Resolutions and Policies (2017-Present)

Date Topic Motion/Resolution Description
11/22/22 Senate Meeting Format To have all Academic Senate meetings face-to-face beginning in February 2023 (Under VIII. New Business C) Senate meetings had been on Zoom since March 24, 2020 due to Covid-19. Future meetings will be hybrid, with a Zoom option for attendees.
11/22/22 Program Discontinuance To approve the updated Program Discontinuance policy (Under VII. Old Business B) A senate subcommittee updated the policy to reflect WVC's Deans' structure. The senate president will chair discontinuance discussions unless she/he is a member of the program being considered. In that case, the senate vice president would preside.
11/8/22 DE Policy on Syllabi in Canvas To endorse the DE Committee document “Guidelines for Student Access to Syllabi”. (Under VII. Old Business A) Posting a syllabus in Canvas with class information and the instructor's contract information reduces students' stress.The accessible syllabus template is recommended, but not required.
11/8/22 DE Guidelines for Canvas Tools To endorse the DE Committee document “Guidelines on Use of Canvas Tools in WVC Courses” (Under VII. Old Business A) This document lists the benefits of using Canvas LMS tools in all modalities to provide students with  consistency. 
5/10/22 DEIAB Guiding COR Questions  To endorse the 2022 DEIAB Guiding COR (Course Outline of Record) Questions for updating and creating curriculum outlines. Note: Motion was carried over from 4/12/22 meeting so senators could distribute the guide to their constituents for feedback. (Under VII. Old Business B) The Guiding Questions, developed by the Antiracism & Inclusion Action Plan Curriculum Review Workgroup, are meant to help faculty create student learning outcomes, course descriptions, objectives and content that is accessible and relevant to students' racial backgrounds and abilities.
3/22/22 AP/BP 4100 The Academic Senate approves moving revised AP/BP 4100, Graduation Requirements for Degrees and Certificates, to the next step in updating the procedure. (Under VII. Old Business B) The revised policy now has separate categories for ADTs, CSU AA-Ts and CSU AS-Ts. UC has mandated an abbreviated version for transfer pathways. Both the WVC and Mission College academic senates support requiring students to complete 20 percent of required certificate units at one college.
3/22/22 AP 5075 (Student Attendance) The Academic Senate approves the revised student attendance policy without this sentence: “Moreover, an instructor may drop from the class any student who fails to attend at least one class session during the first three weeks of instruction.” (Under VII. Old Business C.) Senators generally agreed it is in an instructor's purview to determine when a student isn't actively participating in a class. Mission College also must approve this. 
12/7/21 Application to Online Initiative Consortium Approve WVC’s application to join the CVC-OEI Consortium  (Under VII. Old Business B.) Distance Education Committee Chair Janis Kea presented the application to the Senate on 11/23/21. This consortium gives students access to courses they need that might not be available at WVC. Local degree/certificate requirements still apply.
12/7/21 AB 928 The Academic Senate recommends to the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges that they ensure an Oral Communication transfer requirement to be developed within the singular lower division general education pathway. (Under VIII. New Business B.) AB 928 requires a single lower division general ed pathway that meets admission requirements  to UCs, CSUs, and community colleges, on or before May 31, 2023. Oral Communication is not  in the UC pathway, and Oral Comm departments at community colleges throughout the state are concerned it won't be in the new transfer pathway.
9/14/21 Student email addresses in Portal The Academic Senate recommends that a student’s home and wvc email addresses are listed in the Portal, ready by Spring 2022 (Under VIII. New Business C.) Currently only a student’s WVC email address is listed in the Portal, and many students don’t check that account. This is a problem for instructors who want to reach out to students before a semester begins.
