EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROCEDURE
For information, contact Institutional
Effectiveness: (915) 831-2614
2.01.03.14
Policies and Procedures
APPROVED: November 4, 1979
REVISED: June 28, 2010
Year of last review: 2013
AUTHORIZING BOARD POLICY: 2.01.03
Designated contact: Office of Institutional Effectiveness
OBJECTIVE:
To provide a process for the development, review, revision, approval, maintenance, dissemination, and
deletion of Procedures and Policies
PROCEDURE:
I.
General
A policy is a statement of a rule and regulation for the governance and operation of the District as approved by the
Board of Trustees.
A procedure describes the method by which a policy will be implemented as directed by the College president.
Documents such as memorandums, handbooks or guidelines will not be the sole documentation of District rules,
regulations, etc., but must be documented in the official procedures of the College.
Procedures and policies shall be reviewed every three (3) years, ensuring that one-third (1/3) of the
procedures/policies shall be reviewed each year. Each year, the review shall commence with those
procedures/policies with the oldest approval date and with no revision date, and then progressing to those with the
oldest revision date. Revised or proposed procedures/policies shall not be reviewed or approved between May 1 and
August 31, except as authorized by the President. The most recent date of review shall be noted on each Board policy
and College procedure.
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) shall maintain a database of procedures/policies and of those Cabinet
Administrators responsible for each and shall place a new or revised policy/procedure in the IE database of policies
and procedures, and shall place the policy/procedure on the College’s Internet page.
II.
Process: (Development, review, revision, approval, maintenance, dissemination, and deletion)
Generally, any employee of the College may submit for consideration a new policy/procedure or a revision to an
existing policy/procedure to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness; otherwise, the normal three-year review cycle
will be followed. If the submission is new, the appropriate format must be used (contact the IE Office). If a revision is
submitted, recommended changes to policies/procedures shall be noted by lines drawn through the words to be deleted
and by shading the words to be added. Proposals to delete Board policies and College procedures shall adhere to the
process used to create and revise such documents (See Style Sheet for Revising and Writing Board Policies and
College Procedures at the end of this procedure).
A.
In all cases, the Cabinet Administrator most affected will submit the recommended newly developed or
revised policy/procedure or the document for deletion to the President and Cabinet for review. A procedure
that is discovered to have been inadvertently omitted from the recognized canon of procedures will follow
the same process as if it were a new procedure.
B.
If approved by the President and Cabinet, the Cabinet Administrator shall send the draft policy/procedure or
the document for deletion to the IE Office within one week of the recommendation; if not approved, the
originating party, through the IE Office, will be notified and given a reason(s) why it was not accepted.
The Cabinet Administrator may request the President and Cabinet to allow the new or revised procedure to
be implemented as a “working draft” for sixty (60) days pending approval. The Cabinet Administrator shall
forward any “working draft” to the IE Office, which shall place the draft on the Internet. The IE Office shall
append the words “Working Draft” and the effective date of the “working draft” to the procedure at the
location where the approved or revised dates are normally indicated, and shall place the “working draft” on
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the College Internet site after the current procedure, if any. The “working draft” procedure’s authority shall
expire sixty 60 days after its effective date, and if the “working draft” procedure has not received
administrative approval within the 60 day period in which it is in effect, the authority of the existing
procedure, if any, shall be restored, and the IE Office shall remove the “working draft” from the College
Internet site. Under extenuating circumstances a thirty (30) day extension may be granted by the President.
Note: policies cannot have a ‘working draft” designation.
C.
Immediately upon receipt of the draft policy/procedure, the IE Office shall send the draft procedure or the
document for deletion to all sub-Cabinet administrators and the presidents of the College constituency groups
and to the president of the Student Government Association (SGA) and shall ask the administrators and
presidents to solicit comment from their members within twenty-one (21) days. Comments shall be sent to
the IE Office.
D.
