[ITT-staff] Industrial Trade and Technology (ITT) Department Faculty Issues

[Donegan, Anne]

Hello all:

Jesse, thank you for such a detailed email explaining the pressing needs for classified support (including lab assistants) and adequate building maintenance for your department.

AFA will discuss these things with the District team at our next CAMPS (Council of AFA & Managers Problem Sovling) on Halloween.  I was so impressed hearing about all the great work you and your colleagues do for our students and the community at the last Board meeting.    I believe that  with these changes, you all can better serve even more students.

Thanks again,

Anne

Anne Donegan
History Professor
Social Sciences Department
Santa Rosa Junior College


All Faculty Association President

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________________________________
From: Kosten, Jesse <jkosten at santarosa.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2025 9:00 AM
To: Garcia, Angelica <angelicagarcia at santarosa.edu>; Holcomb, Robert <rholcomb at santarosa.edu>; Davis, Brad <bdavis at santarosa.edu>; Goldstein, Benjamin <bgoldstein at santarosa.edu>
Cc: itt-staff at listserv.santarosa.edu <itt-staff at buslistserv.santarosa.edu>; Donegan, Anne <adonegan at santarosa.edu>; Tircuit, IVAN <itircuit at santarosa.edu>
Subject: Industrial Trade and Technology (ITT) Department Faculty Issues

Dear President Garcia, Vice President Holcomb, Dean Davis and Dean Goldstein:

My name is Jesse Kosten and I am the Chair of the Industrial Trade and Technology Department (ITT). I am writing to express concerns about inadequate laboratory assistance and lack of faculty input regarding program expansion.

As of late the ITT Department has been changing for the better: we now have updated equipment and curriculum (please find attached a recent presentation to the Board of Trustees about these updates). However, some things have not changed: our department continues experience a lack of vital classified laboratory support. This is antithetical to one of SRJC’s core goals: providing students with a sufficiently safe and high-quality learning environment.

Classified Support
Our primary operational challenge continues to be the serious absence of classified support staff in our laboratories. Classified support is necessary for both facility maintenance, safety, and effective technical laboratory course management.

Facilities Maintenance
The Lounibos Building, which houses the ITT Department, is an aging structure that has not been adequately maintained. Rather than providing regularly scheduled, proactive, upkeep, the District has reacted to emergencies as they occur. This approach compromises the stability and functionality of our learning environment.

Furthermore, we lack permanent classified support within each laboratory space to maintain our extensive and valuable equipment inventory. Over the past eight years, the department has acquired equipment valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars through competitive grants. The absence of trained, full-time, technical staff puts this significant institutional investment at continuous risk of premature failure and disrepair.

Consequently, for the past three years (and longer in certain areas of the Lounibos facility), instructional faculty have been compelled to be the ones who primarily perform essential non-instructional duties. These non-instructional duties that instructional faculty have taken on include: building cleanup, modernization of shop standards, and labor-intensive equipment maintenance. This takes faculty away from their core academic responsibilities and, as such, is unsustainable.

Laboratory Assistance
The ITT Department is facing a significant challenge in the form of student-to-instructor ratios in our laboratory classrooms. This undermines lab safety, the quality of laboratory learning, and equity. Currently, our technical laboratory courses operate without permanent Classified assistance. This requires that a single faculty member supervises 15 to 24+ students all while they themselves operate industrial equipment across multiple shop spaces.

This high student-to-instructor ratio presents considerable challenges to the delivery of quality instruction and, most importantly, student safety. While our students are primarily adults, the complexity, and potential hazards inherent in learning new industrial skills necessitate robust supervision. Accordingly, the international averages for student-teacher ratio in technical instruction is approximately 13:1.

While a reduction in class size is the ideal pedagogical solution, we recognize this is not currently feasible due to institutional budget constraints. Therefore, the ITT Department is here recommending the immediate establishment of a permanent Classified Laboratory Assistant (CLA) for each of our technical course areas. Operating labs with 20 to 24 students and a CLA would effectively bring the student-to-instructor ratio down, aligning it more closely with (and, in some cases, exceeding) established international safety and instructional standards.

The urgent need for this support was tragically underscored this semester in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) shop. An incident occurred resulting in one of our students sustaining a head injury.

The injury required immediate medical attention. However, the instructor could not help the student over to an area of the College where they could receive medical attention. This was due to the instructor not having anyone else there on the instructional team. So, since they were unable to leave the class unattended, the injured student had to be escorted to Student Health by a classmate. Compounding this risk, no other classified personnel were present in the building at the time of the incident. This event illustrates that the current staffing model poses an unacceptable liability to the College and a direct risk to student well-being.

Current Automotive Tool Room Attendant Position
The single assigned classified position, the Automotive Tool Room Attendant, is currently on an extended medical leave of absence with an undetermined return date. This has necessitated that faculty fully assume the responsibilities for all technical and logistical support within the ATL shops.

Although the District approved a replacement strategy utilizing two separate 50% short-term, non-continuing replacement appointments, this measure has not fully mitigated the operational gap. The regular incumbent held decades of experience, operated with considerable autonomy, and required minimal daily supervision. In contrast, the two short-term replacements require significant time investment in training, direct daily supervision, and coordination of necessary building access to perform their essential duties.

This responsibility: training, supervision, and facility management, has been fully absorbed by the teaching faculty in addition to their existing instructional load. Furthermore, it must be noted that prior to the medical leave, the incumbent's capacity to maintain and modernize lab equipment had already become a growing operational challenge, exacerbated by the period of the COVID-19 shutdown. The current staffing instability has entirely halted any progress in this area.

