Newsroom
Legislator of the Year: Jose Medina
Many legislators, although they seem good at first, have a “shelf life,” said Community College Council President Jim Mahler, which expires when they stop responding to the people who elected them. Mahler said to combat this by finding your own candidates. Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, winner of CFT’s Legislator of the Year Award, was just who the union was looking for.
Restorative justice seeks to end the school-to-prison pipeline
How educators can help transform classrooms and school climates
If an African American male student is suspended, there’s a 90 percent chance he’ll end up in prison some time in his life. In 2013-14, there were half a million suspensions in California schools, many those of black and brown children. These statistics make equity in education one of the great civil rights struggles of our time, said Ali Cooper, the executive director of the Restorative Schools Vision Project.
Organizing: Building our union power
In a panel discussion moderated by Joanne Waddell, president of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, four leaders in very different situations — three from California and one from Texas, a right-to-work state — talked about what they’d done to significantly increase their membership and get people involved with the union.
EC/K12 Award: Claytor honored with Raoul Teilhet Award
After people in leadership at the local where he is the former president, United Teachers Los Angeles, got up to talk about his mentoring, his commitment to growing the movement, and the respect they have for him, the winner of this year’s Ben Rust award, John Perez, got up to speak.
In Memoriam: Former CFT President Miles Myers dies
Passionate educator led CFT for five years, edited California Teacher for 15
Teacher, author and former CFT President Miles Myers died December 15 from complications related to heart disease. Myers devoted his six-decade career to improving educational standards and the conditions for teaching and learning in public education. He was 84.
CFT introduces significant bills in 2016 session
Each year our members recommend legislation that will address important issues to educators and the students we serve. Based upon these recommendations and Executive Council approval, the CFT is sponsoring several new bills and a budget proposal aimed at improving our working conditions, and strengthening the labor movement and public education.
Rank & Files, Feb-March 2016
Linda McAllister, a sociology instructor at Berkeley City College and member of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, Local 1603, was one of four professors honored by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors with a Gerald C. Hayward Award for Excellence in Education, a designation that comes with $1,250. McAllister has sought access for traditionally underserved student populations, and piloted a program to recruit recent community college graduates with masters’ degrees to teach in the community colleges. She also developed curriculum, scheduling, and degree alignment so working adults could meet their degree goals.
Local Wire, Feb-Mar 2016
LOCALS 1481, 1493, 3267
Schools our students deserve… More than 250
parents, teachers, school staff, students, and community members
attended the “Schools Our Children Deserve” conference at Skyline
College on March 19 to hold a four-hour conversation about what
should be happening in North San Mateo County public schools.
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Campus Equity Week draws attention to inequities among faculty in higher education and calls for economic justice, job security, and institutional support for contingent and part-time faculty. Originally organized by the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, these October events aim to bring greater awareness to the precarious situation for contingent faculty in higher education, organize for action, and build solidarity.
Will you be eligible for unemployment this summer?
By Grace Chee
At the end of each semester or academic term, full-time faculty go on break, while adjunct faculty become unemployed or underemployed — still working and making less than $600 per week — until the next semester or term starts.
During these periods, you may be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits of up to $450 a week, for up to 26 weeks per year in California.
One conversation at a time: Part-time faculty join the union in record numbers
By Linda Sneed
As a CFT vice president and representative of part-time faculty in my district, I’m pleased by the efforts made by my local union and the CFT to strengthen member engagement and outreach. The CFT “Building Our Power” campaign is helping locals do a better job of not only sharing information with bargaining unit members but seeking their input.
Do you know what to do during a campus emergency?
Part-time faculty identify needs for further training and information
How much do you know about maintaining a safe and secure environmentwhere you teach? If you don’t know your campus’ safety and security protocols and expectations of faculty in emergencies, do you know where to find them?
Soon after an isolated incident at Sacramento City College in September that left one person dead and another hospitalized, part-time Sociology instructor Angelo Williams began thinking about campus safety, what he needed to know, and how to support students in the wake of the event.