Within a week after the last day of the twenty-one day comment period indicated in II. C, the IE Office shall
inform the originating Cabinet Administrator as to whether or not comments were received by the IE Office
and shall forward any comments to the Administrator. The originating Cabinet Administrator and the IE
Office shall maintain a file of comments.
E.
At the Cabinet meeting subsequent to the Cabinet Administrator’s receipt of comments from administrators
and from the presidents of the constituency groups and from the SGA president, the originating Cabinet
Administrator shall present a recommended final draft, (the originating Cabinet Administrator shall work
with the IE Office to ensure grammatical correctness) incorporating suggested revisions as appropriate, to the
President and Cabinet for review and approval. In the case of a policy or procedure recommended for
deletion, the originating Cabinet administrator shall present District comments for and against the deletion.
If the Cabinet rules that the revisions are significant, the procedure shall be sent through the IE Office to the
constituencies and the SGA president for ten (10) days of review and comment. Comments shall be returned
to the IE Office, which shall forward them to the originating Cabinet Administrator. This process shall
continue until all issues are resolved. If issues are not resolved, a meeting will be facilitated by the Vice
President of Research and Accountability to bring the parties to consensus.
F.
The Vice President of Research and Accountability will meet with the presidents of the constituency groups
once a month to sign the College Constituency Review form. Upon review, the President signs the College
Constituency Review form and sends the form to the IE Office, along with the final version of the
policy/procedure. The IE Office shall maintain a file of the review forms.
G.
At the conclusion of the signing period indicated in II. F, the IE Office shall ensure that the procedure is
placed with the appropriate College policy and disseminated with the policies (if a policy is involved, section
II.H, will be followed). The IE Office shall inform employees of the College of new or revised
procedures/policies which have been approved by the President. In the case of a deleted policy or procedure,
the IE Office shall inform employees of the College of the procedures which have been deleted by the
President and of the policies which have been deleted by the Board of Trustees (if a policy is involved,
section II.H, will be followed). The IE Office shall further ensure that the deleted documents are removed
from the College’s web site and that the deleted documents are archived.
H.
Upon review of legal counsel, if any, the IE Office shall coordinate with the initiating Cabinet Administrator,
and will submit the draft Policy or revision (or the policy for deletion) to the President’s Office for inclusion
on the Board Agenda for first reading.
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FLOW DIAGRAM FOR PROCEDURE 2.01.03.14
The Cabinet Administrator most impacted
submits the recommended new or revised
policy/procedure (or the document for
deletion) to the President and Cabinet.
▼
If recommended by President and Cabinet,
the Cabinet Administrator sends the draft
policy/procedure (or the document for
deletion) to IE Office within one week of
the recommendation.
▼
IE Office emails the policy/procedure (or
the document for deletion) to the District for
twenty-one (21) days of review and
comments and forwards the comments to
the originating Cabinet Administrator.
▼
A final draft is prepared and reviewed. If
changes prove to be significant, the draft
will be sent out for comment for ten (10)
days. This process shall be continued until
all issues are resolved. If not resolved a
meeting will be held to reconcile
differences.
▼
The Vice President of Research and
Accountability, or his/her designee, usually
the IE Director, meets with the presidents of
the constituency groups to sign the Review
Form.
▼
Upon review and approval, the President
signs the Review form and sends the form to
the IE Office.
▼
The IE Office disseminates, via the
College’s web site, the policy/procedure
and informs employees of the new or
revised procedure (or informs employees of
the deletion). If a policy is involved, Board
action will be required.
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INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
College Constituency Review of Board Policies and College Procedures
POLICY/PROCEDURE NUMBER AND TITLE:
Proposed Change:
Revision
New Procedure
Deletion
Merge into College Procedure (No. and Title):
Other change:
The following signatures indicate that the presidents of College constituency groups and their members have
been given the opportunity to review and comment on the creation, revision, deletion or other change to the policy or
procedure above.
