The Venting Thread

[mythbuster]

AmLitHist. If you need a bag of popcorn, I'm happy to pop one for you. Please keep us posted as your admins learn about what you really do in your job.

[apl68]

Really, admincritters — you sent an email at 3:15 on Friday asking us to record and upload promotional videos before Monday? Ain't gonna happen. Perhaps you should be more proactive and less reactive, and then you wouldn't put faculty up against untenable deadlines.

Maybe they figured you could somehow use ChatGPT to do it quickly?

[Parasaurolophus]

Well, it's COVID. At least the hatchling is doing better than yesterday.

I, however, am getting exponentially more tired and weak as the day drags on. My partner is in better shape, but has a weird perma headache.

[AmLitHist]

Well, it's COVID. At least the hatchling is doing better than yesterday.

I, however, am getting exponentially more tired and weak as the day drags on. My partner is in better shape, but has a weird perma headache.

So sorry to hear this!  That was my experience too when we all finally got it right before midterm--kind of like slowly letting the air out of a balloon. Hope you all feel better soon.

[Parasaurolophus]

Well, it's COVID. At least the hatchling is doing better than yesterday.

I, however, am getting exponentially more tired and weak as the day drags on. My partner is in better shape, but has a weird perma headache.

So sorry to hear this!  That was my experience too when we all finally got it right before midterm--kind of like slowly letting the air out of a balloon. Hope you all feel better soon.

Thanks! I'm just about back to normal today. The hatchling is slightly worse (after being much better yesterday), and the Maiasaur is also slightly worse.

[Parasaurolophus]

Groan. My higher ups at the newsletter had me pull an article at the last minute. Since it's not an independent publication, I did so (though grudgingly). Now, of course, the author is (understandably) upset, and is trying to stir up a whole tempest. Sigh.

[clean]

Why is FMLA the best answer for the broken foot situation?
Wouldnt sick leave (as you have plenty of it) not be the correct answer?
Is FMLA paid or not?
At this point, the term is nearly over, so sick leave should be more than sufficient to cover the days that are missed through the end of your contractually obligated period. 
Here, if you are to teach summer school, but get sick before it starts, they dont continue with the class (no sick leave for you!)   But if you get sick AFTER the classes start, then you can use sick leave.  The point is that IF you are sick in the end of the term, there is no real reason (that I can think of) to take (especially) unpaid family medical leave.  You wont be able to start teaching summer until Summer 2 at the earliest.

Anyway, I hope that you feel better soon.  Enjoy the administrators!

One last thing I will add.... and I will not go into the long version of the story.  Suffice it to say that the Dean sent  one of his minions to ask me when my coworker went to the hospital, even though he was still doing most of the work for the class while in the hospital so he should not have had to use sick leave.  I mentioned this to the minion and was later told that the Dean's response was "If you are in the hospital you are sick and your job is to get better, not cover your class".  Similarly, you have only days ago broken a bone that will not be better if you do something you shouldnt!  You have documented your sick leave.  (I dont know why that alone was not sufficient).  The last days of the term are in the hands of the administrators to cover! 
(They may have grade change forms awaiting you upon your return as they will not likely be able to issue anything other than an Incomplete!)

Enjoy a stress free, relaxing, recuperation!  Best Wishes!!

[AmLitHist]

Thanks, Clean.  I'm taking only intermittent FMLA for the 6 days I haven't been/can't be on campus. I was advised by my union and union lawyer to go ahead and take the FMLA to protect myself in case of any problems in the future. If we miss more than 2 consecutive days of scheduled teaching, we have to get a doctor's note; for 3+, we need the note and FMLA (board policy, for whatever reason). 

I am getting paid, via my built-up sick leave, so that's fine, and my chair took over one class and a colleague took the other.  I think it stinks for the students, but the campus president got her fingers in it and vetoed the plan that my chair and I had made, and the dean had approved:  she insisted that doing PPt lectures in Canvas for 3 days (the other 3 days I'd be missing were already scheduled as independent work days) would amount to a change in delivery modality, and she and the VCAA had a sh*t fit over it.

I'm still teaching my online and LVL (synchronous remote) sections anyway, as you say.  Whatever they want. . .not my problem at this point, though I do feel bad for feeling like I've bailed on my students.  And I do understand why the lawyer insisted I take the FMLA for protection:  our current admins are capricious at best and backstabbers more realistically, so I want that Federal protection behind me, particularly after I had such a hell of a time getting my no-brainer ADA accommodations three years ago.  Not that I don't trust anybody, but, I don't trust anybody.

[clean]

Wait....
IF you are taking sick leave AND FMLA, then how are you teaching ANYTHING? 
Are you taking sick leave ONLY for the few hours of face to face time you are missing?
Isnt FMLA sort of like being pregnant, in that you Are or Are Not... not hit and miss, for this and that?

See your union folk again.  IF they are going to play hard ball and be insist that you can not change the delivery style and you MUST take FMLA, then play hardball and have them replace you for all of your classes!

