The Board of Governors through the Chancellor’s Office is required by California Code of Regulations to oversee the Flexible Calendar program for the California Community Colleges. The Flexible (Flex) program consists of staff development activities “in-lieu-of” regular instruction.

Flex activities (CCR, title 5, division 6, chapter 6, subchapter 8, article 2, section 55724, item a-4) can be, but are not limited to, training programs, group retreats, field experiences, and workshops in activities such as course and program development and revision, staff development activities, development of new instructional materials, and other instruction-related activities.

Further details on the application process, permissible program activities and documentation requirements can be found in Guidelines for the Implementation of the Flexible Calendar Program (April 2007), prepared by the Faculty Development Committee of the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges in conjunction with the Chancellor's Office.

Outside of compensation for teaching, the state pays all faculty members, and persons paid for instructional hours, one additional (prorated) week per year. Faculty are expected to use this time to improve their teaching skills, contribute to college governance or participate in activities that will benefit the campus and its students. The Flex obligation is already paid as part of every academic faculty member’s regular salary.

Any work done on behalf of the college or students (outside of teaching time) can be used to fulfill this obligation. Flex activities cannot overlap with any hours for which the faculty member is regularly compensated. Allowed activities vary for full-time and part-time employees.

Examples may include:

• department meetings
• faculty meetings
• conferences
• workshops (on or off campus)
• working on a committee (except in cases where ancillary activity pay is granted or if the committee work is an obligation of one’s position)
• representing the college in the community
• taking college classes to improve one’s skill set (with respect to their specific subject or related area) - such as a second language or CPR
• Participating in a Community of Practice
• Completing the Certificate in Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning
• Accessing Online Professional Development

For further clarification, please refer to the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Flexible Calendar Program, #5 Flexible Calendar Program Activities

GCC-approved flex activities are located on the Vision Resource Center calendar.

Check your GCC e-mail inbox for messages from Faculty Development (facdev@glendale.edu) for current updates and opportunities from GCC, the CVC-OEI, the GCC Library, the GADER program, the California Community Colleges, Our Wellness, the California Community Colleges, Communities of Practice, and faculty groups.  

Asynchronous and external activities can be uploaded as External Training to your digital transcript.
View the VRC user guide or attend a training session for further assistance with these steps. 

(a) Each permanent faculty member, assigned a full workload (with no release time or leave), shall be responsible for 15 Flex hours-per-semester worked, for a total of 30 hours through the academic year.

(b) Each permanent faculty member, assigned less than a full workload (or granted release time, banked time or leave), shall be responsible for a prorated amount of 15 Flex hours-per-semester worked.

(c) Each adjunct faculty member shall be responsible for half the number of hours in their weekly assignment (not including office hours), per semester worked. Winter and Summer sessions are exempt.

Example: In the given academic year, an instructor with a 5 hour weekly teaching assignment in Fall and a 6 hour total weekly teaching assignment in Spring would have a mandated Flex obligation of 5.5 hours   [5+ 6 / 2 = 5.5]

Please contact your Division Chair as soon as possible if you require assistance calculating your flex requirement. 

For full-time faculty members working a release time position, please see the chart below to prorate your flex submission requirement: 

The GCC faculty contract deadline to complete flex hours is May 15th. The state of California deadline is June 30th. Any hours that are not completed or planned to be completed by the state deadline may be deducted in a prorated amount from the faculty member’s pay.  A faculty member whose hours are not completed by the May 15th deadline is not eligible to receive notification of additional work or verifications from the Flex Checking Committee.

All flex is recorded in the Vision Resource Center. 

The Vision Resource Center is an online learning and communication platform that offers all California community college employees equitable access to professional development opportunities and supports efforts to fulfill the goals outlined in the Vision for Success.

The Vision Resource Center offers: 

• Thousands of learning modules, including content specifically created for the California Community Colleges and LinkedIn Learning.

• Systemwide online communities available to 137,000 professionals, making it the largest collaboration space in the system.

• The only systemwide calendar with the intention to list all professional development events open to California Community College professionals.

View more information about login and the VRC User Guide visit here.

