11 June 2015
SAC Minutes—Wed, June 11th
Attendees: Rose Maio, Sue Wigo, Ben Wilson, Trish Tancredi, Julie DiPietro, Lynn Grady, Diane Fritz, Paula Dlae, Christi Pappert, Danie Martin, Pamela Prescod-Caesar, Zenobia Hargust
Agenda:
1) Tri-Co SAC luncheon, Wednesday, June 17th in Scheuer Room. Most of SAC have responded on whether they can attend. 10 staff from Bryn Mawr and 7 staff from Haverford are coming as well. The event will be informal.
A question was raised on whether the work done in gathering the comparative holiday and paid time off survey from various colleges, was used in the discussions by senior staff to make the decision to retain the floating holiday in observance of Memorial Day. Pamela affirmed, that after the decision was made not to hold classes on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, senior staff referenced the survey data in their discussions to support changes to the 2016 holiday schedule.
2) Ad-hoc committee for college discounts. The committee is being formed to create a list of local vendors offering discounts to Swarthmore College employees, with a goal of completion by October. Sue Wigo volunteered. Christi Pappert did a similar project by email 2 years ago whose results are in Google-Docs and can be used as a start but need updated/expanded.
4) From Public Safety – would be interested if the committee has any views or questions positive or negative concerning the emergency response drill that was conducted on June 3rd. There was one person who was reported as having had trouble getting onto campus during the drill. His concern was addressed in the email Public Safety sent out at after the drill. Another question raised by SAC was whether building reps have a backup in case they are not available. Finally it was pointed out that the purpose of the drill was to see what would happen in an actual event and that in a real incident the college administration would hand control of the campus over to the incident commander.
5) Please remind your circles – complimentary Rita’s Water Ice treat on Friday, June 12th from 11:00am-1:00pm on Parish Beach.
3) Climate Survey. The report is due from the consultant to the committee in late September. In the fall it will be discussed what role SAC will have in presenting the results to campus, which will probably occur then or in Spring Semester.
6) Fall All-Staff Meeting: Greg Brown has requested time at the next meeting to present an overview of the One Card system, which is scheduled to be implemented over the next 2 years. The All-Staff meeting will be schedule in late October to avoid both the Papal visit and the Inauguration.
7) SAC Bylaws. Pamela reminded the Committee that in Section 10 of SAC Activities, it states “SAC will meet with the President-ideally once per semester, but no less than once per year-to convey and receive information of interest and concern to staff”. She suggested that these meetings be scheduled accordingly for next year or that Section 10, be reviewed and revised. Rose will schedule a meeting with the president to occur in the Fall.
8) Time of meeting. A possible move of SAC meetings to 9:00am was discussed.
Questions received:
Question 1.:
“I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth with regards to the decision about MLK day, but I feel I have to raise the question of why, if we're going to close on MLK day, we do not also close on Memorial Day? At least with MLK day we had a floating holiday so we, as staff members, had the chance to take off that day, or another should our jobs require us to work, in recognition of a federal holiday. Is that an option for Memorial Day?”
Question 2.:
“Since the college will now close on MLK day, I am curious to know if the college will reconsider Memorial Day and Labor Day (especially Memorial Day) as paid holidays? All of our peer schools are closed on these days, as are childcare providers...so the same reasoning applies.”
Response:
Email of June 8th, 2015 from Pamela Prescod –Caesar
Dear Friends,
It gives me great pleasure to share good news regarding changes to the College’s official holiday schedule.
Beginning next year, Swarthmore College will observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an official College holiday. This means that Monday, January 18, 2016 will be the first official observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by Swarthmore College. In past years, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was recognized as a floating holiday which allowed staff to receive another alternative day to be used at their discretion if they worked on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I am happy to announce that in addition to recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an official holiday, the College will retain the alternative day which you may use to observe Memorial Day, or another day of your choice.
As a reminder, if you have not yet used your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day floating holiday for this year (2015), you will have until August 31, by which to do so. Please note that employees who have been hired after January 19, 2015 are not eligible to use this holiday.
If you are a benefits eligible staff member and have questions about our paid leave programs, including holiday pay, please see the employee handbook for further explanation: http://www.swarthmore.edu/human-resources/chapter-4-paid-leave-programs or contact Human Resources at x8397.
We appreciate the importance of recognizing these significant holidays and strive to ensure that as a community we have an opportunity to celebrate them appropriately. Members of our community will be planning for a possible day of service or other programming for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 18, and extending into the first week of classes. If you have ideas or suggestions to share, please contact Dion Lewis at dlewis1@swarthmore.edu and Joyce Tompkins at jtompki1@swarthmore.edu.
Question:
“Well, since you asked. Have they ever thought about putting a narrow pane of glass on the doors leading to the stairwells in Parrish Hall? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has almost been knocked out by someone pushing the door open from the other side.”
Response:
From Stu Hain, Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects “ will look into whether it is possible to add windows in those doors, but they are fire doors and therefore limited by fire code restrictions.”
Question:
“My question is with regard to the age cutoff for family members to use the Athletic facilities [get an ID to use the pool, Mullan, Matchbox]: My son who is 26 and resides with me, recently sustained a tendon injury. Swimming is the best way he can get some physical activity and get some relief. In any case, I tried to add him via myswarthmore but was denied. I've since been informed that these privileges are limited to children between 16 and 26.Why? I completely understand if it's an adult child that is married and/or living elsewhere. But if an adult child who still resides with the Staff/Faculty parent, why can't they make use of these resources. Of course, I would agree that they should be made to produce proof that they reside with the parent [i.e. present a drivers license with that address]. In my mind, it's better and probably safer than having a 16 year old at the pool or wandering in the Mullan center. I was told that he could go to the Ware pool...as my guest BUT I would have to be with him and pay $10 per visit. I'm thinking this is ridiculous.”
Response:
From Adam Hertz, The College uses the maximum age of a dependent child, (26 years-old) as the limit.
Other Concerns:
By way of clarification to college staff, the MLK floating holiday for 2015 must be used by until August 31. Please note that employees who have been hired after January 19, 2015 are not eligible to use this holiday. The new floating holiday may be used any time during that fiscal year: staff may use the first one any time from July 1 2015 to June 30 2016.
[taken by
Danie Martin
Scott Circle Rep]
