Accjc gone wild
CFT Statement on CCSF Loss of Accreditation
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- Statewide Community College Chancellor Brice Harris July 3, 2013 Statement on Appointment of Special Trustee
CFT Statement on CCSF Loss of AccreditationThe California Federation of Teachers will fight the decision to take accreditation away from CCSF. In press release issued on July 3, 2013, the CFT explained that “The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges today ordered the closure of California's largest college and a beacon of higher education in America’s most progressive and prosperous cities. The City College of San Francisco (CCSF) serves 90,000 students and has produced the thousands of thousands of police officers, firefighters, nurses and teachers who protect and serve our communities. This outrageous, ill-conceived and unprecedented decision will have a harsh, immediate and irreversible impact on the academic future of current students and will undermine the achievements of College alumni. “ They went on to state the following: “We share the anger and disappointment of colleagues, dedicated professionals who have worked tirelessly to build CCSF into one of the premier post-secondary institutions in the nation. Make no mistake however; we will fight back. At no point in the accrediting commission’s so-called assessment has anyone faulted the quality of education our students receive. This arbitrary and punitive action by the Commission, coming on the heels of numerous protests over its illegal evaluation processes, serious conflicts of interest by its president and other representatives, and violations of Federal and State law, reveals the extent to which the Commission is out-of-touch with its primary mission, to recognize, and collaboratively assist colleges in meeting Federal requirements for the benefit of their students. The ACCJC has cultivated a climate of fear and intimidation throughout the entire community college system. They have usurped the authority of the Chancellor’s office of the California Community College system by involving itself in financial operations of the community colleges. Yet, efforts to raise questions about their behavior and conflicts of interest have been followed with further sanctions against the institutions that have dared to speak out. The CFT believes a robust, thorough, and transparent accrediting process conducted by qualified and legitimate educators and one that engages the entire education community is critical to developing workable short and long-term strategies for academic achievement. Coercion and intimidation to impose its own top down and extremist philosophies on colleges have no place in our schools or our democratic society. This most egregious example of a reign of terror has gone unchecked by top-level system wide bureaucrats. The CFT will continue to stand with the students, faculty and staff of CCSF. We will work to overturn this unjust decision that threatens the entire City College community and colleges throughout California and the western region. The CFT Will Fight for Students, Faculty and Staff and to Maintain A Quality Public Education for All “ Statewide Community College Chancellor Brice Harris July 3, 2013 Statement on Appointment of Special TrusteeOn July 3, 2013 California Community College Chancellor Brice W. Harris issued a statement that “"As chancellor of the largest system of higher education in the nation, I cannot sit by and allow this institution, which serves 85,000 students, to close. After consulting with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, I have determined that the best course of action to try to rescue City College is to appoint a special trustee with extraordinary powers to help right the institution and position it for long term success. Under the accrediting commission's appeal process, City College can appeal the decision and work over the next year to address the remaining deficiencies identified by the commission. It is very important to note that City College is still open and accredited and will accept new students for the fall term." “The community college Board of Governors will approve a special trustee entrusted with the ability to run the college in place of the elected Board of Trustees. The current Board will be in office but without the power to act. The new special trustee will not be given the ability to nullify collective bargaining agreements but would be able to negotiate new contracts. A major emphasis will be to strengthen the fiscal administration of the college. The hope is that enough movement toward meeting the demands of the ACCJC will be made before July of 2014 to allow CCSF to continue to operate as an accredited college.” In a video provided to the public on July 3, 2013, Chancellor Harris stated that CCSF has not done enough to bring the college into compliance with the standards that the community colleges of California agreed to operate under. He claimed that CCSF did not have the luxury of time to meet the requirements required by ACCJC. Even though the college had made progress, Harris said that it had not made enough progress to satisfy the ACCJC and thus the need to appoint a special trustee to replace the elected trustees at CCSF. He asked that everyone in the college community work together in order to make the changes that would allow CCSF to continue to be accredited. At the conclusion of the showing of Chancellor Harris’s video, he and Deputy Chancellor in the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Erik Skinner received the following e-mail from Barbara Beno: “From: Barbara Beno To: Harris. Brice, Skinner. Erik Subject: Roll out Date: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 5:30:49 PM Dear Brice: Beautiful job. Thanks for your video statement, and for all the rest. We are staying late, watching the various news accounts. I think generally the news is letting people know that the college may survive, with the right leadership. I look forward to watching your efforts. Have a good weekend.” I am not sure what Beno means when she says that with the right leadership the college may survive. I am not sure what Harris is talking about when he says that “work over the next year to address the remaining deficiencies identified by the commission.” The review procedure and the appeal procedure do not allow any new information into the hearings. There are no planned visiting teams scheduled to visit CCSF before the July 2014 deadline. There is no requirement for the ACCJC to consider their action except in the review and appeal process. When and who would look to see what “improvements” the “new leadership” would bring? By the way, the “new leadership” are the same people who were running the show when the college was denied accreditation. An-mail dated July 3, 2013 was sent from Beno to Scott-Skillman to Agrella stating: “Dear Thelma and Bob, Here is a copy of the action letter that was mailed today, certified, return receipt. Sincerely, Barb” This was referring to the appointment of a special trustee (Agrella). Current CCSF Board of Trustee member Rafael Mandelmann opposed the appointment of a Special Trustee: “Now I’m sure that the State Chancellor is a well-meaning man, but the fact is that his people have been in charge of the college for nearly a year, with the elected Board deferring to their direction on all matters. The problem is not the elected Board, or the State Chancellor, or an excess of democracy at the College. The problem is the ACCJC.” Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 2.61 Mb. Share with your friends:
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