Parental Accommodations

This policy applies to all fully affiliated faculty members who are new parents and who are not represented by collective bargaining: lecturers, clinical assistant professors, clinical instructors, and instructors. Faculty members from the SOPP and the BSOM are excluded.

Wright State University agrees to the following accommodations for faculty who are new parents. These provisions are effective immediately.

2080.1.1

Parental Teaching Relief

Parental Teaching Relief is intended to provide a birth or adoptive parent with additional time to care for a newborn or newly-adopted child under the age of six. Eligible faculty may choose to take either one full quarter with no teaching responsibilities or two quarters with 50% of their customary teaching load without loss of pay. Teaching relief quarters must be started within one year of the birth or adoption.

1. Eligibility
   The faculty member must, during the teaching relief quarter(s), be the primary caretaker of his or her newborn or newly adopted child under six for at least 25 hours per week, from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
2. Application
   1. Parental Teaching Relief will be granted if requested by a faculty member who meets the requirements for eligibility.
   2. Requests must be submitted to the Provost as much in advance as is reasonably possible.
   3. Requests must include a signed statement that the individual will satisfy the requirement for eligibility, as defined above.

2080.1.2

Annual Evaluation of New Parents

All faculty members who have a newly born or adopted child under the age of six may, upon request, receive the average evaluation score in their department for annual evaluation in the year in which the child was born or adopted, or in one of the following two years. Thus, a faculty member with a child born or adopted in 2007 has the option of receiving an average evaluation score for 2007, 2008, or 2009. The request must be made no later than December 31 of the year for which the average evaluation score is requested.

2080.1.3

Class Scheduling

When preparing teaching schedules and other assignments, department chairs and deans are encouraged to consider the child care responsibilities of faculty members with children under the age of six. The faculty member's schedule requests will be considered but cannot be guaranteed, and reasonable adjustments to accommodate parenting responsibilities shall not be construed as preferential treatment of those individuals.

2080.1.4

Support for Ongoing Professional Commitments

Faculty members may apply to their dean for support to maintain their laboratory operations or other ongoing professional commitments during the year following the birth or adoption of a child under six.

2080.1.5

Other Support

In addition to the provisions described above, faculty members may receive other types of assistance: sick leave in line with the FMLA and/or unpaid child care leave.