Trustee seeks to clarify language

Amendments for equality at Alamo Colleges hint at pay policy change.

By Kyle R. Cotton

kcotton11@student.alamo.edu

During the Alamo Colleges’ Policy and Long-range Planning Committee meeting Tuesday, the board forwarded amendments to Policies H.1.1 Equal Education and Employment Opportunities; H.1.2 Civil Rights Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation; and G. 2.2 Access to Programs, Services and Activities.

The amendments give equal employment opportunities to people of diverse gender identity and expression, race, sexual orientation, citizenship status and domestic violence victim status. It also includes anyone who has voiced concerns about discrimination or filed a discrimination complaint at any level.

The committee did not discuss the amendments, but Chancellor Bruce Leslie and District 8 trustee Clint Kingsbery thanked those involved who consulted on the amendments’ wording.

However, one sentence in the proposed changes to Policy H.1.1 could be misconstrued.

“We are further committed to hire the best-qualified person to fill each available position and reward each employee based on his or her job performance,” the revisions to policy H.1.1. said.

The wording could be interpreted as meaning merit pay, or pay based on individual performance rather than the pay scales the district uses that recognize education and number of years of service.

After the meeting, James Rindfuss, District 9 trustee and attorney since 1967, said he doesn’t see it as merit pay but did understand how it could be perceived as such.

“If the policy mentioned anything about quotas, I could see an issue,” Rindfuss said. “To me, what that means is that when we hire the best qualified person for the job, we are rewarding them by paying them more than we had previously paid for those positions due to their skills.”

Rindfuss noted that both Dr. Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for planning, performance, accreditation and information systems, and Diane Snyder, vice chancellor of finance and administration, were awarded higher pay than their predecessors because their qualifications merited higher.

“We could be interviewing for a lawyer who says they will work for $120,000, but if there is another lawyer who can do more without consulting outside, who has more skill, who will work for $170,000, we will hire the best qualified person for the job,” Rindfuss said.

Rindfuss said he will try to get a clarification put into the redline policy to make sure there isn’t any misunderstanding.

“Our policies can’t trump state law,” Rindfuss said. “From what I understand, that would be against state law.”

The policies will be voted on at 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at Killen Center.

Visit www.alamo.edu/district/board/agenda.