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Green River College Spares One Program, Axes Two More Over Union’s Objections

Kyle Stokes
/
KPLU News

Green River College administrators will move ahead with plans to cut two small trade programs — including one led by the president of the faculty union — in an effort, they say, to narrow a budget gap.

But in announcing the closure of the school's auto body and geographic information systems programs late Wednesday, administrators of the Auburn community college also said they would spare the school's carpentry program from cuts.

In a statement, Green River administrators said closing the programs, which were targeted for their high operating costs, will generate roughly one-third of the savings needed to close a budget shortfall originally estimated at $841,000.

Faculty union members, who have alleged from the outset the cuts are meant as retaliation against their leadership, had staged vocal on-campus protests and delivered a “no-confidence petition” against Green River president Eileen Ely. Administrators have denied the cuts are retaliatory.

The union nonetheless filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the administration, and last month, a state commission indicated it would likely appoint an examiner to look into the faculty's claims. Green River faculty have been working without a collective bargaining agreement since last summer.

Mark Millbauer, the auto body program’s only full-time instructor, doubles as president of the faculty union.

Millbauer proposed creating an additional section of 15 students in the auto body program in an effort to generate more revenue, according to the college’s statement. But administrators say it wouldn’t have been enough — that the program would still run at a deficit.

Administrators had targeted geographic information systems, Green River vice president Derek Brandes said in the statement, because "there are very few employment opportunities for students who graduate with an associate degree” from the program.

Students in the G.I.S. program will be able to finish their coursework at Green River, but auto body students will not, the statement said.

Initially, Green River leaders had targeted the parent-child education for closure, but last spring, the program’s leader submitted a cost-saving plan that satisfied administrators.

Kyle Stokes covers the issues facing kids and the policies impacting Washington's schools for KPLU.