On July 27 Chancellor Claire wrote to faculty to share the news that he has directed administrators to allow Fall 2022 sections with enrollment of at least ten students to run—rather than implementing the usual Board Policy that allows deans to cancel classes of less than 20. AFT applauds this decision, which we strongly believe is best for students, faculty, and our District’s long-term enrollments. As we work to recover from the ongoing pandemic, our District must offer students as many options to take courses as possible. We must also minimize disruptions to students’ educational plans, including cancellations of courses they need.

The same day Chancellor Claire announced his directive, AFT members and student trustee Lesly Ta spoke to the Board of Trustees supporting his decision. We also asked the Board to agendize the issue of class minimums and cancellation procedures for a future meeting. As you may know, community college enrollments are in crisis across the state of California: in Spring 2022, California community colleges had 865,000 FTEs, vs 1.6 million FTEs in Spring 2014, the year that Board Policy on class minimums was last reviewed. In other words, statewide enrollments are now half what they were when the 20-student minimum was last reviewed.

Speakers encouraged the Board to consult all stakeholders about what cancellation policies would best support continuing students and encourage new students to enroll. Watch the speakers below:

Watch AFT President Monica Malamud speak about the current enrollment crisis and the need for a reasonable cancellation policy:

Watch Skyline Professor Kathleen McClung speak about the benefits to students of keeping smaller classes:

Watch Student Trustee Lesly Ta speak about the impact of class cancellations on students’ educational plans:

We were pleased to hear Trustees say they plan to agendize Board Policy on cancellations for their meeting on August 24, 2022. Please let us know if you are interested in speaking about the impact of cancellations on you and your students and what you think a reasonable cancellation policy might look like. You can let us know if you’d like to speak or if you have comments you want to share with the Board by emailing AFT 1493 Executive Secretary Marianne Kaletzky at kaletzky@aft1493.org.