Mandatory FLEX

What is a Mandatory FLEX Day?
Schedule of Mandatory FLEX Days
Attendance Requirements
Faculty Association Statement on FLEXPresenter Information

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What is a Mandatory FLEX Day?

• Title 5 (Section 55726) mandates that faculty may participate in staff, student, and instructional development activities to substitute normal classroom instruction or other normal faculty activities. The rationale is that faculty should decide which activities are best suited to replace this time. During a mandatory FLEX day, faculty have a selection of activities in different time slots to select from. 
  
  
• The current language in the Faculty Contract concerning Mandatory FLEX Day is as follows:
  
  Article 29B.a.: Mandatory Flex Day is a day set aside for Faculty to participate in programmed activities in person. Mandatory Flex Days are designated by the Academic Calendar Committee (see Article 8C.1) and mutual agreement between the Professional Development Committee (PDC) and the appropriate College President (see Articles 8C.1 and 29A.3), and are conducted in lieu of instruction when scheduled at times that classes would normally meet.

Schedule of Mandatory FLEX Days

• The Fall 2023 Mandatory FLEX Day is scheduled for Thursday, October 19 from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM. All classes scheduled before 4:00 PM will be cancelled; however classes beginning after 4:00 PM will still meet as scheduled.
  
  
• The Spring 2024 Mandatory FLEX Day is scheduled for Thursday, March 21 from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM.  All classes scheduled before 4:00 PM will be cancelled; however, classes beginning after 4:00 PM will still meet as scheduled.
  
  
• Please consult the Attendance Guidelines to determine your attendance requirements for that day and prepare accordingly. If you are a Presenter, please consult the Presenter Information guide.

Attendance Requirements

• Flex Day obligations shall be six (6) hours per day for a Full-time Contract, Regular, or Temporary Leave Replacement (TLR) unit member. This shall apply to Mandatory and Variable Flex Days. A non-working lunch or any other activity that is not required of all unit members is in addition to the six (6) required hours for a Mandatory Flex Day (Article 29B).
  
  
• If a Contract, Regular, or Temporary Leave Replacement (TLR) unit member has a contract obligation for Load on a Mandatory Flex Day that starts after the end of the Mandatory Flex Day obligation, that unit member shall be excused from the entire Mandatory Flex activity but shall meet his/her scheduled evening Load and office hour obligation. If Load is split between day and night the unit member shall attend three (3) hours of Mandatory Flex obligation as well as his/her scheduled evening Load and office hour obligation (Article 29B.3).
  
  
• If a Contract, Regular, or Temporary Leave Replacement (TLR) unit member has an overload assignment for extra pay on a scheduled Mandatory Flex Day and starting after the end of the Mandatory Flex Day obligation, then that unit member shall not be excused from part of the Mandatory Flex Day obligation (Article 29B.2).
  
  
• When a unit member is on any type of Leave of Absence (Sabbatical, Workload Banking, etc.), no professional activities are required.  Therefore attendance at Mandatory FLEX Day is not required for Faculty who are on a leave of absence at the time FLEX Day occurs.  (Article 10D.3c)
  
  

• A Part-Time Faculty member teaching online has no responsibility for attending a mandatory Flex day.   Part-Time Faculty only have a responsibility to attend if they have a class canceled due to the mandatory Flex day.  Of course, Part-Time Faculty are always welcome to attend and depending upon the topic of the workshop(s) they attend, it is possible that they could be meeting their professional responsibility obligation, e.g., attending training on Canvas or a working on program review.
  
  

• If a Part-time unit member has a class cancelled during a scheduled Mandatory Flex Day, then the Part-time unit member shall be obligated to attend the same portion of the Mandatory Flex Day as the length of the cancelled class. (For example, if the cancelled class was one (1) hour, then the Part-time unit member shall be required to attend one (1) hour of the Mandatory Flex Day activities). The activities that you attend do not have to directly correspond to the particular times that you teach at. For instance, if you teach a 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM class, you do not need to attend an 11:00 AM session. (Article 29B.1).
  
  
• A Part-Time unit member who does not have classes cancelled during a scheduled Mandatory Flex Day is NOT required to attend any activities during this day. On the other hand, if a Part-time unit member does not have a class cancelled during a scheduled Mandatory Flex Day, but would like to still attend activities they may do so and apply these activities to their Required Professional Responsibility Hours with prior approval from their Dean.  If they are not certain which activities may count toward their Professional Responsibility Requirement, they should consult with their Dean ahead of time.  Part-time faculty who attend seminars for their professional responsibility hours should still sign in on the sign-in sheet at the seminar they are in attendance for.  (Article 18.I.7g,18T).
  
  
• Classified Professional Staff and Administrators should seek approval from their immediate supervisor about participating in Mandatory Flex Day Activities.
  
  
• Mandatory and Variable Flex Day attendance shall be accounted for by the appropriate Administrator(s) (Article 29B.4).

Faculty Association Statement on FLEX

A detailed statement covering the Mandatory FLEX Obligation for Part-Time Faculty, Variable FLEX Obligation for Part-Time Faculty, Mandatory FLEX Day Obligation for Full-Time Faculty Teaching Evening Classes for Load, and Professional Development vs. Professional Responsibility can be found here:

Chabot-Las Positas Faculty Association Faculty Focus Quick Update

Presenter Information

• Proposals for the Fall 2023 FLEX Day are now being accepted. The deadline to submit a proposal for consideration in the official program is Tuesday, Sept. 19 by 5:00 PM.  
  Mandatory FLEX Activity Proposal Form

• You will receive confirmation once your event has been approved. You may request a specific time slot or time allocation, but these requests cannot be guaranteed and are subject to availability.
  
  
• Please email a copy of your presentation materials (including, but not limited to, PowerPoint presentations, PDF or Word documents, website links) to the coordinator. Indicate in the email whether or not you would like the coordinator to post the materials prior to or after Mandatory FLEX Day.
  
  
• Presenters will also receive a packet containing sign-in sheets and individual activity surveys. On your sign-in sheet, please put the session title and time period of your talk.   Please also reserve a few minutes of your presentation to hand these surveys out. Collect the surveys at the end of your session and return them, along with your Sign In sheets, to the President's Office.  Please submit your complete packet by no later than 5:00 PM on FLEX Day.   
  
  
• There are three options available for presenters earning their required time or financial compensation at Mandatory FLEX Day:
  
  
  • Unit members may earn double FLEX credit during their presentation timeslot, with credit being earned for being in attendance at their event and then credit being earned for their preparation. For example, a presenter speaking for two hours would earn a total of four hours FLEX credit for the day and only be required to attend an additional two hours of events.
    
    
  • Part-time (adjunct) Faculty may earn double credit toward their Professional Responsibility Hours for presenting.
    
    
  • The unit member may apply the preparation portion of their presentation toward their annual Variable FLEX obligation; however, they will not be eligible to use it toward their Mandatory FLEX requirement and will only receive attendance credit for their presentation. For example, a presenter speaking for two hours in this situation would receive two hours of Mandatory FLEX credit and two hours of Variable FLEX credit. If you wish to exercise this option, please do NOT write "presenter" on the sign-in sheet next to your name and document your Variable FLEX credit.
    
    
  • Financial compensation is not available for presenters.