Natural sciences adjunct, 45
Contact: pdeadrick@alamo.edu
By Kyle R. Cotton
kcotton11@student.alamo.edu
Marc Deadrick, natural sciences full-time adjunct, is running in hopes of making trustees more aware of the concerns of faculty.
Deadrick said he can bring faculty’s perspective to the board. Deadrick has taught biology at this college since 2010.
“I care a lot about the school and the Alamo Colleges, in particular SAC, and I just think it would be helpful to bring a little bit more perspective from students and faculty into some of the meetings that take place outside of the open sessions,” he said.
Deadrick said he doesn’t understand why recent board policy and action have been so closed to interaction with faculty and students.
“My approach would be to try and encourage board members to become a little more hands-on to have a better understanding of daily operation and to understand what forces are at work in regards to the policy the board is implementing,” he said.
He understands why the board enacted the policies that limit interaction with individual trustees and is currently considering a tabled policy that requires faculty and students to “exhaust all administrative options” before going to the board in special session prior to the citizens-to-be-heard portion of meetings.
Deadrick fears having such a policy could create a chilling effect when it comes to the Alamo Colleges and faculty and students petitioning their grievances.
“I understand how in some cases that can slow down a board meeting, but that shouldn’t be used as a way of discouraging communication from faculty, students or staff to board members,” Deadrick said. “I think understanding what’s going on in daily operations is the best way of crafting a better policy.
“If I were elected trustee I would encourage first person perspective and try to figure out what changes could be made at the monthly board meetings to encourage more input,” he said.
Deadrick does not support the district spending an additional $2 million over the next four years on FranklinCovey programs.
“As a faculty member, I find the utility of it minimal at best,” Deadrick said. “It adds time to my daily tasks and takes me away from my core tasks I see myself needing to perform, which is providing education to students and being available to them.
“Faculty has expressed this at many different meetings and many different levels; if the job is to make sure we are communicating better, this just isn’t it.”
Deadrick said while he believes workforce and liberal arts programs are both important, the role of college should be an institution of learning where students can find themselves.
This belief extends to the Alamo Colleges’ two latest initiatives AlamoInstitutes and AlamoAdvise.
“Making it more user-friendly from the student perspective is the name of the game with both those areas, so a student can chart their path and navigate through their studies.”