Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2025-6

Date/Time: Friday, June 20, 2025, 10:00am
Location: ZOOM Room

Present

APA Statewide

  • Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina, President
  • Mark Powers, Secretary
  • Aaron Childs, Membership Coordinator (Non-voting)
  • Sean Barrett, MTA Field Representative (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Brian Cahillane, Westfield State University
  • Eric Feibel, Bridgewater State University
  • Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University
  • Michael Merriam, Framingham State University
  • Rebecca Shersnow, Fitchburg State University
  • Rosa Taormina, Salem State University

Guests

  • None

Absent

APA Statewide

  • Rebecca (Becca) Ramirez-McKinley, Vice President
  • Julie Dunlap LePoer, Web Manager (Non-voting)
  • Sherry Horeanopoulos, Health & Welfare Trust (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Kelly DeMello, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
  • Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design

Call to Order

  • June 20, 2025 Time: 10:07am

Approval of Minutes

  1. Approval of May 16, 2025 Executive Board Meeting Minutes
    • Amendments: None
    • Motion to approve the minutes of the May 16, 2025, Executive Board Meeting as presented/amended made:
      • by: R. Shersnow
      • 2nd by: M. Merriam
      • Vote: Unanimous
      • Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

  1. N/A

President’s Report –
Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina

  1. MTA PR&O Grant – Thank you to Sean for his help in putting together a PR&O Grant to MTA. We’ve been awarded $45K from MTA to use by June 11, 2026. Items will be distributed as part of a fall listening tour. Send suggestions for items to purchase to Rosa who will start shopping around over the summer.
  2. New treasurer (from Salem State) – We have a new treasurer, Sharon Francis, a CPA from Salem. We’re trying to coordinate a time with outgoing treasurer Maria Brunelle to schedule the official handoff. Also, we are required to file non-profit corporation documents regularly with the Commonwealth. Rosa filed outstanding annual reports, bringing us current with our obligations to the state.
  3. CBA Funding – The bill that contains our contract funding was passed to be engrossed on Wednesday. Next, it goes back to the House who will take any one of the following steps: Concur with the Senate changes (and in that case, the bill will be finalized and enacted at the next session); Not concur, which would result in a conference committee being established; or Refer the bill to the House Ways & Means Committee for potential changes or amendments which would then requirement agreement in the Senate. The legislature meet again on Monday in formal session, so best case scenario is it is finalized next week.
  4. APA Members who are verbally abusive to the APA leadership. Continue with Harassing Emails. We continue to see disrespectful and harassing communications from a handful of members. It is our position that we will not communicate with anyone who treats us this way until such time as the member can be respectful and we can have a productive conversation. Rosa reiterated that we are not punching bags and should not be subjected to anyone’s abuse.
  5. Employer Relations Committee Update – Sean and Rosa met with Julayne Lazar of Rubin & Rudman and Vincent Pedone, Executive Director of the Council of Presidents. We will be meeting quarterly with Julayne, Vincent and two members from management. Mark Powers, Jenna Shales, and Rosa Taormina will be representing the APA, along with Sean Barrett. Our big goal is to figure out how to improve our wage compression issue.
  6. Health & Welfare  – Met with Julayne and members of the Board of Higher Education to address the state’s inability (or refusal) to increase the amount they contribute to the health and welfare fund, per APA member. The suggestion is to have us join a trust with a large member base so that we can all benefit from greater buying power. It’s a complex scenario and if approved, will require changes to a lot of different parts. You can’t simply join a trust and you also cannot simply dissolve one either. There’s lot more work to be done and discussions to be had on this topic and we likely won’t see any changes for another 18-24 months.
  7. APA members teaching under the MSCA Day Division contract. – The issue of our members teaching in the MSCA day contract has largely been resolved. If a member has taught for 3 consecutive semesters under the day contract, they are considered in-unit with MSCA and are then invited to join that union. If they do this, that now makes them eligible to teach without facing the limitation provided in the MSCA contract of one administrator per semester. If they have not taught for those 3 consecutive semesters, then they are not in-unit and thus their university could choose to follow the limitations in the MSCA contract regarding the number of courses given to an administrator. As issues arise, they are being dealt with on an individual basis.
  8. CBA Final version – Rosa has gone through and finalized our contract. A volunteer is needed to go through and make sure all the changes have been correctly implemented, over the next few weeks.
  9. August gathering in Beverly.
  10. Sean Barrett, MTA
    • Electronic membership form.
    • First-Responders should be getting overtime.
    • Athletic Trainers – Position descriptions
    • Mass College of Art & Design – two APA members

Treasurer’s Report – Maria Brunelle

  1. Payroll due on Friday, June 20, 2025 by 12:00pm
  2. Approval of March 2025 and April 2025 Treasurer’s Report.
    • Amendments: Adjust Header for April Tab
    • Motion to approve Treasurer’s report as presented/amended made:
      • by: E. Feibel
      • 2nd by: R. Shersnow
      • Vote: Unanimous
      • Action: None

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

  1. 1548 Overall Membership since May 2025. A Decrease of 1.
  2. 289 Non-Dues Paying Member. A Decrease of 3 since May 2025.

Website – Julie Dunlap LePoer

  1. Regular updates made to website.

Health and Welfare Fund Report –
Sherry Horeanopoulos, Susan McNeil

  1. Meeting May 24, 2025
  2. MetLife Blue Dental Benefits – Enhanced effective July 1, 2025

Committee Reports

  1. Budget Committee – Vacant
  2. Committee on Professional Development – Vacant
  3. Special Committees:
    • Committee on Legislative Action – Vacant
    • Committee on Health & Safety – Vacant
    • APA/Management Working Group – Vacant
  4. Employee Relations Committee (ERC) as per the APA CBA – Vacant

Old/New Business

  1. Stipend of Jenna Shales on ERC (Taormina)
  2. MASCAC Athletic Trainers Job Descriptions (Ramirez).

Institutional Issues

Information has been redacted.

Announcements

  1. Westfield APA Chapter Secretary Emily Gibbings

Adjournment

  1. Motion to Adjourn made at 11:25am  
    • by: S. Bean
    • 2nd by: R. Shersnow
    • Vote: Unanimous
    • Action: Motion Carries

APA Meeting Schedule 2025-2026:

EventTimeDateFormatLocation
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, September 19, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, October 17, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, November 21, 2025HybridZoom/TBD
Annual State-wide Membership12:00pmFriday, November 21, 2025HybridZoom/TBD
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, December 19, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, January 16, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, February 20, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, March 20, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, April 17, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, June 19, 2026HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Meeting Schedule 2025-2026

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