Fall 2019 Meeting Summary

Laverne Hays - Blackhawk Technical College

President Kaylen Betzig welcomed us noting that WCTC is now a full Guided Pathways model using an eight-week system with five entry points for students.

The In-Service on Legal Issues facing Wisconsin Technical Colleges began with a Keynote presentation by Alonzo Kelly, President and CEO of the Kelly Leadership Group [Alonzo Kelly Website] focusing on Navigating the Roads of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. He noted a person typically has four responses: the one they planned to give, the one they actually gave, the one they meant to give, and the one they should have given! Use the two second rule and ‘see it before you see it’. We are a product of the experiences that raised us, so use those life’s experiences to understand both the other person and yourself. Gather your own information - ‘Drink upstream’! Use “it has been my experience” or “it is my understanding” to disarm conflict. If you can’t explain it – keep it to yourself. Use foresight when considering expressions such as “you speak so well”, ‘elderly’, or ‘those people’. Consider in today’s environment how many generations could be working side by side.

During lunch, the Tech Education Award was presented to Wilson Jones, President/CEO of the Oshkosh Corp. Oshkosh is a $7.7 billion Fortune 500 company with over 15000 employees; 14 employees serve on advisory committees for FVTC, and eleven high school juniors on youth apprenticeships.

Beginning the afternoon-overlapping session format – I attended the WTCS Hot Legal Topics forum presented by attorneys from Michael Best. Topics included FLSA, Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Compliance, ADA and Academic decisions, Free Speech, and an update on Title IX Regulations. It was noted that the DFSC act is separate and distinct from the Cleary Act. The three mandates of the act include implementation of an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) prevention program with annual notifications and biennial reviews.

I then attended ‘Master Your (Critical) Thinking to Master your Craft’ – again presented by Alonzo Kelly. Mr. Kelly teaches professional development through the use of comparisons – definitions vs concepts – and to be explicit. He notes there are 293 ways to make change for a dollar! Understand the difference between compassion, sympathy, and empathy. In serving the public (our students) we are responsible for understanding all three. Can you deserve respect without earning it, or can you earn respect without deserving it? He told us that the question that keeps him up at night when dealing with students is “what is the best reason to graduate from high school”?

My final Thursday session was Public Meetings/Open Records session with Kirk Strang. Wisconsin Statutes 19.45 sets forth the Code of Ethics for State Public Officials. District Board members are defined in Stat 19.42 (13) f. College Boards may create their own Code of Ethics for themselves and their Administrators which may be more restrictive and impose censure, but not include or impose monetary sanctions. Sample Ethics codes from four Technical Colleges were included in the handouts.

Friday morning Wanda Sloan and Rick Daniels presented Micro-Aggressions: Fact, Fiction, Fake News? Microaggression is non-physical aggression. It is accumulative and builds up over time. Stop debating intent – confront the invisible. Stop minimizing. If you can’t see it, ask – validation goes a long way. Practice apologizing and be the one to speak up.

We then came together while Sean Scullen and Lindsey Davis discussed Navigating Free Speech. A Colleges duty to prevent discrimination falls under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. A violation can occur if a College effectively caused, encouraged, accepted or failed to correct a hostile environment. Colleges should develop and enforce a Free-Speech and Assembly Policy. It should be narrowly tailored, content neutral, and cover displays and postings.

Noah Brown addressed the group about Challenges Facing Our Economy and Strengthening Rural Community Colleges – emphasizing Technical and Community Colleges face the same dilemmas. He noted that 2/3 of the ACCT memberships are small and rural Colleges.

WTCS Presidents Betzig, Martin, and Albrecht; UW-M Chancellor Dr. Mark Mone, and Carthage College President Dr. John Swallow then formed a panel representing the Higher Education Regional Alliance. This regional alliance was one of three metropolitan areas chosen to partner for the CCA initiative. For complete description and data of this initiative, please-please visit their website.

WITC presented their Media Award to Ryan Juntti and his cameraman Glenn Kellahan of station WDIO for their video coverage of a welding student who is hearing-impaired.

WITC also recognized Student Ambassador Logan Smith.

Special Reports: Dr. Morna Foy outlined 3 projects for the next 12 months: Transfer options – especially in occupational trades, Equity and Opportunity for students and faculty, and EMS services for rural areas. Dr. Jason Wood reported on the Presidents’ Association Special Populations successes, work on Transfer agreements, and an upcoming meeting with a student panel.

At the Internal Best Practices session, Dr. Susan May gave us an overview of newera – the Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance – which was formed after a regional economic summit in 2000. Through this partnership, students can begin studies at any one of seven newera institutions and transfer credits to either UW-Green Bay or UW-Oshkosh for a B.S. degree. They are aligned with Wisconsin’s 60 Forward initiative and are dedicated to increasing to sixty percent the number of individuals in their area’s workforce with post-secondary credentials.

At the evening Banquet, the Distinguished Alumni Award was given to Lakeshore Alum Dan Hartwig. Dan is a 1998 Police Science graduate and is the State’s youngest Sherriff! He also serves as an adjunct instructor and has coached H.S. football for 23 years. His mother and two brothers also attended LTC.

Saturday morning Dawn Garcia reported there were six presentations from Wisconsin at ACCT – five individual colleges and one consortium.

Our sincere thanks to Dee Warzyn- HR & Campus Security coordinator for her many years of service in organizing the Legal issues sessions at WCTC.

Saturday – Board Meeting:
Discussed variation in Hotel rates - some Trustees received a room rate of $90 by booking the room outside the room block while other trustees paid a rate of $128 plus taxes. Steve clarified that the room block rate is a negotiated rate that takes into consideration the entire event costs. Hotels generally need to recoup costs for events and will do it through sleeping room rates, meeting room and service rates, and food and beverage costs. When one of the rates is lower the others are typically higher. As an example the Association is usually given meeting room space for free because we have a substantial room block. A lower room block rate is usually paired with higher meeting room costs and AV equipment and service costs. Noted that the District Boards Association is classified as a private association and thus does not qualify for the state rates like the Colleges do.

NTC offered a Wisconsin Sales and Use Tax Exemption Certificate / Form S-211 for use in getting reduced rate w/o room and occupancy taxes.

Discussion followed that all actual and reasonable expensed should be reimbursed - stat 19.36 (3) a.

Noted that the Central Region is very strong in ACCT, and they will review ‘pro-rated’ membership fees based on the size of the College – similar to DBA.

Additional discussion on the focus areas as outlined at the BDA annual planning session.

The proposed 2020-21 Budget was reviewed with a suggested 2% increase for next year. The final budget will be voted on at the Spring meeting in April at MATC-Milwaukee.

Steve Tenpas reported attendance of 54 Trustees and 11 Presidents – over 100 total from 16 Districts.

The next meeting will be at Western Technical College’s La Crosse campus January 16th – 18th with a focus on Institutional Research.