Haleigh's Testimony

-

“Implementing a caseload cap of 45 students would ensure that scholars receive the OMD experience that they were promised. Refusal to do so is an intentional decision to let our scholars down.”

Haleigh Wilson, Program Coordinator

I have been a Program Coordinator at One Million Degrees for a year and a half. Throughout my time in this role, I have learned the importance of being able to build incredibly strong relationships with my scholars. My scholars view me as their “go-to person” on campus. I have been fortunate enough to be in the position where my scholars trust me enough to confide in me, reach out to me for advice, and see me as a positive influence in their life. I have been the first call that my students have made to share extremely exciting news as well as absolutely tragic news. I strongly believe that the reason that I am able to build such strong relationships with my scholars is that I have never worked with more than  60 scholars. It is imperative that OMD implements a caseload cap to protect the integrity of the program. OMD recognizes that the power of this program lies with the relationships that scholars are able to foster within it. I am willing to go so far as to say that the impact that OMD has on a scholar is directly correlated to the strength of the relationships that the scholar made while in the program.

A caseload cap would not only benefit students it would also benefit scholar facing staff and organization-wide operations. This past school year I have had a caseload of under 45 active students. A smaller caseload has allowed me to play a more active role in every aspect of my scholars' OMD journey. This caseload number has also allowed me to participate in every working group/task force that I have been invited to participate in. It is critical to the success of the organization that PCs are able to share their thoughts about new/updated policies and decisions.  However, the reality is most PCs do not have the capacity to participate in the opportunities that are presented to them without sacrificing the present needs of their students.

Implementing a caseload cap of 45 students would ensure that scholars receive the OMD experience that they were promised. Refusal to do so is an intentional decision to let our scholars down.

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Melanie's Testimony

-
Image
"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 enforce
Read more

Precious' Testimony

-
Image
“Currently, one of the challenges that presents itself is that almost a quarter of scholars were not able to be matched with tutors. Although my goal is to increase the number of subjects offered, increasing the caseload cap further hinders my ability to improve the tutoring program.” Precious McNeil, Program Operations Coordinator and OMD Alumna When choosing between quantity and quality, I will always choose the latter. Every staff member wants to grow OMD, but if that means sacrificing the quality that we give to each of them, then it should never be worth it. This is why lowering the caseload and setting the cap to 45 is vital. Time is what PCs need in order to serve their scholars and if they are limited in this way, then what does that say about our mission? To increase the caseload has a trickle-down effect. I'm in charge of the tutoring program and as I began to think about new innovative ways to improve it, I know that one of the challenges will be to recruit new
Read more

Liz's Testimony

-
Image
“The lack of a clearly defined and standardized caseload cap forced us as Coordinators into determinations of who was and wasn't deserving of weekly support and compelled us to dole out our support unequally. We were stressed and rushed, which scholars picked up on and which affected our ability to truly be a support for scholars. By having a caseload cap, PC's could have supported every single scholar more effectively -- thus more effectively carrying out the very mission of OMD.” Liz Jones, Former Program Coordinator and Career Advancement Coordinator In my experience at OMD, high and unclearly defined caseload numbers made it impossible for PC's to effectively carry out OMD's mission of supporting community college students academically, professionally, financially, and personally. Every year, we saw that caseload maximums would change and shift arbitrarily. Sometimes there were maximums of 60-65, sometimes it would drift as high as 70. PC's never knew wha
Read more