The belief that an institution is only as good as its employees is a sentiment shared by me and the College of the Redwoods Board of Trustees. In the words of Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” These beliefs are especially true in education — where the recruitment and retention of high-quality employees is key to enhancing our ability to attract and retain students and to help them successfully achieve their educational and career goals. However, as we’ve seen in recent years, in both the private and public sectors, attracting and retaining a good workforce can be challenging. Higher education is not immune to this phenomenon.

Additionally, it was not lost on us that our faculty accomplished something in March 2020 that would have seemed improbable prior to COVID. Thanks to their Herculean efforts, the institution was able to convert a significant majority of our classes to online so we could continue to serve our community without compromising educational quality. The Board of Trustees and I recognize that the work our faculty did and continue to do is highly valuable to our students, college, and community and deserves fair compensation.

Of course, at the same time we ask our faculty to continue doing mission-critical work; they, like all of us, feel the sting of inflation. In this environment, the Board of Trustees and I are acutely aware of the need to ensure that our faculty salaries are competitive with other community colleges and to ensure that we do everything we can to protect morale and, subsequently, the quality of the work faculty perform. All of these considerations were on our minds during recent contract negotiations with faculty.

From the outset of our negotiations, the Board and I were committed to ensuring the college remains the strong, robust institution it has become. We believe that everyone who works for CR plays an important role in keeping our college healthy and deserves a living wage, a wage that keeps up with inflation, housing costs, and other considerations specific to our area. Having employees treading economic water or losing ground with wages isn’t good for the institution and will ultimately hurt our chances of continuing to recruit and retain great faculty.

With all of this in mind, I am pleased to announce that on March 7 the CR Board of Trustees approved an agreement with our faculty union that we believe accomplishes all of our shared goals. At the end of a long negotiation process, we were able to find common ground on a three-year overall contract that addresses various faculty and administrative concerns, provides fair compensation, and reflects an appreciation for the many contributions faculty members make to the institution. The negotiation teams deserve credit for their steadfast work to reach a resolution.

The faculty team included Levi Gill, John Johnston, and Natalia Margulis. Ericka Barber, Bob Brown, and Alia Dunphy made up the district’s team. I want to thank associate faculty member Shannon Mondor for facilitating the negotiations.

I am grateful to our faculty for putting our students first throughout the negotiation process, especially as they’ve skillfully navigated the challenges of the past few years. Among other things, the new contract:

• Keeps CR faculty competitive compared to the other 73 community college in California.
• Increases salaries for associate faculty.
• Increases the hourly rate for summer work, associate faculty curriculum update stipends, and associate faculty hourly work for district-approved committee service.
• Increases coaching recruitment stipends.
• Ensures a safe working and learning environment for faculty, staff, and students through a new safety article.
• Resolves complex class scheduling issues.
• Includes student consultation hours as part of an associate faculty member’s professional responsibility.
• Is fiscally responsible, ensuring that CR can continue to offer a high-quality, affordable education to our students.

I am pleased that the Board of Trustees approved a contract that focuses on the success of our students and recognizes the important contributions of our faculty. I believe that it demonstrates the strong collaboration between CR’s faculty and administration and a commitment to student achievement.

Dr. Keith Flamer is the president of the College of the Redwoods.