English class shortage at CCSF pauses paths to degrees

San Fran government schools are failures.  How bad?  Graduates of these schools need remedial reading to get into City College of San Fran (OJ Simpson became a football star here).

“A lack of introductory English courses at City College of San Francisco puts over 200 students’ career paths on pause.

Most City College students must complete an English 1A class before enrolling in more advanced, degree-specific courses. The prerequisite English course is needed for most degrees — from liberal arts majors like communications and history, but also for students in the college’s nursing and fire science programs.

“It’s a gateway class for so many things that students want to accomplish,” CCSF English Professor Alisa Messer said. “Not just in their careers or academic work, but just in terms of being citizens.”

This is the proof of the failure of San Fran government schools—GRADUATES are unable to read and use English well enough for a community college!

English class shortage at CCSF pauses paths to degrees

By Allyson Aleksey | SF Examiner,  6/2/24   https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/education/english-class-shortage-at-ccsf-pauses-paths-to-degrees/article_f86a73f6-1f77-11ef-bdb1-237fde3f570c.html

A lack of introductory English courses at City College of San Francisco puts over 200 students’ career paths on pause.

Most City College students must complete an English 1A class before enrolling in more advanced, degree-specific courses. The prerequisite English course is needed for most degrees — from liberal arts majors like communications and history, but also for students in the college’s nursing and fire science programs.

“It’s a gateway class for so many things that students want to accomplish,” CCSF English Professor Alisa Messer said. “Not just in their careers or academic work, but just in terms of being citizens.”

But if you want to enroll in English 1A, you’ll have to wait in line behind over 200 students — and Messer is worried this will discourage students from continuing their studies or otherwise prevent them from obtaining their degrees.

Messer teaches an English 1A class and said she had “a full-sized class,” or about 30 students, on her waiting list the day it opened for spring semester enrollment.

AFT 2121, the City College faculty union, describes a bigger problem. In a statement released Friday, the union stated, “This spring semester alone, over five classes worth of students sat on waitlists and were unable to enroll in English 1A.”

Steven Mayers, who has taught in the English department since 2005, said that six formerly-tenured colleagues were fired in Spring 2022, causing a low supply of prerequisite English courses. Faculty members pushed back against the layoffs, and the Board of Trustees decided to rehire some of the professors who had been fired last year.

But the union said that current Chancellor David Martin has refused “to add the necessary classes, even after community members raised the alarm about precisely this issue last summer.”

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Union members joined students and other faculty who also voiced their concerns about the growing waitlist at a Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, during which new interim chancellor Mitchell Bailey’s contract was approved.

“We’re asking the board to work with our incoming chancellor to meet our students’ needs,” Mayers said, adding that expanding English 1A availability would lead to enrollment gains.

Increasing enrollment at City College is a priority, Board of Trustees President Alan Wong said. For over 10 years, CCSF was financially unstable and saw declining enrollment, but recently experienced some gains and must continue “to prioritize the most in-demand classes and continue our successful enrollment growth at City College, which has grown 10% this academic year,” he said.

“We must keep spending flat through employee attrition while prioritizing the classes with the highest student enrollment, such as English 1A,” Wong told The Examiner.

Student Trustee Heather Brandt was among the students who struggled to get into an English 1A class prior to the 2022 layoffs, which the union said exacerbated an already dismal situation.

“[The waitlists now] will result in a mass exodus of students if City College will not listen to the needs of these students” and open up more English 1A courses, she said.

Messer, the English 1A professor, is hopeful as the college transitions into new leadership.

“This is fixable,” she said. “We have the funds, and the faculty ready, and students who want to enroll.”