3/23/21 FW Grade Option The Academic Senate recommends implementation of the FW grade. (Under VII. Old Business A.) FW is given to students who fail because of poor performance, not students who stop attending class after a withdrawal deadline. Students who receive a "FW" grade don't have to pay back financial aid, which they would if they got an "F".
2/9/21 Adult Education Dual Enrollment The Academic Senate gives its blessing to the Dual Enrollment Program. (Under VIII. New Business B.) This program authorizes enrollment at WVC to adult education students who are pursuing a high school diploma or high school equivalency.
10/13/20 Anti-Racism & Inclusion Action Plan To Endorse the Anti-Racism and Inclusion Action Plan, with a Curriculum Review bullet point added that curriculum will be reviewed by WVC faculty (Under VIII. New Business B.) The plan has five primary goals: Unearthing and Examining the Racial History of WVC; Address Anti-Blackness in the Campus Culture; Implement Sustainable Actions to Contribute to an Anti-Racist Culture at WVC; Create a Cultural Competency for Staff, Students, Faculty, and Administrators; and Creating a Welcoming, Supportive, and Inclusive Campus Climate. 
9/22/2020 WVC Non-Racist Guiding Principles The WVC Academic Senate Endorses the Anti-Racist Guiding Principles (Under VIII. New Business -B.) In the summer of 2020, the President’s Commission on Diversity worked with consultants Dr. Luke Wood and Dr. Frank Harris to develop guiding principles. They were designed to acknowledge and repair the harmful effects of our college’s racial history.
Date Topic Motion/Resolution Description
11/26/2019 Credits required for 2nd Associate Degree – motion made in Curriculum Committee Report To Disregard the Requirement of 15 units to get a 2nd Associate Degree or Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) (Under IX. Admin Business/Actions/Appointments - C) WVC had required 15 extra units for those getting a 2nd Associate degree. Students w/ courses and electives for a degree in one school can get it without the extra units.
11/26/2019 Curriculum Handbook – motion made in Curriculum Committee Report To Approve the updated Curriculum Handbook (Under IX. Admin Business/Actions/Appointments - C) The Curriculum Committee revised the handbook on the CC website to make it a better resource for WVC.
11/26/2019 Campus Care Motion – made during Guided Pathways Report Academic Senate endorses Caring Campus and encourages Faculty to participate (Under IX-Admin Business/Actions/Appointments - G) Caring Campus encourages simple, impactful interventions from WVC faculty and classified staff to help w/student success.
11/12/2019 Accessibility To Approve the Draft Resolution for WVC Academic Senate re: Accessibility, with edits (Under VIII-New Business-D) Resolves that Academic Senate collaborate w/WVC & District on plan re: accessible instructional materials & content.
11/12/2019 Board Policy Revisions (BP5010, 5035, 5220, & 5400) To Approve the Board Policy updates (BP5010, 5035, 5220, & 5400) as is (Under VIII-New Business B) BP5010: Grade 10 OK for concurrent enrollment. 5035: Transcripts can't be withheld due to debt. 5220: Showers required for homeless students. 5400: Student gov=WVC Associated Students.
10/8/2019 Faculty Ranking Process To Create a Task Force to Develop Questions and Criteria for Future Hiring Processes (Under VII. Old Business B.) First step to develop a central form that Departments complete to provide consistent information re: faculty hiring requests.
10/8/2019 Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (AP3910) To Approve Admin Procedure AP 3910 with possible change re: Remote Pilot Certificate requirement (Under VII. Old Business D.) "Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)". There was a question re: who needs a Remote Pilot Certificate. Pres. Ehlers to check.
