The revision of the college’s personnel policy and procedures is NMC’s next priority after addressing its accreditation matters.
During its recent special meeting, the board of regents “tabled” the discussions on the proposal as requested by NMC President Carmen Fernandez.
Under the existing personnel policy, it is the college president who can renew the contracts of faculty and staff.
Board regent and former NMC President Agnes M. McPhetres said the proposal to change personnel policy will “ensure that people are comfortable working at the college.”
Under the proposal, an evaluation of an employee’s performance must justify his renewal or termination.
Fernandez said she supports the proposed changes, but added that “there’s a lot of due diligence and study that has to be done prior to any implementation of the plan.”
She said the draft revisions to the human resources policy are being reviewed.
But she agreed that the college’s “HR policy is quite old and needs to be updated.”
She added, “It is our priority to update all our policies and procedures next year. We just don’t have time right now to do the work because we’re totally focused in preparing our show-cause report and the final visit of the [accreditation] team.”
Fernandez said “any proposal regarding changes in policy has to be recommended by the NMC president to the board.”
She said the proposed changes now with the regents were discussed in the past by NMC.
Every year, there are contracts of staff and faculty members that will not renewed, but it is unclear if there was an evaluation conducted prior to making these decisions.
