Conference Leave

• Review the Conference Leave Scoring Rubric to ensure that your proposal meets the requirements and priorities established by the College.
• Activities shall be related to the specific professional area of the member; provide innovative ideas, update teaching techniques/ methods, and present new areas for growth in the faculty’s professional area; or other related professional activities. They can also include virtual conferences and class fees for projects associated with column advancement, PG&D, or sabbatical.
  1. Activities shall be pertinent to the educational objectives of the department and the college.
  2. Activities shall not require the faculty member to be absent from scheduled duties more than 5 days during an academic year. An extension may be granted with approval of the appropriate college president.
• Fill out the Part 1 of the Conference Attendance Reimbursement Form found on the district site. Be sure to set out a specific budget for the endeavor and follow all travel and conference district procedures. No online application (CLA) will be reviewed by the Conference Leave Committee without the Dean’s signature. If legacy funds are being used to support your proposal, the account numbers and amount of funding MUST appear at the bottom of Part 1 of the form.
• Submit the online Conference Leave Application (CLA). Attach your signed Conference Attendance Reimbursement Form (CARF) to application submitted through the CLC website.
• The Conference Leave Committee reviews applications once per week. You should receive notice of approval, disapproval, or request for additional information within two weeks of submission. If you do not hear from the CLC, please email the CLC at conference.leaveFREEWEST_VALLEY for inquiry.
• If the Conference Leave committee does not fully fund your request, or denies funding, you may also seek other sources for your proposal through your Dean or Chair.
• Upon return, promptly submit all receipts and your Part 2 of the Conference Attendance Reimbursement Form to your Dean in your Division or School. As per District policy, reimbursement requests must be submitted within 45 CALENDAR days of the last day of official activities of the official event. Without exception, no reimbursement requests will be honored if submitted after this 45-day requirement has passed.

It may be possible to process a district check request for prepayment of lodging and/or registration expense, per the following guidelines.

1. You must be 100% certain that your travel plans are final and confirmed. You will be responsible for retrieving or reimbursing the disbursed funds in the event that your travel plans change after pre-payment has been sent by the district.
2. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the lodging property will, in fact, accept prepayment in the form of a district check, and to secure an official and formal lodging invoice/bill from the property. The applicant must also ensure that the per night charge does not exceed allowable guidelines. It is expected that if the travel takes place in California, the faculty member will submit an Occupancy Tax Waiver form to the hotel as they are traveling as an employee of the State of California.
3. In the case of a requested pre-payment of registration, a formal registration form, along with an official registration bill or invoice must accompany the check request.
4. The applicant is responsible for ensuring all prepayment request contain complete and official documentation, and also that the documentation and check request form are submitted to the appropriate budget administrator in a timely manner.