Peralta Community College District's Only Student-Run Publication
Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Secondhand clothes in a variety of sizes and styles sit on a rack in the newly opened clothing exchange, where PCCD students can now access free clothes and shoes. (Photo: Desmond Meagley)
Laney clothing exchange gets permanent home
Free 'clothing store' available to Peralta students
Desmond Meagley, Staff Writer • March 11, 2024
Read Story
New district chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson delivered an impassioned speech introducing herself to PCCD at Spring 2024 Flex Day. Other keynote speeches, performances, info sessions, and trainings were held throughout the day. (Photo: Faiza Ali/PCCD)
Spring semester kicks off at districtwide Flex Day
Ivan Saravia, Staff Writer • January 31, 2024
Read Story
Archives

Peralta Board of Trustees Brief: April Hiring Freeze, Sabbaticals 

The Peralta Board of Trustees met for their standard meeting on May 11th and started with Board Vice President Nicky González Yuen describing staff appointments, evaluations and dismissals that were discussed in closed session. The board agreed to appoint Veronica Montoya as the Director of Hispanic Serving Institutions at Berkeley City College and the ratification of Atheria Smith as Interim Vice Chancellor of General Services.

During the open session, the main concern was centered around a lack of full-time faculty. On April 30th, 28 faculty members who were in the process of being hired were “frozen and reconsidered.” 

According to Peralta Federation of Teachers President Jennifer Shanoski, “Our colleges were never intended to be run by a contingent workforce.” She added that the proposed budget for next month had “more than $5,000,000 for faculty alone embedded in it.” The amount of full-time faculty has dropped precipitously, falling from 334 to just 253 during 2018-2020.

“If I’ve learned anything in the past four years in my role as tenure facilitator, (it) is that when we hire full-timers we’re making a long term investment in our students and our colleges,” said David Mitchell, a full-time ESOL instructor and the tenure facilitator at Laney who has been teaching at the college since 2005. 

Jane McKenna, head librarian for the College of Alameda, spoke about the impacts of the hiring freeze. “During Covid, two full-time staff members in the library have retired,” leaving them with only one full-time staff member. She said the library plans to open in a six phase process that could not move forward without pre-Covid staffing levels. 

Many former and current full-time faculty who had never attended a board meeting prior to the 11th echoed similar concerns and fiercely advocated for their department and colleagues in a plea to lift the hiring freeze that has been highly detrimental to the district. 

Following these comments, the board approved several sabbaticals. Trustee Linda Handy noted that she wanted to mandate presentations from those who go on sabbaticals. “A sabbatical is an investment in our faculty members in anticipation for what they’re going to bring back to the classroom,” she said, which would in turn give a timetable so they could be supported. 

The next board meeting took place on May 25th.

About the Contributor
Ethan Bronstein, Staff Writer
Ethan was born in Can Tho Vietnam but was adopted at birth and grew up in Oakland. After struggling through much of high school he took a hiatus from academics and worked for years in the restaurant industry. A sports junkie with an ever increasing interest in politics, Ethan enrolled at Laney College to follow his passion for journalism and aspires to be a sports reporter. He is excited to return to school and hone his skills as a writer and communicator. In his free time Ethan loves to hike, throw a baseball or casually shoot hoops with his friends.
Leave a Comment
Donate to The Citizen
$0
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *