Dear Peralta Community,
Second Tuesday brings the month’s first e-Communiqué. Send items and info you’d like to see in this space to PFT Communications Director Matthew Goldstein at mgoldstein@peralta.edu.
*The Peralta Board of Trustees meets tonight at seven at 333 E. Eighth St. for its only Nov. meeting. Notable agenda items include a public hearing on Local 39’s contract proposal, consideration of a $25K contract extension for employee-investigator Mark Paschal, and a move “to formally enter into an exclusive negotiation agreement (ENA) between the City of Oakland (City) and Peralta Community College District (District) to explore the potential of purchasing the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.”
*The PFT Executive Council voted unanimously Nov. 4 to condemn the district’s use of Measure A money in connection with any potential purchase of the Kaiser Center. PFT’s vote followed anti-Kaiser resolutions from the academic senates at BCC, CoA, and Merritt. With college facilities in need of basic maintenance and repair, faculty are troubled by the administration’s consideration of a risky land deal, particularly in the midst of the district financial crisis and a collapsing California real-estate market.
*The announcement of three finalists for the top PCCD job has done little to quell faculty concerns about the chancellor-search and -selection processes. PFT urges the board to approve site visits to the finalists’ home colleges before the Nov. 29-30 candidate interviews in the district. If the board doesn’t authorize Nov. site visits, the PFT Executive Council has formally moved to send PFT delegations to the sites, to hold public forums on their findings, and to work with SEIU and Local 39 to initiate a no-confidence vote in the hiring process. PFT asks everyone concerned about the future of the district to seek and share information about the three candidates by performing Google searches, contacting colleagues at the relevant campuses, etc. The three finalists are Edna Chun, VP of HR at Broward Community College (Fla.); Lawrence Cox, Provost/CEO of Compton College (Cal.); and Ed Gould, Superintendant/President of Imperial Valley College (Cal.).
*All Peralta board candidates backed by PFT’s political action committee (PAC) secured new terms. Abel Guillén (Area 7), Linda Handy (Area 3), and Bill Riley (Area 5) reclaimed their seats, thanks in no small part to PFT PAC support. (Early PAC endorsement helped President Guillén run unopposed; his name didn’t appear on the ballot.) PFT looks forward to strengthening its ties with the trustees, and reaffirms its commitment to pushing them hard to get the district on track.
*A PFT General Membership meeting is set for Thurs., December 9, 3-5 p.m., in Room A-266 at Laney. The meeting, the second of the semester, will focus on getting faculty input on contract proposals to help PFT counter the district’s grim wish list of takeaways. Faculty are encouraged to email suggestions for contract items to mgoldstein@peralta.edu.
In solidarity,
Matthew Goldstein, Communications Director
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
(PFT President Debby Weintraub is on vacation. She’ll be back for the next e-Communiqué, set to go out Tues., Nov. 23.)
For more about PFT—contract information, contacts, downloadable forms, updates, etc.—visit pft1603.org or write PFT1603info@gmail.com.