<p> </p><p> </p><p>We, the undersigned, each representing one or more of the three constituencies the Virginia Community College System was established to serve (students, taxpayers, community), hereby register our protest of what appear to be arbitrary and inflexible policies enacted by current management of NOVA's Alexandria campus music department. These changes will result in students being deprived of the services of an extraordinarily devoted, talented and supportive instructor, Dr. Mark Whitmire.</p><p> </p><p>Specifically, in order to continue teaching at NOVA, Dr. Whitmire has requested that his schedule be returned to the schedule established and agreed upon when he accepted his position at NOVA – a schedule that had been in effect for 29 years. Throughout those years Dr. Whitmire effectively managed a full complement of classes and attendant responsibilities at NOVA but consolidated his classes to require his presence on campus on fewer days. Apparently, recent changes in administrative policy require his presence on campus on additional days, which is not possible given his other employment and personal responsibilities.</p><p> </p><p>We assert that NOVA's students and community are ill-served by management's refusal to accommodate this seemingly reasonable adjustment to what appears to be an arbitrary scheduling policy. Educators of Dr. Whitmire's caliber are few and far between, as is evidenced by the numerous awards he has received. In light of his extraordinary talent and dedication to students as well as the success of his initiatives to engage and involve the community, a minor exception to scheduling policies is a small price to pay for the enormous benefit of keeping his services available to NOVA students and other stakeholders for as long as possible.</p><p> </p><p>We request formal response to these concerns in the form of a meeting between designated representatives of the undersigned group and the appropriate decision makers in the music department hierarchy.</p><p> </p>
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