Scope of Classified Support Deficit
This staffing deficit extends beyond the ATL. The AMT and Welding shops currently operate with a complete absence of dedicated classified laboratory support. Consequently, all critical tasks are being performed by full-time faculty, including:
·         Equipment setup, preparation, and repair.
·         The entire process of ordering materials, consumables, tooling, and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).
The current reliance on instructional staff to execute these essential operational duties is not sustainable and directly detracts from faculty time needed for curriculum development, student engagement, and instructional quality.

Long-Term Need and Program Sustainability
The need for dedicated laboratory support has been consistently documented through the annual Program Review and Planning Process (PRPP) submissions for several years, and continuous requests have been directed to the Department Dean. We could expand our class sizes and course offers, which given our long-term fill rates would help the colleges goal on enrollment, and help the vast need for local technical training.

The department has already been compelled to take mitigation measures due to the lack of technical staff. Specifically, class sizes for all AMT laboratory courses have been reduced from 20 students to 15 in an effort to contain safety risks. Further reductions are currently under consideration to adequately mitigate the documented safety concerns.

While the existing full-time faculty have shown exceptional dedication in maintaining program continuity and addressing operational gaps, their efforts constitute only a temporary stopgap measure. This ongoing reliance on faculty to perform non-instructional, classified duties is a significant factor in program sustainability and potentially contributes to the existing challenges in recruiting and retaining new associate and full-time faculty within ITT.

It is relevant to note that other departments across the College benefit from dedicated lab support personnel, despite operating lab spaces that present a substantially lower degree of inherent hazard compared to the industrial environments within the ITT Department. In looking at the college organization charts there is not currently anyway to see which areas have support and who does not.  The only available classified list from HR has roughly 48 positions that could be viewed as lab or student direct support with Art, KAD and Theater having dedicated technicians. Addressing the long-standing and documented classified support deficiency is crucial for the department's future viability and for fulfilling our fundamental obligation to student safety.

Program Expansion and Resource Allocation
The ITT department must respectfully address the strategic decision to expand academic offerings, specifically the introduction of the new Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration (HVACR) program, at a time when the District is confronting protracted budgetary issues and is demonstrably unable to adequately support existing, long-standing programs.

The implementation of the HVACR program at the Petaluma Campus—which we understand was catalyzed by a rebuilding grant—occurred without the consultative input of the ITT Department Chair or its faculty. While we support the development of new opportunities for students, this expansion appears to lack a coherent, long-term operational and resource strategy.

Specifically, we note the following critical deficiencies in the support for the new program:
·         Absence of Core Personnel: The program currently operates with no full-time faculty and no dedicated classified staff support.
·         Operational Allocation: For Spring 2026, the program is scheduled to offer six online courses and has been allocated 1.41 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) faculty positions. This allocation raises critical questions regarding the overall departmental FTE distribution, specifically identifying which existing discipline contributed this FTE to facilitate the new program.
·         Facility Development: An entire laboratory space has been constructed and equipped for the HVACR program without any consultation with existing Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) faculty. Compounding this, the facility currently has no in-person laboratory courses scheduled for its use.

In light of the severe operational challenges detailed previously concerning the existing AMT, ATL, and Welding programs (three disciplines with decades of institutional history), we request a clear articulation of the District’s strategy for sustained support. It is incumbent upon the administration to clarify how the District intends to successfully launch and maintain a new discipline when the resources allocated to its three established programs are currently insufficient to ensure student safety, instructional quality, and basic facility operation

Closing thoughts
 The challenges facing the ITT department is an urgent need for adequate classified support for both high-hazard laboratory instruction and essential facility/equipment maintenance, a deficit that severely compromises student safety and instructional quality despite the department's high student demand. Due to the lack of dedicated lab assistants, faculty are forced to perform extensive non-contractual duties—a practice that is unsustainable, hinders the recruitment of new faculty, and directly contributes to safety risks, such as a recent student head injury. This situation is further complicated by the decision to launch the new HVACR program without establishing a corresponding, long-term support strategy, demonstrating a systemic under-investment in critical technical education infrastructure. Therefore, the District must prioritize an immediate comprehensive review, strategic resolution plan, and transparent reallocation of resources to ensure that ITT can meet its fundamental obligations to its successful programs and its students.

Union Consultation
I reached out the All Faculty Association with some of these concerns and they have consulted on the drafting of this message.

District Request and Call to Action
To stabilize the ITT Department, ensure adherence to safety standards, and guarantee the long-term success and growth of our programs, we respectfully submit the following requests to the District Administration:
1.      Comprehensive Departmental Review: We request an immediate, independent investigation and confirmation of the operational, staffing, and facility concerns detailed within this correspondence.
2.      Strategic Resolution Plan: We require the development of a formal work plan, including specific timelines and defined metrics, to strategically resolve the established classified staffing and operational deficits across the ITT Department.
3.      Transparency in Resource Allocation: We request the immediate creation and dissemination of a transparent report detailing the current allocation of all Laboratory Assistant positions or technician lab support roles across all departments. This report must clearly specify funding sources, coverage timeframes, and explicitly identify which laboratory spaces currently operate without dedicated support. This essential information should be provided to all Department Chairs and the All Faculty Association (AFA).

We are prepared to discuss this matter further at your convenience and provide any additional information required. Thank you for your consideration and continued support of our department.

Sincerely,


Jesse Kosten

Instructor - Advanced Transportation and Logistics<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fitt.santarosa.edu%2fadvanced-transportation-and-logistics-atl&c=E,1,UnWnLbAmnhLGnMd_od4LfW0dbid7JkLH6IvkiIxm1756mXiZNfHq_j47x4NVqseOoArhvZDDhc2-Lmbdc-M5DVHaDpIXOpDafbzL_PAg8_93HqKx&typo=1>

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