Faculty Senate and Adjunct Faculty Council want sick leave also.
By Sergio Medina
smedina104@student.alamo.edu
The Alamo Colleges board of trustees approved providing paid leave for civic duty and emergency leave bank benefits to adjuncts, continuing education instructors and part-time staff.
The district board of trustees approved the changes during the March 19 regular board meeting at Killen Center.
Work-study students are not included in the changes.
Under revised procedure D.5.3.1, adjuncts, continuing education instructors and part-time staff will be provided paid leave when attending civic duty, such as jury duty or subpoena compliance.
For the Alamo Colleges, the projected annual cost for this change is $13,977.
Similarly, policy D.11.1 was amended to allow Chancellor Mike Flores to establish procedures to permit leave bank participation for adjunct faculty, CE instructors and part-time employees.
The reviewed procedure D.11.1.1 establishes that adjuncts, CE instructors and part-time staff can apply for time from the emergency leave bank after completing six months “in active assignment,” which the policy refers to being equivalent to 180 calendar days.
Additionally, adjuncts, CE instructors and part-time staff employees will be able to apply if they have “exhausted all accrued (vacation, personal and sick) leave or because of a previous donation to the Emergency Bank,” the procedure reads.
These employees are allowed to donate to the bank.
For Amanda Martin, Adjunct Faculty Council president, and Lennie Irvin, Faculty Senate president, their mission is to provide sick leave benefits to adjunct faculty.
“I think I can say: Personally, I think it’s a positive thing that they’re giving any kind of leave,” Martin said March 26.
“We are also moving through a proposal that’s been supported by the Faculty Senate for leave related to illness.”
The resolution was proposed Nov. 16 by the senate and reads:
“Adjunct faculty members should be eligible for 4.5 hours of paid leave per course per semester.
This would mean no deduction from their salary to cover pay for a substitute (about $28 dollars per hour).
Furthermore, these hours would be non-accruable and classified as “Personal Leave,” and would encompass all types of leaves and absences (i.e. illness, bereavement, civic duty, military duty, personal matters, and professional development).
Leave would be documented when applicable, using the ‘Request for Leave’ form currently used by Alamo Colleges District employees.”
Irvin sent a memo containing this resolution Nov. 21 to the United Faculty Senate.
Per the memo, the district expanding emergency leave bank benefits does not go far enough.
“We believe a reasonable and humane policy to offer paid leave to adjunct faculty is the right thing to do,” it reads.
In the memo, Irvin also encouraged presidents of the Faculty Senates in the other colleges to pass similar resolutions, if not the same.
That will amplify the effort as it progresses through the district’s executive teams, Irvin said March 27.
He said he has to check with the other senate presidents to see if they passed similar resolutions.
Irvin said the next step is having the United Faculty Senate come up with a joint resolution from the college senates and present it to administrators.
“I feel like it’s better when we’re united,” he said. “It just works better when it’s all of us. We will see where it goes from there.”
The approved policies are available under Section D: Personnel at www.alamo.edu/about-us/leadership/board-of-trustees/board-policies/.