10/8/2019 Credit by Examination (AP4235) To approve AP4235 with addition of phrase to Section c.2 (Under VII. Old Business E.) Credit by Examination: "The faculty shall determine that the examination adequately measures mastery of the course content and achievement of any delineated objectives and outcomes as set forth in the outline of record."
10/8/2019 Continuous Enrollment Definition The Academic Senate formally supports the idea of a student attending a single term in an academic year as continuously enrolled (Under VIII. New Business B.) WVC had required students to attend during spring or fall semesters to keep catalog rights; Senate supported changing this to any term within an academic year.
9/24/2019 Faculty Hiring Process Setting Forth WVC Academic Senate Policies and Procedures for Prioritization of Dept. & Program Requests for Full-Time Faculty Positions (Under VII. Old Business A.) Each Division represented on Senate will submit one list of faculty hiring priorities to Senate Admin. Assoc. Faculty Senators, At-Large Senator and Senate Pres will each submit one combined list.
9/10/2019 Application to Online Initiative Consortium The Academic Senate Formally Supports the application to the Online Education Initiative (OEI) Consortium (Under VIII. New Business C) Distance Education Chair Janis Kea requested Senate support. OEI Consortium members get access to online platforms and counseling.
Date Topic Motion/Resolution Description
2/26/2019 Grading and Academic Record Symbols (AP 4230) Senate recommends WVC adopt Satisfactory Progress (SP) grading notation for noncredit courses, and Excused Withdrawal (EW) option for students who experience an emergency beyond their control that forces them to stop participating in class (Under IX. New Business B) SP is an option if a student participates in but doesn't satisfy the requirements of a course. EW is an option that keeps students who have to withdraw unexpectedly from getting an "F".
11/13/2018 Board Policies and Administrative Procedures (4020, 4021, 4022) The Senate Approves Board Policies and Administrative Procedures for 4020, 4021 and 4022 (Under VIII Old Business B) Existing Board Policies and Administrative Procedures were reviewed and updated to be in compliance with a regulation from the Chancellor's Office.
10/9/2018 Board Policy 4022 To approve and move forward with Board Policy 4022 (Under VI. D. Administrative Business/Actions/ Appointments- Curriculum Committee Report) West Valley and Mission Colleges collaborated on this policy, which covers credit hours and units awarded. It reflects the minimum unit increment and range (48-54) of total student learning hours.
10/9/2018 Noncredit Course Hours Move to Allow the Curriculum Committee to Change Noncredit Course Hours so that West Valley College is in Compliance on the Course Outline and Course Record (Under VI. D. Administrative Business/Actions/ Appointments- Curriculum Committee Report) The Curriculum Committee asked the Senate for the authority to make changes to noncredit courses since faculty in the noncredit area weren't interested in doing this.
10/9/2018 Concurrent Enrollment Move to Allow 10th Graders Concurrent Enrollment at West Valley College Without an Interview at this Campus (Under VII. B.-Old Business) The Senate endorsed having a mandatory orientation if no interview will be done. Dual enrollment agreements would not supplant anything a high school has in place.
10/9/2018 Self-Reported GPAs for Placement The WVC Academic Senate Recommends that the College Use Self-Reported GPAs on CCCApply for AB705 Purposes (Under VIII B-New Business) The AB705 Faculty Taskforce wants to use GPAs on CCCApply because they are easily available. Requiring students to bring in transcripts would create barriers and widen the achievement gap.
Date Topic Motion/Resolution Description
5/8/2018 OER Resolution That the West Valley College Academic Senate Supports Efforts to Increase Student Access to High-Quality Accessible Resources and Reduce the Cost of Textbooks and Supplies for Students (Under VII. New Business B.) This resolution was required as part of a grant application for Open Educational Resources (OERs)
