This was on the SSTF. It's no longer an issue.
Whereas, Title 5 §55724 provides calendar options to districts that allow up to 15 of the required 175 instructional days per year to be used for “instructional improvement activities in lieu of part of regular classroom instruction”;
Whereas, Chapter 6 of the California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) draft recommendations (September 30, 2011) mistakenly defines this time to be specifically for the purpose of “professional development” and then proceeds to present data and make recommendations based upon this inaccurate definition;
Whereas, Current verbiage of Chapter 6 of the task force draft recommendations provide for Board of Governors or Chancellor’s Office control of local use of the in-lieu-of-time specifically for state determined professional development outcomes; and
Whereas, Title 5 §55724 provides a non-exclusive list of allowable categories that are all appropriate out-of-classroom activities which, if well implemented per the required plans and Chancellor’s Office provided training and auditing requirements, do lead to significant and valuable improvements in instruction, and these categories include the following: course instruction and evaluation; staff development, in-service training and instructional improvement; program and course curriculum or learning resource development and evaluation; student personnel services; learning resource services; related activities, such as student advising, guidance, orientation, matriculation services, and student, faculty, and staff diversity; departmental or division meetings, conferences and workshops, and institutional research; other duties as assigned by the district; the necessary supporting activities for the above;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges remind the California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success and the Board of Governors that there are many faculty and staff out- of-classroom activities beyond the narrow scope of professional development that lead to improvements in instruction and that limited evidence exists to prove that any of these activity categories is less significant than another.
MSC
Appendix A: California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success