Melanie's Testimony

"A caseload cap is one of the most important ways to ensure scholars get a quality program, and the Program Coordinators/Managers who work directly with students are best positioned to know what an appropriate number is. OMD management needs to listen to OMD's scholar-facing staff, and institute a mutually agreed upon, enforceable caseload cap so that our students get the time and energy they each deserve."

Melanie Wagner, Senior Program Coordinator

From the beginning, United Workers of One Million Degrees has been adamant about needing a caseload cap in order to better serve our students. In our initial statement of purpose from July 2018, we wrote: “Each scholar should always be treated with dignity and respect, not as if they were just another number. This can begin to be addressed by capping the number of scholars in each worker’s caseload; ensuring that each scholar will get the time and attention they deserve.”

One of the big reasons that we need an enforceable caseload cap is that without one, One Million Degrees has historically handed certain Program Coordinators higher caseloads than promised. For example, when I was hired and accepted the job offer in August 2017, I was told that Program Coordinators worked with 60 students each. Shortly after that, OMD realized it had over recruited for my campus by about 10 students. OMD assured me that those students would be on someone else’s caseload so that my caseload would stay at 60. Then suddenly, it was decided that the new cap was 65. After that, even though I still had more students than the new cap, OMD let me know I would not be getting extra help, so I would need to work with all those students. This was not a service to anyone. I was 100% new to OMD, working entirely alone on a campus my manager and I weren’t familiar with, and trying to keep up with a huge number of students. These students would have received a better service from OMD if the already high caseload cap of 60 had been respected. This same thing happened the following year, when OMD over recruited at Truman and saddled another *new* Program Coordinator with 76 students. We really need an enforceable caseload cap.

We need a lower caseload cap - 45 - in order to provide OMD scholars with the quality service that they deserve. When working with each student, it takes not only the 30-45 minute scheduled meeting time, but time to review Salesforce records ahead of time, time to enter Salesforce notes after the meeting, and time to research and provide email follow-up based on what was discussed at the meeting. When we are working with too many students, each part of that process suffers and becomes rushed. For example, if I am referring a student to a resource, I would prefer to vet the resource, calling to find out if the specific resource will work for the scholar, not just hand a brochure or contact information to them, but our current number of students makes that kind of hands-on support much more difficult.

OMD claims it needs flexibility, and that a caseload cap in our contract would hinder their ability to be flexible. We, the people who work directly with OMD’s students, volunteers, and tutors, disagree with this characterization of flexibility. A caseload cap would actually increase Program Coordinators’ flexibility, as we would be less likely to be stretched thin and more able to be there for scholars. A caseload cap is one of the most important ways to ensure scholars get a quality program, and the Program Coordinators/Managers who work directly with students are best positioned to know what an appropriate number is. OMD management needs to listen to OMD’s scholar-facing staff, and institute a mutually-agreed upon, enforceable caseload cap so that our students get the time and energy they each deserve.

Please consider signing our petition to support UWOMD's campaign for a fair contract and caseload: https://bit.ly/UWOMDcaseloadcap