CHAPARRAL

The Definition of Parity

When the California legislature and the governor agreed to begin the long-term plan of raising part-timers' wages to equal those of full-timers, they also required that districts come up with a definition that would clarify what salary parity included. The first installment of $57 million in funding that would go toward that goal was distributed last year and the same amount made it through the tough budget climate this year. The original idea, however, was to increase this funding every year until these parity goals were met. Once districts met their obligation of equaling the salaries of part-time faculty with their full-time counterparts the leftover money was free for other uses on campus.

     The definition of parity needed to be legally hammered out between a district's administration and its union. While the unions want to support the part-timers in their unit, some full-timers doubt that part-timers will ever really be willing to "step up to the plate" and do the kind of professional duties that full-timers now do. At the same time, the idea of being able to use ear-marked part-timer money for other expenditures once parity is achieved appeals to administrators, especially in this tight fiscal environment.

     At the moment the negotiating team and the district seem to be sparring with the definition of part-timer parity at around 88 percent. I believe that it is a big mistake for the Guild and the district to agree to anything less than 100 percent parity as a long-term goal. The arguments that I keep hearing are:

• Part-timers will never do the 12 percent that is considered "professional duties" by the college. This is the same specious argument that was used to deny office hours to part-timers for the longest time.

• There is no way to have oversight to make sure that part-timers are doing their office hours.

     The truth of the matter is that some part-timers (a definite minority) may not do their office hours or professional duties, but the same goes for some full-timers. To think that part-timers are any less caring of their students or concerned with the quality of their teaching or its institution is to denigrate a whole group of hard-working professionals.

     What full-timers and administrators need to do is to think outside the box. Part-timers do many more "professional duties" already for which they are not paid and may not be as visible as appearing at a committee or division meeting where roll is taken. These activities are no less valuable to the college, and part-timers need to have more flexibility to do their professional duties on their own time, just as they are now doing with their office hours. I have done my own poll, and here are just some of the kinds of "professional duties" part-timers do now and will continue to do in the future to a greater extent if it is considered to be part of their pay:

Ellen Stern, who teaches in the art department, reports:

In 1989 (or so) I designed and wrote the course description for the illustration course which was adopted into the curriculum of the art department and which I taught for several years before it was taken over by a full-timer who thought it would be "fun" to teach it. Each year in the spring, I spend many unpaid hours after class helping my students mat their artwork for submission to the student show. Each year (except the last two when outside jurors have been hired) I have put in unpaid time helping to judge the student show. I attended art department meetings for a number of years before it was decided that adjunct faculty wouldn't be invited.

I have spent many hours after class letting students finish drawings, conferencing, and counseling. Last year I developed WebCT components for both of the classes that I teach (Drawing 1 and Design 1). You can visit my "welcome pages" at the GCC site under online courses.  I wish you would. If I say so myself, they look pretty slick.  One of my colleagues got a full semester class' worth of paid release time last semester just to develop WebCT for one of her classes, and when I last checked she hadn't even filled in pertinent information on her welcome page.

I have built props for use in the department. I have designed  handouts which are shared by other teachers. Part of my job each semester involves putting together a shopping list, typing a requisition, getting it approved and then going out and purchasing supplies which my students use in class and which they pay for with supply vouchers that I collect and keep track of.

 I made extensive modifications in a drawing bench so that it could be used by a handicapped student. (It was such a standout that someone walked off with it.)

This semester I read a new drawing textbook cover-to-cover and will be writing a letter to the department describing why I feel that we should switch to that text. It's true that I have not served on college committees, but I have been busting my backside for the art department and my students.

Todd White, another part-timer,  explains:

Apart from my teaching at GCC, I regularly publish a magazine, The Commonplace, in which I reproduce students' work. The issue I am currently working on is the fifth volume, my third produced while at GCC.

I have also edited a book on coastal California archeology, soon to be published by Ethnographics Press.  I continue to work for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as the editor of the Journal of Anthropology and am on the editorial advisory board for Collegiate Press.

None of this has been paid work, and all of it directly pertains to my ability to teach professional courses in English and anthropology, both of which I have been fortunate to teach for this college.

Jan Freemeyer  reports:

I am a member of  the program review committee, have an online WebCT class supplement and have attended many workshops on that. I have been involved in campus outreach projects such as Start Smart Day, do workshops on Supplemental Instruction training every semester and have attended the Great Teacher's retreat several times.  I have been the costume manager for the Madrigal Feast concerts given by the music department and also help with uniform ordering and inventory for the Concert Singers, Music 240.

     No, you may not see the part-timers in your departments at committee or department meetings, but just remember at the moment they cannot afford to come. I know. I am the one who has to persuade and cajole part-timers to become candidates for the Guild (that does pay them somewhat) or to serve on the Guild negotiating team. The answer I most frequently get is "I'd like to, but I can't afford not teaching at that hour."

Non-credit faculty member Marcia Sibony agrees:

I think this is a Catch 22. Of course we don't spend time in committee meetings, because we have to work elsewhere to make up the salary we need.  Do they think that part-timers are economic fairy godmothers, who can somehow live on 50 percent of what full-timers make?  Please tell me how?  I would be happy to sit on committees, if I weren't working (I teach from 12-3:15 at Glendale, prime meeting time) and teach another 10 hours at other colleges and three at a religious school.

However, every year I take my students on a field trip and take responsibility (since it is illegal to arrange it as a formal school outing).  I attend some departmental meetings, but not all, because they are the hours I teach. Of course we go to conferences.  I went to CATESOL in the fall, and one on media and ESL learning, sponsored by Longman book publishers, just two weeks ago.

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     And these are just some of the "duties" that some part-timers do outside of teaching and office hours. If these are not professional activities I do not know what is, and if the college is not benefiting from this creative breadth of service then I am astonished. Just keep in mind that no part-timer will give the 100 percent that a full-timer is supposed to give to the college, because no part-timer works 100 percent. There will always be some slackers, but then those can be found among the full-timers as well. There are also those, as you can see, who give 110 percent. And for the district and our own full-timers not to recognize that fact is an injustice. &

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