing value, but no ROI or FTE increase.

Association Meeting Topics

 

Greenheck, a world leader in air handling equipment based in Schofield, WI, received the 2017 Technical Education Champion Award.

During a Statewide Marketing/Legislative update, we were introduced to Katy Pettersen, the new Director of Marketing for the WTCS. Katy worked previously with the Wisconsin Manufacturer’s Consortium (WMC) and refreshed us on our objective to make our Tech Colleges the first choice for education in Wisconsin. She reminded us of the upcoming Student Showcase in February and the Student Ambassadors meeting in April as events to showcase our Colleges.

Paul Gabriel and Leah Osborn reviewed the WTCS Foundation and how it has downsized to primarily overseeing the World Wide Instruction Design System (WIDS). They help us with student success, accreditation and collaborative development. I encourage you to visit their website – WIDS.org– to get a scope of their benefits to our Colleges. Also see DACUM.org to see how that process ties curriculum to worker job descriptions and training. They are also involved with competency based instruction and credits for prior learning. Note that each of our Colleges has at least one trained WIDS site administrator.

I then attended the By-Laws committee meeting where, again, we are finalizing definitions and descriptions surrounding the new and existing committees.

The Internal Partnership committee continues to plan topics for shared best practices, and the External Partnership committee toured Trace-A-Matic, a full service CNC machining company capable of working with an extended variety of metals up to ten tons in weight.

On Saturday morning WTCS President Morna Foy spoke to us regarding the system’s 5-year plan, and our Student Success initiative – noting we are the fourteenth state to develop that through grant money from the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation. Everyone has high expectations for closer partnerships with K12 and student outcomes.

Madison College President Jack Daniels gave an update on the Presidents group and their four key issues– credentialed inmates, Teacher shortages, the DWD focus on fast-forwarding and apprenticeships, and attracting through online and alternative teaching methods.

In conclusion, I again remind you that highlights of the meeting will be online on the Association web site in the very near future.

State Board Meeting

 

I shall include here a short summary of the State Board Meeting held at BTC on November 7th and 8th.

The Three-year Strategic Plan was discussed that includes focus on high school students and their influences, the Guided Pathways initiative and our Rapid Response, and Marketing throughout our K-12 Districts. Dr. Bryan Albrecht reported on Gateways need for additional training space, noting that for every ten jobs at Foxconn, six additional jobs will be created elsewhere. There are now over 300 high school students taking courses at Gateway.

Dr. Jack Daniels gave an overview of the new South MATC campus to be built at 801 W. Badger Rd which will have nearly 75000 ft² of space. MATC is also partnering with the MMSD to offer K-12 STEM classes.

Kent Lorenz gave a fabulous presentation on Robotics in our economy and the growing need for more of them. The US GDP is equal to China, Japan, and Germany combined, but we will need over 75000 replacement workers by 2025 to fill 98000 jobs, and with 12th grade enrollment shrinking from 65800 to 58200 this will be a challenge. He noted that with 160 robots for every 10000 workers, and a projection for double that by 2025, there will still be less in the USA than in South Korea! We need to double dual enrollment and import students to meet our future needs.

I would suggest that this excellent presentation be made at our next quarterly meeting.