Flex events (remote and in-person) are verified through the Vision Resource Center. If you attended an event from the flex calendar, the host submitting attendance will verify your training. The training will move from “Active” to “Completed” in your transcript. If your attendance was not submitted, the event will remain as “Active”. Please contact the host as soon as possible to verify your attendance.

For asynchronous and external events, please upload an External Training (page 10 of the VRC User Guide).

If you attended a synchronous flex event on the GCC VRC calendar, the event host submitting attendance what will verify and submit that activity for you.

If you upload an External Training, you must click “Mark Complete” in order to submit that activity.

The Flex Checking Committee will review completed hours. If your event was not marked complete by yourself or the event host, it will not appear on your Completed Hours Report. So make sure you complete all activities. 

If a valid submission is not received by the specified deadline – the District may defer the equivalent of one week’s salary. One week’s salary represents the proportion of the obligation for which a faculty member has NOT completed sufficient hours of qualifying activities. Please remember that these are hours for which you were already paid by the District. For partially complete submissions, the recapture of pay is prorated.

Remember, all GADER is Flex but not all Flex counts as GADER. All GADER synchronous events listed in the VRC (Vision Resource Center) Calendar include GADER in the event title. If you are unsure, ask the presenter or event coordinator if the event offers GADER. For an event at GCC to be offered for GADER the presenter/s should submit a GADER Workshop proposal here or contact the DE Faculty Development Coordinator at defacdev@glendale.edu  to determine if the event meets the GADER criteria (here) and can be offered GADER. 

All GADER counts as Flex! While we cannot rollover any GADER hours, rest assured, you can still earn Flex for this DE PD as long as it is completed within the year of the Flexible Calendar deadline that you are applying it toward (July 1-June 30). 

For asynchronous and external events, you are able to upload activities to your digital transcript in the VRC. The attachment upload is optional. Whenever possible, please upload verifications. If one does not upload verification, the activity can still be marked complete. However, it could jeopardize future Faculty Unit Credit requests for salary advancement, or can be called into question if it interferes with your scheduled working or teaching hours.

For synchronous events attended through the GCC VRC calendar, your verification will appear when the host submits attendance. Simply go to your transcript, change the dropdown menu from Active to Completed, and select View Certificate on the activity.
Please view the guide or attend a training session for further assistance with these steps.

If this event was asynchronous or done externally, you can upload it as an External Training in your transcript. If this was a synchronous event that was posted to the GCC VRC calendar, the host would need to submit attendance for the event to appear as Completed. To generate a certificate for any event, make sure it is marked Complete in your transcript, then click “View Certificate”

In order to fulfill their Flex obligation, Instructors have an option to create their own professional growth activity. They will complete an "Individually Planned Research or Activity" form, and have it signed off by their Division Chair or the activity coordinator upon completion.

(IPA) Individually Planned research or Activity (pdf)

Once this form is signed off by both the faculty member and Chair/Coordinator, it can be considered complete and submitted as a Flex verification.
This form must be signed off on and uploaded to your transcript by May 15th.

To verify conference attendance, one may submit registration receipts, a confirmation letter, conference badge, a memo, or an e-mail from the presenter.

For further clarification, please refer to the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Flexible Calendar Program, #5 Flexible Calendar Program Activities

To apply excess flex hours toward salary advancements, please view the faculty contract Article VI, Section 10 Advancement on the Salary Schedule. Visit the Salary Advancement page for more details on this process.

Excess hours can be accumulated over a period of three years. Excess flex hours cannot be or have been submitted as part of your current or prior flex submissions. Excess flex hours must pertain directly to your discipline and practice. Please view the contract for more information.
If you want to use flex hours that were recorded in the Vision Resource Center, please “Archive” the event from your transcript so that it does not appear on the flex checking report. How to Archive a Flex Event.

To submit excess hours, please submit a Faculty Unit Credit Request to the Office of Faculty Development via email facdev@glendale.edu or in-person in Sierra Vista 105 on the Verdugo Campus, with the appropriate documentation (unofficial transcripts, verifications, etc.)

To verify excess flex hours done in the Vision Resource Center, utilize the automatically generated certificate of completion, found in your transcript.