ABOVE: DACC Board of Trustees President Greg Wolfe (left) and President Dr. Randall Fletcher (center) at Thurs Sept 24th Board of Trustees meeting.
Danville Area Community College president Dr. Randall Fletcher says that action taken against the amount of overload, or overtime teaching; was first and foremost a matter of administration putting “quality of instruction for students” at the top of the priority list.
During a meeting in his office, Dr. Fletcher, along with Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Penny McConnell; told CIMG that the amount of overload teaching credit hours among DACC instructors rose at an astounding rate from 2021 to 2026; beginning in 2021 with the departure of longtime DACC Executive Vice President of Instruction and Student Services David Kietzman. (It was also mentioned that the COVID pandemic initiated more online classes as well.)
Overload is any amount of credit hours an instructor teaches per semester above 15 credit hours. Fletcher stated that Kietzman had usually capped the amount of overload hours at 12 per semester; meaning instructors would teach and be paid for a maximum of 27 credit hours per semester, and a total of 54 for a fall and spring academic year.
Dr. Fletcher stated that by the end of 2025-26 academic year, the average DACC instructor was teaching an overload of 70 credit hours per year, with one individual coming in at a campus high of 227 hours.
Fletcher stated this was due to numerous in person, hybrid, and online classes being made available with only a handful, perhaps even less than five, of total students. Despite this, teachers would receive full pay for each credit hour each individual class was worth.
Fletcher stated that a claim made by Accounting Professor Angie Springer at the September 24th Board of Trustees meeting was very misleading. While Springer had mentioned that 140 classes were cancelled at the start of the 26-27 school year; a similar number of 121, Fletcher Stated, were cancelled going into the 25-26 school year. And that at the end of the 25-26 year, 21 percent of classes had three students or less.
Fletcher told CIMG that the four active faculty instructors who spoke out at the September 24th meeting; Springer, Amber Anderson, Jen Slavac, and Kathy Hunter; were among the instructors benefitting the most from the explosion in overload teaching hours.
While the four aforementioned who spoke out claimed they are simply going above and beyond to help students get the classes they need; Fletcher and McConnell said administration works tirelessly for the students as well; trying to get them into another class once theirs is cancelled.
Both Fletcher and McConnell also pointed out that the recently approved contract for the DACC Faculty includes a cap of 40 overload hours per academic year; and that the contract was approved 42-2.
“We’re just trying to do the right thing here,” Dr. Fletcher concluded.
FOR MORE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH DANVILLE AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, PLEASE SEE THIS ARTICLE BY THE NEWS-GAZETTE’S JENNIFER BAILEY https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/politics/dacc-faculty-to-board-class-cuts-other-issues-weigh-on-morale/article_91738d4f-e12d-4edb-8c3b-90aa72316da2.html
