State Board approves holiday-leave policy for community colleges

RALEIGH – The State Board of Community Colleges today (April 20) approved a holiday-leave policy for community colleges, effective July 1.

The policy will require community colleges to offer a maximum of 12 paid holidays per fiscal year to full-time employees eligible to earn leave under local policy. Local community college boards of trustees will still be able to determine the holiday schedule on the college calendar.

The policy was developed after an investigation by the State Auditor’s Office found that over half the state’s community colleges awarded more than 12 paid holidays per year. The audit report recommended that the State Board adopt a uniform holiday-leave policy for the community college system.

The board also approved the selection of Jim Morton as president of Cape Fear Community College. The State Board will send a letter to the CFCC Board of Trustees expressing concern about public perception of the college and strongly encouraging a concerted effort to proactively communicate with the community and increase transparency. The board also directed NC Community College System Office staff to develop State Board of Community Colleges Code language regarding the college presidential selection process and put it on the agenda for the State Board’s May meeting. Morton is currently interim president of CFCC.

In other actions, the board:

• Approved a uniform articulation agreement between the University of North Carolina System’s Baccalaureate of Music programs and the NC Community College System’s Associate in Fine Arts in Music programs. The agreement is focused on developing seamless transfer of students who begin music studies at a community college and then transfer to a bachelor’s degree music program at a UNC campus.
• Approved a uniform articulation agreement between the UNC System’s Baccalaureate of Arts programs and the NC Community College System’s Associate in Fine Arts in Theatre Arts programs. The agreement is focused on developing seamless transfer for students who begin theatre studies at a community college and then transfer to a bachelor’s degree theatre program at a UNC campus.
• Approved a new associate degree program in anesthesia technology at Durham Technical Community College, to begin this fall. Durham Tech will be the first North Carolina community college to offer the program. Graduates of the program will be eligible to take the American Society of Anesthesia Technologists and Technicians National Certification Examination. Durham Tech developed the curriculum in partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care.
• Approved new associate degree programs in automotive systems technology and horticulture technology at Carteret Community College. The programs are scheduled to begin this fall.
• Approved a new associate degree program in mechatronics engineering technology and a diploma program in automotive light-duty diesel technology, both at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. The programs are scheduled to begin this fall.
• Allocated $90,000 to six community colleges to provide scholarships for students in short-term workforce training programs that lead to industry credentials. The funding is provided through a grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The following community colleges applied for funding and will receive $15,000 apiece for scholarships: Craven Community College, Durham Technical Community College, Forsyth Technical Community College, Piedmont Community College, Randolph Community College and Roanoke-Chowan Community College.
• Allocated up to $20,000 for a machine-learning technology research project by the Virtual Learning Community Quality and Assessment Center at Surry Community College. The center will coordinate with Tanjo Inc., an artificial-intelligence company, on a comprehensive research project to determine the feasibility of integrating machine-learning recommendations for virtual-learning courses and resources into the North Carolina Learning Object Repository. These recommendations will be accessible to community college instructors on the NCLOR website. A second part of the project will focus on materials used in professional development at community colleges. 

###