________________________________________________________
__________
Signature of the President of the Faculty Association
Date
________________________________________________________
__________
Signature of the President of the Professional Staff Association
Date
________________________________________________________
__________
Signature of the President of the Classified Staff Association
Date
________________________________________________________
Signature of the President of the Student Government Association
__________
Date
PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL
In accordance with College Procedure 2.01.03.14 (Policies and Procedures), the signature of the President
indicates that the creation, revision, deletion or other change to the above policy or procedure has been approved and
that the Office of Institutional Effectiveness has been directed to disseminate the procedure or remove the deleted
document from the College web site, while archiving a copy of the deleted document. The Office of Institutional
Effectiveness shall maintain a copy of this form.
_______________________________________________________
__________
Signature of the President
Date
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
The Best Place to Start
For College Procedure 2.01.03.14, Policies and Procedures
STYLE SHEET FOR REVISING AND WRITING BOARD POLICIES
AND COLLEGE PROCEDURES
Authorization: See College Procedure 2.01.03.14, Policies and Procedures, for information on the process by which Board
Policies and College Procedures are created, developed, and approved. See also, at the end of this style sheet, the document
Frequently Asked Questions about Institutional Improvement through the Review of Board Policies and College Procedures.
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) is responsible for directing the foregoing efforts and may be contacted for
assistance at 915-831-2614. Board Policies are approved by the Board; College Procedures are approved by the President.
__________________________________________
REVISING BOARD POLICIES AND COLLEGE PROCEDURES
Using an editable version of the Board Policy or College Procedure provided by the IE Office, indicate by gray
shading material to be added and indicate by strikeouts material to be deleted. The IE Office will provide the revision date after
the revision is approved.
Revision of a Board Policy requires that a Board Abstract be prepared to indicate the nature of the revision. See the
discussion of Board Abstracts below.
__________________________________________
WRITING NEW COLLEGE PROCEDURES
FIRST CONSIDERATIONS:
•
The purpose of a procedure is to enumerate and describe the steps of a PROCESS. Non-process content would be
more suitable for other publications, such as the College Catalog, a Board Policy, an existing procedure, or the
College web page.
•
The process must implement some aspect of a Board Policy and cannot contradict or go beyond a Board Policy. The
IE Office will help the writer of a process to identify the applicable Board Policy.
•
The writer of a procedure must be certain that the College has no other procedure with the same objective and that the
process under consideration cannot be added to an existing procedure.
•
The writer must consider whether to add one or more cross-references to other College Procedures whose processes
may impact, or be impacted by, the contemplated new procedure.
•
The procedure must clearly indicate the office responsible for the process and all the actions that the office must take
to achieve the objective.
•
As all College Procedures appear on the College web page, the procedure must be succinct and understandable to
College employees, students, accrediting agencies, and the public.
TYPE FACE AND FONT: College Procedures are written in Times New Roman 10-point type. The margins are: Top .5”;
bottom .5”; left .7”; and right .7.” The text is single space with double spacing between paragraphs.
FORMAT: College Procedures use an outline format, as exemplified by the template below. The IE Office will provide the
standardized heading of the procedure’s first page (e.g. College logo, section for number, title, and approval date).
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PROCEDURE NUMBER: The number of the procedure will be supplied by the IE Office. The procedure number consists of
the associated Board Policy number to which two or more digits unique to the procedure are added.
TITLE: The procedure’s title should accurately and succinctly identify the objective.
APPROVAL DATE: The approval date will be determined by the President and added to the procedure by the IE Office.
OBJECTIVE: Beginning with the word “To,” is a phrase stating what the procedure is designed to achieve. For example,
College Procedure 2.01.03.14, Policies and Procedures, has the following objective:
“OBJECTIVE: To provide a process for the development, review, revision, approval, maintenance, dissemination,
and deletion of Procedures and Policies.”
PROCEDURE: Following the objective is the procedure. Normally, the procedure consists of two parts.
