Dear CCSF Community,
It’s hard to believe that we are embarking on our eighth week in quarantine. Because of the work we’ve done together to flatten the curve, new shelter-in-place guidelines will go into effect today, Monday, May 4, with some loosening of restrictions. Even so, we need to remain diligent, and only leave the house for essential reasons, always wear a face covering, and continue social distancing efforts. The curve appears to be flattening, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
Thank you for your patience dealing with the systems outage over the weekend. Unfortunately, due to shelter-in-place, equipment normally maintained by our staff failed. A HUGE thank you to everybody who worked over the weekend to repair the equipment and get us back online.
During this challenging time of uncertainty, we have enjoyed hearing stories about the inspiring things our students, staff, and faculty are doing to adapt to our evolving new normal. Please email me at Chancellor@ccsf.edu with your good news stories and we’ll share them with the College Community.
The rest of my note includes updates on our government lobbying efforts, the Return to Campus (R2C) Task Force, summer registration, the dedicated staff who are continually raising the bar for our students, and how to access campus as the shelter-in-place continues.
Advocating for the College
We continue to work diligently with our government partners to secure a strong future for our students, staff, our faculty, and our College.
- We are continuing to work closely with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and other elected leaders to secure debt forgiveness for a $2.4 million annual payment owed to the State Chancellor’s office, which would free up much-needed funding for academic programming and student support services.
- At the state level to secure emergency funding for our undocumented students, who have been unjustly barred from accessing CARES Act funding by the federal government. We are also working on an agreement that would prevent us from losing funding should taxes at the state level be less than projected.
- At the federal level, we are pursuing additional funding as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and a Minority Serving Institution (MSI).
We will keep the community updated on this work, and hope to have victories to share soon.
FY20/21
I want to thank the PGC Budget and Enrollment Management Committees for their preparing for and participating in the combined meetings held the past two weeks. It is clear, especially with the very strong likelihood we are heading for a recession, we must advocate at all levels for adequate funding for our college. Our enrollments will likely grow, at a time when traditional approaches to community college funding are reduced. More detailed information and how you can help will be shared next week. We will keep the community updated on this work, and hope to have victories to share soon.
Return to Campus (R2C) Task Force
To prepare for the reopening of campus, last week I convened the first meeting of our Return to Campus (R2C) Task Force via Zoom. The R2C Task Force, which includes leaders from each of our constituent groups, has been charged with developing a collegewide plan to reopen in-person classes, student services and operations in a phased approach in line with Governor Gavin Newsom’s recommendations. Timelines and decision-points will be driven by data, COVID-19 tracking models, best practices, and local and state health orders. Through extensive planning and preparation, we can ensure we will be fully prepared to provide our community with a safe place to learn, teach and work when the time is right. Be sure to watch for weekly Task Force updates in my Friday emails moving forward.
Summer Term Registration
In more good news, I’m happy to report that prior to this weekend’s systems outage, enrollment for Summer 2020 credit coursework was up over the same time last year! Enrollment for the Summer term remains open through June 6, and we are thrilled to already see such a positive response.
Student Support
There are so many people who have gone above and beyond to not only keep the College running, but to improve and expand existing services and programs in service of our students. An excellent example comes from our Student Affairs, Library and IT teams who have developed and launched a new student registration interface, which has already received extensive positive feedback from our students.
Campus Access Requirements
While our campus and centers remain closed, we understand that given the extended shelter-in-place, some community members may need to request access under special circumstances. Instructions on how to submit these requests, which must be followed in order to protect everyone’s health and safety, will be distributed later this week. If you have any questions, please contact your supervisor directly.
I’d like to again thank you all for your continued dedication and hard work in service of our students, our community, and our City.
In Gratitude,
Dianna R. Gonzales
Interim Chancellor
City College of San Francisco