4/24/2018 Non-credit expansion The Senate moves to support the college's non-credit FTS expansion plan (under VIII. Old Business B) Requests were made by community organizations for non-credit courses. Proposed curriculums were sent to Deans, and requests were made to faculty to write curriculum.
3/13/2018 Participatory Governance Move to establish a Senate participatory governance subcommittee to work on a governance structure documenting the junction with administration (Under VI. New Business A) Senate President Ehlers and then WVC President Davis agreed to create a participatory governance policy to clarify roles and create a framework for how recommendations should be developed and accepted.
3/13/2018 Honors Program Move to Approve the Honors Program Report and move forward in working with the Vice Provost of Instruction (VPI) to Implement the Plan of Action and Requirements for Success (under VII. Old Business A) A Senate subcommittee developed a report with a plan of action and requirements for success. At the 2/27/18 meeting, the Senate passed a motion to review the Honors Program.
12/12/2017 Guided Pathways Self-Assessment Form Move to Approve the Guided Pathways Self-Assessment Form (Under II. Order of the Agenda) The self-assessment was due to the State on December 23. Its purpose is to report the College's progress in implementing Guided Pathways.
12/12/2017 Teach Online/Hybrid Form Move that the Academic Senate approve the Distance Education (DE) Committee Recommendations for the Faculty "Request for Approval to Teach Online/Hybrid" Form, and the two Recommended @One Training Courses Proposed to Move Forward for Contract Administration Review and Approval (Under V. Admin Business/Actions/Appointments -- Section I -- Other Reports) At the 11/28/17 Senate meeting, DE Committee Chair Janis Kea distributed the form. Faculty who agree to teach DE courses must complete District-provided training. The committee sought Senate approval to certify "Introduction to Teaching with Canvas" and "Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning" are acceptable training courses that meet the District requirement.
11/14/2017 Multiple Measures Placement (MMP) Move to Propose an Academic Senate Recommendation Regarding Self-Reported High School Transcript Information (Under VII. New Business -- B) AB705 requires WVC to use high school transcripts to place students in English and Math classes. The Senate recommends WVC opt-in to self-reported transcript questions on CCCApply to research the viability of using this mode to place students.
10/10/2017 District DACA Resolution Move to Approve the Resolution in Support of Codifying DACA into Federal Law with the Inclusion of Statistical Information Regarding State and National Data, as Recommended and Discussed. (Under VII. New Business C) The resolution came from the Board of Trustees, which recommended the Senate enact the language from the Community College League - Palo Verde College District template.
10/10/2017 District Bullying Procedure Discussion Move to Approve the Language in the Administrative Procedure Regarding Bullying and Bullying Investigations, with discussed edits to be approved by the District Council (Under VIII. Old Business D) A draft of the District Bullying Procedure was sent to all senators with an additional email regarding the changes, including a title change and eliminating language regarding mitigating circumstances.
3/14/2017 Curriculum Approval Process Discussion Move to Approve the Change to the Curriculum Flow Process, to Allow the Curriculum Committee to Approve Curriculum on Behalf of the WVCAS, and Bring Curriculum Approvals to the Academic Senate as an Information Item, with the Understanding that the WVCAS will Retain the Right to Override Any Decision that the Curriculum Committee Makes (Under VII New Business B) This was proposed to expedite the curriculum approval process. Many other colleges have this kind of arrangement.
2/14/2017 Elumen Move to Reaffirm the Vote, taken by the Curriculum Committee, to Move to Elumen as the WVC Curriculum Management System A formal approval was requested to satisfy any concerns that approval information had been vetted by the Academic Senate.

