Frederick Community College
Thursday, March 2, 2006
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Stanley Harper, President, at 7:06 pm. The call to order was followed by a brief introduction of officers.
MINUTES
Secretary, Teresa Heyworth, presented meeting minutes from November 12, 2005. There were no corrections, deletions, or additions to the minutes and were therefore accepted as read.
OLD BUSINESS:
Resume Writing/Interviewing � A resume writing workshop was held on Monday, February 20 and an interviewing workshop is scheduled for Monday, March 13. This same series of workshops was offered last year and it was very successful, this year however, only 3 participants showed up for the resume writing workshop. Some of the concerns discussed were:
~� Members of the Paralegal Student Association (PSA) voted to repeat the series this year, but again the turnout was extremely low.
~� Concern was expressed over the fact that we do not want students to miss out, as this is a great opportunity to assist job seekers.
~� Dr. Parker stressed the importance of attending the entire series of 3 workshops. If you attend the mock interview workshop, the second of 3, you should attend the whole series. The final workshop in the series is the job search workshop.
~� Many students have been going to Dr. Parker to seek assistance with finding employment. Dr. Parker stressed that this assistance is completely voluntary on her part and requested members and other students instead take advantage of the resume writing, interviewing, job search workshops being offered.
~� Dr. Parker additionally informed the members that her primary and first concern is to maintain the integrity of the Paralegal Studies program. She stressed that certain skills are required before one can properly market themselves as a paralegal. There are a large amount of students looking for jobs before they have the skills and credentials to do so with success. Please let Miranda Lewis know if you are interested in attending the 2 remaining employment-related workshops.
Bell Ringing Report � Our PSA volunteers and their families raised a total of $400.00 during this fundraising event. The local American Bar Association had many wonderful things to say about our efforts and sent us a card to say �thank you.�
Book Exchange � A general overview of the program was shared with the members. Signs will be posted about the date, time and location of our next book exchange, which will take place later on in the year. To date approximately $10,000 worth of books have been exchanged. There are currently general education books as well as books used in the Paralegal Studies program available.
NEW BUSINESS:
Committee Reports �
Employment & Education � Please see information related to this committee�s work under Old Business � Resume Writing/Interviewing.
Public Relations � No report.
Legislative, Rules, Regulations and Procedure Committee � Matthew Testa reporting. Although Matthew had no new information directly, Dr. Parker shared with the members some related news.
* American Association for Paralegal Education - AAfPE. AAfPE is the only national organization dedicated to paralegal education. Members of the organization meet often and connect groups from all over the country. One of the current hot issues being discussed by this group and others in the paralegal community is the issue of overtime and how paralegals should be classified. Should paralegals be classified as exempt (salaried) or non-exempt (hourly paid) employees? Should they be eligible for overtime pay? Some of the points of discussion around this topic were:
*There seems to be more of a push toward a professional, therefore exempt, status for paralegals, but many feel that educators should take the lead on this particular subject.
* The Department of Labor is trying to reclassify some job titles such as nurses.
*The ability to supervise may be a determining factor as to how paralegals may eventually be classified.
*Salaries for paralegals in Frederick need to be more competitive and in-line with the current cost of living in Frederick.
* With respect to overtime, are there other ways to reward employees such as comp time?
* Comments on this subject should be sent to the Paralegal web site.
American Bar Association � ABA.
� FCC�s paralegal program is not ABA approved. The ABA does not accredit schools, but rather sets guidelines for their paralegal programs. FCC has chosen not to seek this approval as the school is still trying to tackle the issue of distance learning.
� The ABA is somewhat hesitant to approve schools with more than 1 program in the paralegal field. FCC has a Certificate Program and an AA Program. The ABA would want students entering the Certificate Program to already have a degree.
� Only about 1/3 of the schools are ABA approved.
� Educators should be looking at a school�s program not necessarily attorneys.
� Again, feel free to send any comments you may have regarding this topic to the Paralegal web site at [email protected].
Membership Committee � Lindsay Simmons reporting. There were no new updates by this committee other than the continued request to send your e-mail address to the Paralegal web site, [email protected], in order to get on the mailing list.
Student Government Association � No report.
B. Court Visit � This event was initially planned for this spring so that the visit could coincide with the late abortion hearing. These hearings have now been pushed back to the fall so we will reconsider for this new time frame.
C. Law Week � There has been no contact from the Bar Association at this time. Law Week is an event that usually occurs during the month of May so more information will be forthcoming as it is received.
D. Community Service (Benefit Concert) � Stanley introduced a local resident who is seeking fundraising support for the benefit of 3-year old Maison Jackson. Maison was diagnosed with a rare non-cancerous tumor at the age of nine months. He was operated on at the age of 18 months due to the facial distortion the tumor was causing. Today the size of the tumor has returned and is requiring additional surgery and facial reconstruction. In addition to the many other fundraising events to support the Jackson family, the idea sponsoring an on-campus benefit concert was discussed. We would like to be able to secure a local show choir to perform this benefit concert and have the event count as the association�s second community event for the year. A motion was made and seconded in favor of going forward with this event. Next steps will be to check with FCC directors to get the concert scheduled. Private donations to assist Maison�s family with medical costs can be made to the Maison Jackson Foundation.
E. Orientation for Online Courses � Enrollment for online courses continues to increase and several new courses are being added with an online format option. Dr. Parker would like to offer an orientation for online courses for the paralegal program.
F. Other Items and Final Thoughts �
� Reminder to register early for the J-term and Spring semester classes.
� As always, please be sure to check our website frequently for announcements and other Paralegal Student Association news.
ADJOURNMENT:
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned @ 7:49 pm.
Next meeting will be in April or May 2006 with the actual date and time to be arranged at a later date.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa Heyworth, Secretary