AFT 2121 Demand The Firing of CCSF Chancellor Rocha For Cause

Ignoring Advise From Their Union President, AFT 2121 Membership Vote To Call For the Firing Of CCSF Chancellor Mark Rocha For Cause

2/26/20

By Steve Zeltzer
WorkWeek
labormedia1 [at] gmail.com

At a rank and file petition called special meeting, the membership of the San Francisco Community College local on February 26, 2020 voted 17 to 12 to call for the City College Board of Trustees to fire Chancellor Mark Rocha for cause.
An organization, Higher Education Action Team HEAT which includes students, supporters of SF Community College and AFT 2121 members supported the resolution that called for the union to take a strong positon against what they argued were destructive actions that threatened the future of the college by Chancellor Mark Rocha and his adminstrative team.

They issued a series of cause for the termination of Rocha saying

A. He discouraged San Francisco’s city government from providing funding that could have been used to restore classes listed in the Spring 2020 schedule that he unilaterally cut right before the start of registration.

B. He cut the Spring 2020 classes without consulting department chairs and others as required.

C. He claimed last spring that CCSF had a major deficit.

1. He then acted to reduce from the Fall 2019 schedule a significant number of classes compared to the previous fall term.

2. Despite the claimed deficit, he secretly attempted to enact a measure that would have provided administrators with massive increases in their annual salaries—up to $100,000.

D. Student enrollment has been discouraged and has been declining:

1. The registration processes are still cumbersome and difficult.

2. The printed class schedule is not widely distributed throughout the city, and classes listed in it are prematurely cancelled invalidating its content.

E. Payroll processes still generate vast numbers of errors resulting in multiple grievances.

H. He has proven incapable of properly handling the college’s finances as indicated by the lack of controls and the rapid decline in the reserves since he became chancellor.

I. He has failed to begin the process for building the voter approved Performing Education Arts Center.

President Jenny Worley also announced at the meeting before the vote that an additional 1,000 classes will be cut by Rocha from the Fall semester putting the students, faculty and staff of the college in further danger.
Worley and others argued that instead of calling for his termination the members should work to get support for a motion of no confidence by others and said that Rocha might be leaving after the vote on the upcoming $845 million bond measures that will go to the ballot on March 3, 2020. His resignation if left to the CCSF BOT would likely include hundreds of thousands of dollars in a buyout. A similar buyout took place at Pasadena Community College when the faculty and students demanded that he be removed after shutting down a semester at the college and engaging in massive financial mismanagement.
Faculty at CCSF have also charged that Rocha has a personal financial conflict of interest that should be investigated.

Union members also submitted a motion that the the BOT transfer the operation of the college to the Department chairs who have the legal right to run the college and are fully aware of the needs of the college and it’s operation.

Teachers were also angry the San Francisco Mayor London Breed had vetoed a $2.7 million bridge grant to protect 300 classes that Chancellor Rocha had imposed for this year’s Fall semester. San Francisco officials with a $12 billion budget is now telling the college staff and students they can’t afford a small amount of funds to keep the classes from being eliminated. Rocha had told the SF City officials in an email that the College was not interested in additional funding since this budget cut was part of the downsizing of the college. The bill was vetoed with the support of SF Supervisors Peskin, Yee and Mandelman who the union local had supported in the last election.

There was also no public calls by any of the San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees including John Rizzo and Shanell William for Mayor London Breed to approve the funding to keep the classes going including the many classes for older adults classes at San Francisco senior centers. Shanell Williams is running for the “Progressive Slate” on the Democratic County Central Committee and has been a supporter of Mayor London Breed.

Reports were also made at the meeting about the personal threats and assualts on students by administrators of Rocha to silence them. According to a speaker, students who spoke not only they were threatened with losing grants but were actually retaliated against by Rocha’s administrative staff.

Speakers also talked about the budget cuts which have targeted the Evans Center which serves working class minority students in Hunters Point and Bay View. The vocational classes have been cut and the administration has talked about selling off these campuses to developers which is also supported by former Trustee Rafael Mandelman who is now a San Francisco Supervisor. Mandelman who is a “non-profit” real estate lawyer is also for the sale of the PUC owned Balboa reservoir to Avalon and other developers for million dollars condos for San Francisco’s wealthy new arrivals.

Members also discussed the continuing effect of funding cuts implemented by state bill AB 705 which punishes community colleges if students do not graduate within two years. Many working class students work two and three jobs and cannot afford to go full time to community college and this will directly harm college funding from the state when students do not graduate within two years. The bill was also pushed and written in part by the Lumina Foundation and the ALEC and passed by the Democratic controlled legislator including San Francisco representatives Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblyman David Chiu and Phil Ting.
They have also supported legislation eliminating remedial classes at California Community Colleges and the California State University system.
The Board of Governors of the Community College is also controlled politically by these political forces. Amy Supinger who is on the payroll of the Limina Foundation and supporter of the Acclerating Student Success Project also works at the Community College Chancellor’s office.

Plans are being made to have a rally on March 16, 2020, 8:30 AM at the Community College Board of Governors in Sacramento which is located at 1102 Q St. 6th Floor Sacrament.

The massive budget crisis facing not only City college but Peralta Community College, Santa Rosa Community College and San Francisco City Unifed School District which is moving to layoff hundreds of teachers with a supposed $26 million budget cut. UESF members at SFUSD are also demanding that the union take a strike vote to prepare to shut the district down against the budget cuts.
This is taking place with a state budget surplus of $30 billion, a Democratic governor and a super majority of Democrats in the State legislature.

Some members also discussed the need to unite with other public education teachers and students in San Francisco and the state. HEAT’s next meeting will be on Friday March 6 at the Mission Campus of City College. For more information ccsfheat [at] gmail.com

AFT 2121 CCSF Faculty Speak Out On Rocha Budget Cuts & Public Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCjhCG0wunc
AFT 2121 CCSF faculty spoke out on 2/26/20 about the massive cuts of classes by Chancellor Mark Rocha and how they are affecting the
students, faculty and staff. This took place at a specially called meeting by the rank and file which voted to call on the CCSF Board of Trustees
to fire Mark Rocha for cause.
Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.laborvideo.org