CCSF Students & Teachers Demand More Chemistry Classes for Quality Healthcare Jobs

Dear Community,

Today, City College students, including the Student Chancellor and other campus leaders, delivered a petition to Interim Chancellor Bailey imploring him to add the Chemistry classes and teachers needed to meet student demand for Chemistry 32 & 40, gateway classes to essential careers in Nursing, Pharmacy Tech, Radiology, & Engineering.

A minimum of 193 students were again locked out of these courses this semester due to administrative inaction and half-measures. 193 doesn’t count all the students who saw the full classrooms and waitlists and gave up. See Guardsman article here.

Semester after semester hundreds of students have been locked out of intro Chemistry classes that are prerequisites for a range of vital science, healthcare, and engineering jobs our students want and our City needs. CCSF leaders have been hiding behind false obstacles for too long–the budget is there, the students are waiting, and the time for meaningful action is now.

It will take hiring at least 3 more full-time Chemistry teachers to meaningfully address this problem: 1 to replace a teacher retiring this year and at least 2 more hires to ameliorate this crisis. 2 new full-time teachers would have been able to serve 168 of the 193 students locked out this semester, so 3 new full-time Chemistry teachers is the least CCSF leaders should be considering. Doing so would be a smart investment in CCSF’s financial stability, enrollment growth, and students.

The good news is our collective advocacy is working: students, AFT 2121, and community pressure have moved Interim Chancellor Bailey to commit to replacing the 1 Chemistry faculty member retiring this year. With this one hire, Interim Chancellor Bailey is maintaining the status quo–now it’s time for him to actually address the problem.

CCSF’s students, faculty/AFT 2121, and community will not give up.