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WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – While Cape Fear Community College has reversed course on a decision that led to the resignation of two key team members, one of the college’s new board of trustees members, Ray Funderburk, still has questions. He wants to know exactly what is behind the scenes of the reason for the resignations.
The first problems arose after the college changed its policy on compensation for certain employees on board the RV Cape Hatteras. In essence, crew members who previously accrued overtime pay were told they could no longer receive it.
“Making that decision at the beginning of the school year that disrupts the kids’ programs and still disrupts the kids’ programs, I don’t understand why they did it, why they had to do it and why they did it. The question I asked was, ‘Why did you do it? Why did you do it then? And why did you go back?’ And I didn’t get an answer,” Funderburk said.
He wasn’t the only one demanding answers, as WHQR reported that the resignation and policy changes prompted students to organize protests.
Funderburk said he asked why the school made the changes in the first place but never got an answer.
“I would have liked just a simple explanation. “I would have liked him to explain why they did it at that time, if something happened to make them do something, but I was not given anything,” he said.
A CFCC spokesperson said in a statement that the changes came after the school discovered a ‘mistake’.
“Recently, during a review of programs and working conditions, the college discovered a classification error that needed to be corrected for some sailors who were erroneously receiving compensatory leave. To correct the error, the college moved certain crew members from freelance to freelance based on their specific job duties.
He said students and Finderburk aren’t the only ones concerned about the state of the school. Following additional reports from WHQR, Funderburk said he has learned of concerns from teachers as well.
“I want to investigate this class because it has disrupted students. But when I read the other articles, the faculty was interrupted. And I’ve only talked to a few teachers, but they’re upset, a couple frankly embarrassed and scared. They are afraid to speak out because they might be fired,” he said.
Regardless of the changes, he still wants answers and shares his frustrations with the school and the lack of justification offered to him.
“I’m confused and more than a little angry. I think it would be very easy for someone to just list, this is what we thought, this is what we did and this is what we know. “But no one has explained what happened in a simple way,” he said.
The CFCC has not released any information on what exactly the error was, but has given the new policy ‘sea time’ to staff members.
“Sea time is similar to compensatory time. Crews get one hour for every hour (as opposed to one and a half hours of compensatory time) spent at sea over 40. However, sea time is not compensatory. Please see the new Sea Time Guidelines. This new policy applies to both ships. We believe it will meet the needs of staff and the college,” the school said in a statement.
The college acknowledged the negative response from students and former staff, but said it was necessary.
“We understand that the timing of this change has been frustrating for students. However, the ship operated throughout the year, and no time was better than another to solve the assignment problem. “We appreciate the passion of current students, alumni and our community as we seek to fund future SeaTech student scholarships and capital campaigns,” the school’s statement said.
Funderburk didn’t let things slide and said he still wants to know what happened, not just for the sake of the school, but for overall transparency.
“I’m a big believer in transparency, for better or for worse. I think people understand if things don’t go your way. Just as they rejoice with you when you do good. So the more transparent you are, the better, and that’s why I wanted to give an answer in an open forum, I didn’t get it personally,” he said.
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