Join City Hall hearings on the cuts | Class loss tracking | Presidential race survey | COPE

Posted on January 16, 2020 by AFT 2121

(1/28 & 1/31) Upcoming City Hall hearings: Stop the cuts!

Yesterday, the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee reviewed our ordinance (sponsored by Supervisor Walton) to allocate $2.7 million for bridge funding to CCSF in order to restore the Spring Schedule. Supes Sandra Fewer and Shamman Walton voted in favor of sending it to the full board. Rafael Mandelman voted against it, saying, “I really do not understand this particular proposal,” Mandelman said. “City College has not officially asked for this.” He added, “City College needs to get its fiscal house in order.”

Once again, students, faculty, and community turned out supporting our college with spirited public comment that went for almost an hour. They argued that the class cuts were misguided and implemented with no input from faculty or chairs in a surprise “midnight massacre” on the eve of registration. They made a clear case that the city has the responsibility to ensure that City College remain the community college that the communities in San Francisco need.

The funding would come out of the city budget’s general fund reserve, which has about $130 million in it. This allocation would be a bridge until the voters can weigh in on a Community Higher Education Fund (CHEF), this November. Similar to the voter approved Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) that provides tens of millions of dollars annually to the San Francisco Unified School District, CHEF would also leverage funds from The City to pay for the kind of community college that San Francisco wants and needs.

Help keep CCSF a college open to all of our San Francisco communities! Join two upcoming hearings at City Hall on the devastating class cuts at City College:

Tuesday, 1/28 from 1-4pm — Rally and Hearing. Join the 1pm rally on Polk Street Steps and stay for public comment to the full Board of Supervisors at their regular meeting. Supervisor Walton’s $2.7M Emergency Bridge Funds ordinance could help reverse more than 300 classes just slashed from the CCSF schedule.
Friday, 1/31 from 9:30-11:30am — Press Conference and Hearing. Join the 9:30am press conference and stay for public comment to the Joint Education Committee. As we continue the fight for bridge funds to restore our Spring 2020 schedule, Supervisor Walton has called a Joint Education Committee hearing on the effects that class cuts have on low income students and students of color.

Mark your calendar! And in the meantime, please keep up the pressure on the Supes listed below. Despite Chancellor Rocha’s attempts to sabotage our efforts and the extremely disappointing lack of support from our own Trustees, we have 6 of the 8 co-sponsors we need for a veto-proof vote on the ordinance. We just need 2 more! If we get them, we will be able to restore many (though sadly not all) of the classes for a late start schedule. Make calls! Send emails and letters! And to get involved in our lobbying efforts, contact Athena Waid, awaid@aft2121.org.

Ahsha Safai, District 11

(415) 554-6975, Ahsha.Safai@sfgov.org

Aaron Peskin, District 3
(415) 554-7450, Aaron.Peskin@sfgov

Rafael Mandelman, District 8
(415) 554-6968, MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org

(1/21 & 1/27) January COPE meetings & agendas

TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2020, 2pm

OCEAN CAMPUS MUB 261

Conversation with Alan Wong, candidate for CCSF BOT
Sign on request from Sara Shortt, Community Housing Partnership re: Proposition C Implementation and funding (Action Item)

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020, 11:30-1:30pm

OCEAN CAMPUS MUB 261

Shall AFT 2121 make endorsements in the 2020 races for Congressional Representative and State Senator?
Proposition A (City College Bond), Former CCSF Dean Jorge Bell
DCCC Endorsement vote

Class loss reporting form

After making dramatic cuts to the already published Spring schedule, administration is now making another round of cuts to classes that remained in the schedule.

Please, use this form to log and record a class or section you have lost. This form is intended for instructors. If you have a student who lost a class, please email jkusnir@aft2121.org with your story.

We can not guarantee restoration of any classes but this information helps is as we are bargaining with the district and fighting back against the cuts.

AFT 212’s 2020 Presidential election survey

AFT 2121 is conducting a survey of our members about the 2020 Presidential election. Should we endorse anyone? If so, who are your preferred candidates and priority issues? What organizing are you willing to commit to?

The outcome of the November 2020 presidential elections will be extremely important for teachers, students and the future of public education. A president committed to quality education will care about under what pay & conditions we teach, and how our teaching is funded. S/he should also be concerned about the skyrocketing levels of student debt, and how to enable the broadest possible affordable access to public higher education. If there is enough interest, we will be hosting a special COPE meeting in February where faculty proxies of candidates can make their cases.

PRESIDENTIAL ISSUES SURVEY HERE