Union letter to ACCJC: This is a “public” meeting?

California Federation of Teachers President Joshua Pechthalt has sent this letter to the chair of the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), which held closed meetings in Sacramento and today, after presumably all actions before the Commission have already been decided, holds a brief “public meeting” with chairs for only 20 members of the public.

“The CFT notes that ACCJC is now also relying on a supposed “practice” of limiting members of the public to twenty at any Commission public meeting. The CFT is only aware of one prior meeting – June 2013 – where the Commission insisted on limiting attendance to 20 members of the public. Please provide the CFT with documents showing that such prior notice has been given to the public on prior occasions by the ACCJC. If it is true that the only prior instance was in June 2013, then one prior instance of such limitations does not make a practice. Regardless, the CFT also objects to the ACCJC, which is clothed with governmental authority, limiting access to its public meetings to just 20 members of the public. We note that the room for June meeting mentioned above had room for dozens if not hundreds of people. Why work to keep out members of the public seeking to learn about and participate in the Commission’s proceedings?”