TENTATIVE AGREEMENT 2/11/05
13.1 Purpose: There shall be an academic employee Professional Development Program to provide opportunities for the individual professional development of academic employees for the purpose of maintaining and enhancing the excellence of the educational programs of the District. The main thrust of this program is to update, retrain, and extend the expertise of faculty to meet the current and future needs of our students in accord with college priorities.
13.2 Options: The leave options available through the Professional Development Program include the following:
a) conference/professional meeting attendance;
b) short-term projects defined as activities of three (3) weeks or less;
c)
long-term projects defined as activities of more
than three (3) weeks but less than up
to a full semester; and
d)
extended projects defined as full release from regular duties for of
a full-semester or a full an academic year.
Extended leaves will begin in 2003-2004. Extended professional development leave is
intended to provide full release from regular duties and enable unit members to
respond to changing educational conditions and to engage in substantive
professional growth projects. Extended
leaves allow time for advanced formal coursework, independent study, work
experience, programs of study and/or research and other beneficial activities
which do not fall under regular faculty responsibilities. Intellectual
property created during an extended or a long term leave is the property of the
faculty member unless other specfic agreements have been made with the District.
13.3 Level of Funding for Program: The level of funding will be one percent (1%) of the District budget for regular academic and third- and fourth-year tenure track academic employees of the unit plus $50,000 from a combination of Partnership For Excellence and Faculty Development funds, to the extent those funds are available, for extended leaves.
13.3.1 District funds will be categorically allocated to the three colleges in amounts corresponding to the ratio of the numbers of regular academic and third- and fourth-year tenure track academic employees at each college.
13.3.2 All projects funded for the following fiscal year must carry over committed monies from the current fiscal year.
13.3.3 Uncommitted monies in a fiscal year can be carried over to the next fiscal year. This will not reduce the following year’s allocation for that college. No more than one third (1/3) of the funds can be carried over from year to year.
13.4 Compensation: All participants will receive their regular
pay and fringe benefits for leaves of less than up to a full
semester. For projects with full release from regular
duties for of a full semester or an academic year, participants
will receive all fringe benefits and eighty percent (80%) of their regular pay.
13.4.1 Participants on extended leaves may use previously banked time to bring their compensation up to 100% during a leave.
13.4.2
Overload pay or reassigned time activities
shall not be used to bring compensation up to 100% while participants are on an
extended leave.
13.5 Costs
to the District: The personnel
cost for each project will be the
direct cost to the District for persons
necessary to substitute for the program participant, workshop and seminar
registration fees as approved, and reimbursement of enrollment fees to District
faculty enrolled in courses in the SMCCCD as part of professional
development.
13.6 Replacement: Part-time faculty will be used as a replacement for a unit member’s
extended leave. Part-time faculty may
have an assignment up to 60% of a full-time load as an extended leave
replacement. If the District opts to replace a program participant with a full-time
leave replacement, the costs to the Professional Development Program will be
calculated as if the participant had been replaced with part-time hourly
faculty.
13.7 Costs
to the Employee: The non-personnel costs (for example, transportation,
housing, tuition, and related expenses) for all projects will be borne by the
participants, except that the District may reimburse enrollment fees to
District faculty enrolled in courses in the SMCCCD as part of professional
development and travel costs may
be reimbursed from the Professional Development fund at the discretion of the
college Professional Development Committee.
13.8 Types of Activities for short- and long-term projects: The activities may be completed at a college, university, or in any other appropriate environment. The activities will be of the following four types, and must result in demonstrable benefit to the students of the District:
1. Participation in workshops, colloquia, seminars, or training sessions lasting up to three weeks.
2. Retraining—acquiring new skills to be used in new areas and/or in improving and updating existing skills.
3. Advanced study—engaging in systematic graduate studies and/or activities directly related to identified college priorities.
4. Research—engaging in a variety of activities such as original work in one’s field of expertise, extensive reading and summarizing of knowledge in a specific area, perfecting techniques and processes applicable to one’s assignment.
13.9 Types of Activities for extended leave projects: For extended leaves of a full semester or academic year, activities will be considered according to one or more of the following categories; all categories will be considered equally.
1.
