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Associated Policy

II.2000.A, Policy and Procedure Development, Review, Revision, and Rescission

Procedure

1. The Board of Trustees may charge the Chancellor with developing, reviewing, revising, or rescinding a policy; a Board-initiated policy request is referred to the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT).
2. A College employee or student may identify the need for a policy to be developed, reviewed, revised, or rescinded and may submit this need as a written policy request to the SLT for consideration.
   
   1. Primary Owners or Secondary Owners of a policy may submit a policy request to be considered by the SLT.
   2. An employee may make a policy request (a) to her/his leader who forwards the proposal through leadership to the respective SLT member or (b) to his/her Employee Organization.
   3. Employee Organizations may submit a policy request to the Chancellor after the request has been recommended by the membership, as documented by a vote of membership recorded in meeting minutes. The Chancellor will then forward the request to the respective SLT member for processing in accordance with the procedure.
   4. Students may submit a policy request to their respective Student Government Association (SGA). The officers of that respective SGA are responsible for approaching the College-wide SGA officers that may submit a policy request to the Chancellor after the request has been recommended by the membership from a majority of the active campus SGAs, as documented by a vote of membership recorded in meeting minutes.
   5. The policy request should be submitted via standard written College communications, including email. The request should include the policy number, policy name, and the reason for the request of policy development, review, revision, or rescission.

3. The respective SLT member will present to the SLT who considers and may accept, table, or reject a policy request.

   1. An accepted policy request will be forwarded to a policy team to draft. All Board-initiated policy requests are accepted by the SLT.
   2. A tabled policy request may be considered at a future date.
   3. A rejected policy request will not be pursued further.
   4. The SLT decision regarding a policy request will be communicated via standard written College communications, including email, to the party submitting the request within a reasonable period of time by the respective SLT member.
       
4. The policy team under the direction of the respective SLT member will develop a policy draft and return the draft through the primary or secondary owners to the SLT for consideration. Each new policy, policy revision, or rescinded policy proposal will be drafted in a reasonable period of time and will be reviewed by College legal counsel as needed.

5. The respective SLT member will forward the policy draft to the SLT, who will review the policy draft submitted by the policy team and recommends, returns, tables, or rejects the proposal.

   1. For a recommended policy draft, the Chancellor submits the recommendation to the Board for consideration and makes it available for comment to College employees.
      1. Standard written College communications, including email, will be used.
      2. Employees may email comments or suggested revisions for consideration in the final policy and procedure development to the Chancellor who will forward to the respective SLT member. The SLT member will communicate comments or suggested changes to the policy team for consideration.
      3. The Chancellor communicates employee comments or suggested revisions to the Board when the recommended policy is considered by the Board.
      4. If significant changes occur due to employee input, then the policy draft will be resent to College employees via standard written College communications.
   2. A returned policy draft is returned to the policy team for revision with comments. The SLT may suggest revisions as needed.
   3. A tabled policy draft may be considered at a future date.
   4. A rejected policy draft will not be pursued further.
   5. The Primary or Secondary Owner of the policy will communicate the SLT decision regarding a draft to the policy team within a reasonable period of time.

6. The Board considers policy recommendations and may approve, table, or reject.

   1. Each policy recommendation will be read by the Board during at least two regularly scheduled meetings. The first meeting will include an initial reading of the policy recommendation for informational and discussion purposes. The second meeting will include a final reading and Board decision on the policy recommendation.

7. After Board approval, the Chancellor will ensure the publishing of all Board-approved policies. The Board-approved policy and associated procedures will be distributed to the College community for reference.

   1. Standard written College communications, including email, will be used.
   2. All Board policies are published and maintained in the San Jacinto Community College District Policy Manual on the College website.

8. The process for the development, review, revision, and rescission of procedures is the same as the process for policies (items 1 – 7) with the exception that the requirement for Board approval will not occur. Rather approval of procedures will occur through the SLT. Procedures may be submitted to the Board as informational items but do not require approval by the Board. If sufficient justification is provided, the Chancellor may approve that a related procedure can be developed subsequently to the policy being approved by the Board of Trustees. Such approval should be requested in rare situations.

