* I was not present for this meeting, so this post is written based off of notes kindly supplied by Steward Alex Lawrence.
We are all familiar with the financial struggles of the state and the impact of new federal regulations on the ability of students to fund their education. Last year, our FTE was up 245 from the previous year, so enrollment is promising, helping to keep Highline financially stable.
Meanwhile, Dr. Penn has been meeting with community partners to find the best ways for Highline to support the local community, and to search for grants to help our students. In addition, she has been meeting with lobbyist and the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce to advocate for the college in the comming legislative session.
The presidential search continues apace, with finalists expected on campus in October. It is expected a new president will be chosen in or around January 2027.
The Strategic Planning Committee is creating a rubric for evaluating it’s work and trying to find ways to increase transparency. Right now we don’t have details, but more information will be shared during Opening Week.
Bargaining is in progress and going positively (please watch this space for updates). We are pushing to finish by September 10 to give us time to ratify before the Oct 1 OFM deadline.
One thing requested in bargaining was that supervisors of classified staff receive mandatory training. This will begin September 24 during Opening Week. Going forward, new supervisors will receive the training as part of their onboarding.
The biggest news is that the employee emergency fund is finally active. It contains $30k, in the hopes of renewing annually, however that is not guaranteed. Foundation has only provided the lump sum so far.
- The form can be found in the shared Google Drive under HR Forms. The application also lists the qualified uses for the fund.
- Employees are limited to $500 per calendar year.
- The fund is managed by HR; all requests are confidential and not tied to a personnel file.
- Available for all classified and exempt full-time staff and those on approved leave.