Part I: The first part is normally entitled “General” or “General Provisions.” This section is an introduction, which may
contain a list of definitions, the rationale for the process, and/or other preliminary information needed to understand the context
of the process.
Part II: This section is the “Process.” This section identifies the steps of the process. If the process requires forms, the forms
should be appended to the procedure and referenced in Part II. If referring to related handbooks, the writer should be aware
that the College has no mechanism for reviewing and updating handbooks; thus, handbooks may become obsolete and/or
irrelevant to the procedure.
PROCEDURE TEMPLATE (Provided by the IE Office)
EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROCEDURE
For information, contact Institutional
Effectiveness: (915) 831-2614
[No.
supplied by
IE Office]
[Title]
APPROVED: [Date supplied
REVISED:
by IE Office]
Year of last review: [Date
supplied by IE Office]
AUTHORIZING BOARD POLICY:
Designated contact: [Contact supplied by IE Office]
OBJECTIVE: To ….
PROCEDURE:
I.
General Provisions
(e.g. Definitions, rationale, impetus (If any) )
II.
Process
A.
1.
2.
B.
1.
2
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Etc.
__________________________________________
WRITING NEW BOARD POLICIES
FIRST CONSIDERATIONS:
•
The purpose of a Board Policy is to state succinctly a broad College position or goal, such as the importance of
academic freedom or the adherence to applicable state and federal laws. The policy normally directs the President to
create procedures to achieve the goal. Thus, Board Policies do not describe processes, leaving them to the College
procedures. Policies normally consist of no more than two or three sentences; the first sentences state the desired
goal; the concluding sentence directs the President to create procedures to achieve the goal.
•
The writer of a Board Policy must be certain that no other Board Policy states the goal under consideration and that
the goal under consideration cannot be added to an existing Board Policy.
•
As all Board Policies appear on the College web page, the Policy procedure must be succinct and understandable to
College employees, students, accrediting agencies, and the public.
•
The creation of a new Board Policy requires that a Board Abstract be prepared to indicate the subject of the policy.
See the discussion of Board Abstracts below.
TYPE FACE AND FONT: Board Policies are written in Times New Roman 10-point type. The margins are: Top .5”; bottom
.5”; left .7”; and right .7.” The text is double spaced.
FORMAT: Board Policies normally consist of no more than one or two paragraphs. If enumeration is required, a simple one
level outline (e.g. I., II., III.) suffices. See the Board Policy template below. The IE Office will provide the standardized
heading (e.g. College logo, policy number, and approval date).
TITLE: The procedure’s title should accurately and succinctly identify the objective.
POLICY TEMPLATE (Provided by the IE Office)
EL PASO COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
BOARD POLICY
[Policy number provided by the IE Office]
[TITLE]
[Paragraph(s) stating the desired objective, concluding, if applicable, with the sentence “The President shall develop
procedures to implement this policy.”]
Adopted: [Date provided by IE]
Amended: [Date provided by IE]
Year of Last Review: [Year provided by IE]
[Policy no. provided by IE] - 1 of 1
Designated contact: [Contact supplied by IE Office]
__________________________________________
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PREPARING BOARD POLICY ABSTRACTS See the following Board Policy Abstract template below. The IE Office
can provide the template. When working in the template, to tab to the next cell, press “Tab.”
BOARD POLICY ABSTRACT
Policy #:
Policy to be Considered: [Title of Policy]
______ New
Policy Section:
Action:
Resource Persons:
Purpose:
1st reading)
For information only (
For Adoption (
Revision
2nd Reading and/or Approval)
[Vice President’s Name]
[e.g. “To revise the existing Board Policy as noted.”]
Explanation: [The purpose of the proposed revision(s) to an existing policy or the purpose of the
new policy.]
Recommendation:
Approval by the Board of Trustees.
Exhibit 2.x.1 [Provided by the President’s Office]
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