9. The Chancellor may authorize temporary exceptions to existing procedures when the Chancellor determines the exceptions to be in the best interest of the College. Exceptions should be documented in writing to the appropriate SLT member.

Definitions

Employee: a full-time or part-time employee of the College as defined by Human Resources policy and procedure.

Employee Organization: a College-defined and recognized organization representing a group of employees that may include: (a) Faculty Senate, (b) Administrative Organization, and (c) Staff Organization.

Policy draft: a draft of a new or revised policy or justification for rescinding a policy that addresses elements of a policy request.  

Policy recommendation: a recommendation to the Board of Trustees of a new or revised policy or justification for rescinding a policy that addresses elements of a policy request.  

Policy request: a proposed change to policy submitted by a member of the College community.

Policy team: subject matter expert(s) or a team of employees charged by the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) to develop a policy draft.

Primary Owner: the Strategic Leadership Team member to which the Board via the Chancellor has delegated primary responsibility for implementing, interpreting, and monitoring the accuracy and timeliness of the policy.

Secondary Owner: the position to which the Board via the Chancellor has delegated secondary responsibility for implementing, interpreting, and monitoring the accuracy and timeliness of the policy. The Secondary Owner may be a direct report of the Primary Owner.

Strategic Leadership Team: the Chancellor’s leadership team that acts as the central body for making recommendations to the Board regarding the development, review, revision, or rescission of a College policy or who approves a College procedure.

Student: a currently enrolled student of the College as defined by instruction policy and procedure.

Student Government Association: a formally recognized student government organization from one of the College campuses, e.g., Central Campus Student Government Association.

Template for San Jacinto College Policies:

Font: Times New Roman

Font Size: 12 pt.

Font Color: Black

Policy <POLICY NUMBER>, <POLICY TITLE>

Policy Number is provided by the Chancellor’s Office at the inception of the policy.
Policy Title is the formal name of the policy used throughout the San Jacinto Community College District Policy Manual. The policy title is provided by the SLT at the inception of the policy.

Purpose

Purpose is a brief statement describing what the policy intends and serves to accomplish.

Policy

Policy is the body of the policy. 

Definitions

Definitions provide an explanation of word meanings and terms of art to clarify their specific use and intent within the context of the policy. Definitions must be consistent across all policies; a definition included in a policy should reflect previously approved definitions. The glossary of definitions is available in the San Jacinto Community College District Policy Manual.

Authority, Applicability, Sanctions, Exclusions, Interpretation

Default language to be included in each policy should include the statement:

The Authority, Applicability, Sanctions, Exclusions, and Interpretation do not differ from Policy II.2000.A, Policy and Procedures Development, Review, Revision, and Rescission.

If the policy requires different authority, applicability, sanctions, exclusions, or interpretation, any may be written as a separate section within the policy.

• Authority explains the authority by which the policy is implemented.
• Applicability specifies to whom the policy applies, e.g., Board members, administrators, faculty, staff, students, or visitors.
• Sanctions describe the range of possible consequences for individuals who violate the policy; sanctions unique to a specific policy should be noted as being “in addition to the sanctions defined in II.2000.A Policy and Procedures Development, Review, Revision, and Rescission.”
• Exclusions describe any circumstances under which conformity to the policy may be excused.
• Interpretation describes the authority to interpret the policy

Associated Procedures

Procedures provide a list of links to procedures related to the policy. Procedures provide specific actions to be taken to implement and to conform to a policy.

Template for San Jacinto College Procedures:

Font: Times New Roman

Font Size: 12 pt.

Font Color: Black

Procedure <PROCEDURE NUMBER>, <PROCEDURE TITLE>

Procedure Number is provided by the Chancellor’s Office at the inception of the procedure.
Procedure Title is the formal name of the procedure used throughout the San Jacinto Community College District Policy Manual. The procedure title is provided by the SLT at the inception of the procedure.

Associated Policy

Associated Policy links to the policy with which the procedure is associated.

Procedures

Procedures defines a discrete set of steps and processes the College engages to implement an aspect of the related policy.

Definitions

Definitions provides a list of words or terms of art with definitions in order to clarify their specific use and intent within the context of the procedure.