Faculty on SACC shared concerns with the Chancellor's Office and two follow-up memorandums addressed some of the identified issues. Breakouts on the topic were held at Spring Plenary and the Curriculum Institute. A Rostrum was also written to inform the field with respect to all that transpired.
Whereas, Chancellor's Office Legal Advisory 08-02, "To Be Arranged (TBA) Hours Compliance Advice" defined TBA hours as followsSome courses with regularly scheduled hours of instruction have "hours to be arranged" (TBA) as part of the total contact hours for the course. The TBA portion of the course uses an alternate method for regularly scheduling a credit course for purposes of applying either the Weekly or Daily Census Attendance Accounting Procedures. . . in some situations the entire course might be on TBA. . .Whereas, There is a wide variety of practices within and among California community colleges relating to the implementation of and accounting for TBA hours;
Whereas, The Chancellor's Office issued a letter on October 1, 2008, accompanying the legal advisory, which also included compliance advice that seems to contain contradictory information; and
Whereas, The letter's statement that "Any deficiencies should be immediately corrected" may lead colleges and districts to implement hasty policy changes that could adversely affect student success;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges express its concern about the lack of timeline and clarity in Chancellor's Office Legal Advisory 08-02 and request that the Chancellor's Office suspend its implementation as it is unworkable and unreasonable; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with the Chancellor's Office and the Chief Instructional Officers to find a reasonable resolution to the issues that have arisen as a consequence of this legal advisory that, if implemented, may have negative effects on student success.
Disposition: Local Senates, System Advisory Committee on Curriculum