Is there a limit to how much FMLA one can take in a time period?  I know that there is a limit to sick leave (in that you have a limited amount, and even then, they can put you on disability after some point is reached - at least here they can!)  [and when you retire, is the policy there that you can get some of your sick leave paid out, or is it all lost-- in the olden days, you could get about 1/2 paid out, but now it is all lost.... what is your plan?  Are they hurting your retirement by these policies???  SOmething that the Union may want to consider]

IF, as you said above, you can not even have access to Canvas, how are you running the other classes?  Seems very inconsistent to me!  (But maybe I only know enough to be dangerous!)

[Puget]

Thanks, Clean.  I'm taking only intermittent FMLA for the 6 days I haven't been/can't be on campus. I was advised by my union and union lawyer to go ahead and take the FMLA to protect myself in case of any problems in the future. If we miss more than 2 consecutive days of scheduled teaching, we have to get a doctor's note; for 3+, we need the note and FMLA (board policy, for whatever reason). 

I am getting paid, via my built-up sick leave, so that's fine, and my chair took over one class and a colleague took the other.  I think it stinks for the students, but the campus president got her fingers in it and vetoed the plan that my chair and I had made, and the dean had approved:  she insisted that doing PPt lectures in Canvas for 3 days (the other 3 days I'd be missing were already scheduled as independent work days) would amount to a change in delivery modality, and she and the VCAA had a sh*t fit over it.

I'm still teaching my online and LVL (synchronous remote) sections anyway, as you say.  Whatever they want. . .not my problem at this point, though I do feel bad for feeling like I've bailed on my students.  And I do understand why the lawyer insisted I take the FMLA for protection:  our current admins are capricious at best and backstabbers more realistically, so I want that Federal protection behind me, particularly after I had such a hell of a time getting my no-brainer ADA accommodations three years ago.  Not that I don't trust anybody, but, I don't trust anybody.

I'm sorry you're going through this, it is just so bizarre to me-- here, I would just tell the class we were moving to zoom for the last few classes and no one else would expect to know or would care about that, not even my chair, let alone anyone higher up.  The idea that the president would be at all aware of or involved just boggles the mind, but I'm guessing you are at a very different type of institution.

[AmLitHist]

There is intermittent FMLA, and total FMLA; I'm taking the intermittent version, covering only those 7 days, rather than using the full 4 weeks (3 weeks of classes, plus finals week).  There's no medical reason I can't teach my online classes, so I am.

Federal law says an employee can take 12 full weeks FMLA (unpaid) per calendar year.  ALHS is having at least two major surgeries upcoming, and while I expect those and his recoveries to all be concluded during the summer and maybe the first week or two of Fall semester, one never knows. By doing intermittent FMLA now, that leaves me 10 weeks and 5 days intact through next April 17, should I need them.

It's all fine. I'm glad to have off-loaded the work of those two F2F sections (though not the students; I actually miss them). All other things being equal, a broken foot would just be an annoyance, but added to a couple of other chronic health problems, it's been nice to be able to stay home and slow down.

[FishProf]

Yet another semester, yet another student unilaterally deciding that they don't need to take the final.

In the Syllabus (and the video about the syllabus, and the syllabus quiz) it is made VERY clear that if you do not PASS the final, you do not pass the course.  Full stop.

And yet, here I have a student who wants to fight me b/c "I have a 60.21% without the final exam, and I'm taking it Pass/Fail, why isn't that good enough?"

A: See the syllabus

[fishbrains]

Yet another semester, yet another student unilaterally deciding that they don't need to take the final.

In the Syllabus (and the video about the syllabus, and the syllabus quiz) it is made VERY clear that if you do not PASS the final, you do not pass the course.  Full stop.

And yet, here I have a student who wants to fight me b/c "I have a 60.21% without the final exam, and I'm taking it Pass/Fail, why isn't that good enough?"

A: See the syllabus

[Yoda voice] The maths are weak in this one.

[paultuttle]

There is intermittent FMLA, and total FMLA; I'm taking the intermittent version, covering only those 7 days, rather than using the full 4 weeks (3 weeks of classes, plus finals week).  There's no medical reason I can't teach my online classes, so I am.

Federal law says an employee can take 12 full weeks FMLA (unpaid) per calendar year.  ALHS is having at least two major surgeries upcoming, and while I expect those and his recoveries to all be concluded during the summer and maybe the first week or two of Fall semester, one never knows. By doing intermittent FMLA now, that leaves me 10 weeks and 5 days intact through next April 17, should I need them.

It's all fine. I'm glad to have off-loaded the work of those two F2F sections (though not the students; I actually miss them). All other things being equal, a broken foot would just be an annoyance, but added to a couple of other chronic health problems, it's been nice to be able to stay home and slow down.

ALH, I hope you and ALHS have an opportunity to rest, relax, recuperate, and rejuvenate.

And congratulations on sticking it to the jackasses.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Since having a body part removed, my body can't process certain foods too well. I learned to cut them out of my diet. Unfortunately, I am discovering new foods that my body gets pissed at me for eating (could be unrelated to severed body parts- maybe aging?). So now, it looks like either black beans or dairy may not be my friends. :(