Policies

In order to more effectively tie resource allocation to planning, only those programs and departments that have completed a recent APPS program review will be eligible to participate in the annual APPS resource allocation process. A program review will be considered recent if it was completed during the previous four years.

This policy will be effective beginning Fall 2001.

Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Academic Senate and the college president or designee. Exceptions must be requested at least six (6) weeks before the APPS resource allocation submittal deadline, and will be approved or denied within two (2) weeks.

Adopted by the WVC Academic Senate
May 15, 2001

Statement: The Education Code 76001-76002, 48800-48802; Title 5 Regulations 58100-58110; and the State Chancellor’s Legal Office Advisory Opinion, make it clear that community colleges are required to accept minors in the classroom. The law also makes clear that community colleges can establish rules when accepting the enrollment of minors.

The faculty and staff of the West Valley-Mission Community College District are concerned about a range of issues that surround the presence of increasing numbers of minors in their college classes.

In order to abide by the law, and to address serious issues raised by faculty and staff, the Academic Senate submits the following set of concerns and recommendations.

Specific Concerns

  • Need to notify the instructor when minors are enrolled in a class
  • Exposure of immature minors to unsuitable classroom materials
  • Instructor liability
  • Legal reporting mandates
  • Minors exhibiting disruptive or inappropriate behaviors
  • Special requirements for supervision of minors
  • Displacement of community college population in classes by minors
  • Psychological development of children and its ramifications
  • The impact of children in the classroom vis a vis adult learners

Proposals

  1. Establish a notification procedure for faculty and staff so that they know in advance when they are dealing with a minor (including minor’s age) enrolled in a class.
  2. Establish a rating system for courses that will define material as 1) suitable for general admission; 2) requiring parental approval; or 3) containing mature material or course procedures not suitable for minors.
  3. Establish a procedure that notifies students 15 years of age and younger, at the time of their registration at WVMCCD, as to the basic skills courses they are required to complete.
  4. Create a procedure during which parent and child meet with a district representative (counselor, classified, administrator) and where the college’s expectations and the responsibility will be explained.
  5. Establish a registration procedure that will accommodate the educational goals of the college’s students.
  6. Establish a training procedure for faculty and staff for all issues involved in dealing with minors in the classroom. This would include mandated reporting, procedures for emergencies, injuries, evacuations, and campus closures, etc.
  7. Assign a contact person for questions/issues relating to minors.

Adopted as amended by WVCAS
October 30, 2001

Sample documents being developed by Mission College

We might consider some of these for use at our own college.

Sample 1

Dear faculty member,

You recently received an email message from me concerning middle college students, essentially high school juniors and seniors, that are concurrently enrolled in high school and in Mission College classes. In that memo I mentioned the legal right of the student to be enrolled. After further research on this issue I can tell you that the law provides both in education code and in civil rights law the right of minors to enroll in college courses.

Along with that right comes the responsibility of the institution to act as "mandated reporters" when child abuse is suspected. As Paul Siskert, Attorney for the California Community College Chancellor's Office stated, there are no other special responsibilities outside of the child protective act - additional obligations for which we are responsible.

If you have a middle college student enrolled in a class that you teach, you will soon be receiving notice from my office of their name/enrollment. If at some time during the semester that student tells you that they are being abused, physically or sexually, you must, by law, report that information. Please make those reports directly to my office. My office will take immediate and appropriate action.

If you have any questions about this issue, please contact me directly. Remember, I am only speaking about middle college students. If you don't hear from me about a minor enrolled in your class but have concerns for a minors safety, please make those reports directly to Dan Matarangas. We are dedicated to supporting the rights of members of the community as well as the rights of all our employees.

Thank You.
Lin Marelick, x5520
Interim Dean Workforce and Economic Development/Extended Programs and Services

Daniel Sanidad, x5139
Administrator, Extended Programs and Services

Sample 2

Mission Middle College and Child Development Center
Notification of Institutional Evacuation Procedure

If the college is evacuated because of campus closure for any reason, staff from the Economic and Development Unit will:

  1. In person, notify the staff of the child care center to call parents to pick up their children.
  2. In person, notify the staff of the middle college program to allow their students to go home, supply phone access to students to call parents if needed.
  3. Staff of both units will wait with students until parents have picked up their pre-school children or have notified their middle college children of how to proceed.
    1. If middle college parents are not reachable, the college staff will notify Sherry Garvey, Assistant to the Superintendent of Santa Clara Unified School District: 408.983.2019.
    2. For those Middle College students enrolled in regular college courses during an evacuation period, those students should be directed to gather in the lobby at the information island where college administrators will give them further instructions. If they are required to leave the building, they should gather at the flagpole area for further instructions.

Extended Programs and Services Administrators and Economic Development office staff members are required to offer assistance and wait with students during evacuation situations if needed. Under no conditions should staff members drive students home.

Lin Marelick, x5520
Interim Dean Workforce and Economic Development/Extended Programs and Services

Daniel Sanidad, x5139
Administrator, Extended Programs and Services

Last Updated 4/6/23