Department chairs talk future education

 

By Patrick Cochran

pcochran@theguardsman.com

     Concerned for the future of their school, City College department chairs gathered in the Multi-Use Building on Oct. 2 to discuss the pending Education Master Plan (EMP), which will blueprint the college’s educational provisions from 2020 to 2025.

The meeting was one of a dozen held for various constituent groups  on Oct. 1 and 2. At the department chair session, attendees feared the EMP would fail to address important topics, including classes being cut, facilities not being maintained and inadequate levels of staffing.

“Everybody in our department is part-time,” said Judy Hubbell, the third older adults department chair in the last year.

“I work an 80-hour week and was paid for six,” she said. “No secretary, no help, no administrative aid, no nothing. I have 35 faculty, 75 classes to administer, with 27 sites at five campuses, and there is no way I can do that without help.”

The chairs also took issue with the state of college facilities.

“There have been proposals to upgrade our facilities, and every time they were supposed to do something it got waylaid, snafued or postponed for one reason or another,” floristry department chair Steven Brown said.

The EMP is a part of Vision 90, a college vision to advance student achievement, improve infrastructure and provide more innovation. A release for its public review is expected in either late November or early December.

“The [EMP] will provide us with a forum to explore what is possible, to refine our processes, to set reasonable, achievable goals and to regularly access what decisions are goods ones and should be built upon,” college Media Relations Director Connie Chan said.