By Mark James Miller
Even before Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shelter-at-home order, Allan Hancock College was gearing up to meet the challenges the COVID-19 virus presents to an institution of higher learning.
For faculty and students, this new normal brings with it many issues regarding how best to continue the mission of education — providing the students with the highest quality of instruction — while trying to remain free of the virus and maintain social distancing.
The new bipartisan federal stimulus legislation, known as the CARES Act, was signed yesterday. The $2.2 trillion bill — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — is the third piece of federal coronavirus response legislation passed in recent days and contains significant new resources to assist in COVID-19 recovery.
More than 12,000 members were able to join one of the two CFT Tele-Townhall meetings held on March 18. Combined, the meetings were the largest gathering of CFT members ever.
You can listen to the CFT Tele-Townhall here! (The recording starts at the 12-second mark.)
On the calls we received encouraging words from State Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond, who offered his support and thanked CFT members. He also discussed the many efforts the governor’s office and the Department of Education are taking to support our schools.
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
Over the past few days, our lives have changed significantly. There have been many fast moving coronavirus-related developments.
We will continue to work with decision-makers to protect you, your students, and your communities. With the situation continuing to develop quickly, we are doing our best to stay on top of it.
We want to provide as much information to our members as possible, but we hope not to overwhelm you with too much.
The California Legislature took emergency action yesterday and passed Senate Bill 117 to address several of the issues confronting schools and their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. SB 17 and two other emergency bills passed by the Legislature will take effect immediately.
The CFT will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates from the California Legislature.
The CFT was successful in introducing sponsored legislation for 2020. Our new bills address priority issues for the CFT, including providing affordable housing for public school employees, ensuring that school employees who are on extended medical leave receive full pay, requiring charter schools to participate in CalSTRS and CalPERS, and providing support for community college and University of California faculty.
Note: This helpful article was written for a local community college audience, but many of the principles apply to all of higher education as well as K-12 education.
By Jim Mahler, President, AFT Guild, Local 1931, San Diego and Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community Colleges