Retraining of applicant to allow for
future new assignment in a needed area;
2.
Study, project or activity that provids
an applicant with opportunities to upgrade skills and knowledge for current or
future assignments;
3.
Study, project or activity for the
improvement of curriculum, educational delivery, student personnel services or
other support services;
4.
Study, project or activity for
development or revision of certificate or degree program;
5.
Study, project or activity related to
feasibility or revision of new or existing programs.
13.10 Eligibility: All regular academic employees who have completed six years of continuous paid service with the District directly preceding the term of the requested leave are eligible for extended leaves of a full semester or academic year. District authorized paid leaves will not constitute a break in service. Regular and third and fourth year tenure track academic employees are eligible for conference/professional meeting attendance, short- and long-term projects with no restriction on the frequency of participation. Hourly faculty shall be eligible to apply for and participate in conference/professional meeting attendance, short-term (three-weeks or less) Professional Development activities.
13.11 Selection Process: The Professional Development Committee on each campus shall consist of three AFT appointed faculty members, one Academic Senate appointed representative and two administrators.
13.11.1 The Chairperson will be a faculty member
chosen by the committee. Each member has
one vote.
13.11.2 A majority (four votes) is required to select a leave request for approval.
13.11.3 The Committee will screen the preliminary proposals. Faculty members whose preliminary proposals are acceptable may be requested to submit detailed proposals for final approval.
13.11.4 The Committee will submit a prioritized list of projects to the President of the college who will be responsible for granting final approval after consultation with the appropriate Dean.
13.11.5 Selection for extended leaves will be governed by a) potential of future service to the District and students; b )relative merits of application; and c) seniority
13.11.6 Applicants whose requests have been denied by the Committee shall be informed, in writing, of the reasons for denial.
13.11.7 It is the intent of this program to fund a reasonable mix of short- and long-term projects as well as extended leaves of a full semester or academic year.
13.12 Application Procedures for Short- and Long-term Projects: Eligible faculty initiate the selection process by submitting a preliminary proposal that includes an estimated budget and a plan for replacement of the faculty member, if necessary. The preliminary proposal will be short (1-3 pages) and will be submitted to the Chair of the Professional Development Committee.
13.13 Application Procedures for Extended Leaves: Eligible faculty must submit a proposal to the Chair of the Professional Development Committee by February 1st of the preceding academic year. Each application must be accompanied by a) an outline of the planned project, program, activity or work experience including a statement of purpose and objectives; b) a description of the activities involved; and c) a plan for sharing or applying the result of the activity.
13.14 Timelines:
1. Each long-term project will be submitted for approval and be approved no later than the mid-semester preceding the commencement of the project.
2. Short-term projects may be submitted for approval and be approved during the semester preceding the projects. However, such projects may also be submitted during the semester of the project. In any event, proposals for short projects should be submitted in time so that the review committees can meet and complete its review.
3. In unusual circumstances, the review committee may delegate its review authority of short project proposals to the appropriate division dean(s). Projects approved in this manner will be forwarded by the appropriate Dean(s) to the chief executive officer of the college for final approval.
13.15 Return from Leaves: Within thirty (30) days after returning to
regular duties, each leave recipient will submit one or more of the following,
providing evidence of having met the objectives stated in the initial
application. Documentation will be
submitted to the President and the Chair of the Professional Development
Committee.
a)
A transcript of courses taken and grades
earned
b)
A report on the educational benefits of
project or activity undertaken
c)
A description of plans for application of
new skills and knowledge to teaching assignment and/or campus program
d)
Letter from an employer verifying work
experience
e)
Samples of creative work, summary of
research, and other evidence of original work produced as a result of
leave.
The Professional
Development Committe may request further evidence beyond that which is
submitted by the recipient; such evidence must be submitted within two weeks of the
committee’s request.
13.16
Return Obligation:
Recipients of extended leaves
for an academic year must work for the District for two years after returning
from such leave. Recipients of an
extended leave for a full-semester must work for the District for one year
after returing from such leave. If a
faculty member fails to fulfill this return obligation, the District has the
right to ratably recover salary and benefits costs, unless otherwise mutually
agreed to between the District and the faculty member.