Voices Against Privatizing Public Education
Our main goal is to ensure equal access to a quality public education for all. Access to a quality public education is a right and not a privilege.
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mit-disciplines-student-commencement-speaker-who-condemned-school-s-…
www.msn.com
(JTA) — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has barred the senior class president from further graduation events after she accused the school of aiding “genocide” in Gaza and called for th…
Incident at Oakland high school has set off ugly battle pitting principals against teachers
By Jill Tucker,
Education Reporter
May 29, 2025
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-principal-teacher-union-20337166.php
The United Administrators of Oakland Schools held a press conference at La Escualita School in Oakland on May 14. Members such as Nidya Baez, principal of Fremont High School, met to strategize a response.
The United Administrators of Oakland Schools held a press conference at La Escualita School in Oakland on May 14. Members such as Nidya Baez, principal of Fremont High School, met to strategize a response.
Nathan Weyland/For the S.F. Chronicle
Students had settled into their first class of the day when the president of the Oakland teachers union walked up to the entry gate at Fremont High School on March 17.
What school staff say happened next has sparked an ugly public spat pitting the district principals and their union against the teachers’ labor leaders, with administrators accusing the teachers union of harassment, physical threats and bullying.
Multiple staff members reported to district officials and told the Chronicle that the teachers union president, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, threatened to beat up the principal, Nidya Baez.
Taiz-Rancifer denied the allegations, telling the Chronicle that “as a mother and a teacher that’s not how I approach the world.”
Fremont High School security footage
Security video at Fremont High School in Oakland shows Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, president of the teachers union and the second person to enter the door on the right, is stopped by Amado Rosas in a school hallway on March 17 after she reportedly refused to check in at the main office for a visitor pass.
Provided to S.F. Chronicle
School leaders said Taiz-Rancifer and two other union officials came to the school to meet with a special education teacher, who was teaching on an interim credential, and who the principal had decided not to rehire for the upcoming school year.
Taiz-Rancifer said she was on campus that day to defend one of the union’s members, who is Black. She called out what she said was “the disproportionate way that Black people are treated” by the district.
“That we have had to do this kind of advocacy in this district around these real harmful things that happen but go unnoticed,” she said, without specifying what she meant. “It is unfair. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.”
The Chronicle interviewed several witnesses to the interaction between Taiz-Rancifer and staff at Fremont High, viewed copies of four witness statements and obtained exclusive access to a school security video showing some of the incident.
The United Administrators of Oakland Schools, which represents 368 principals, supervisors, managers and others, has called on district officials and the school board to intervene. Spokesman John Sasaki said the district takes all reports of threats seriously, does not comment on personnel matters and would not say if the district was investigating the incident.
The labor clash adds significant tilt to an already unsteady ship. The district’s leadership is in flux after the teachers union-backed school board majority forced an early exit of the homegrown superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell, in a divisive process in April — just eight months after extending her contract through June 2027.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegSuperintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell addresses the media May 14 while announcing the cancellation of the Oakland Unified School District teachers strike at McClymonds High School.
Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell addresses the media May 14 while announcing the cancellation of the Oakland Unified School District teachers strike at McClymonds High School.
Don Feria/For the S.F. Chronicle
At public meetings, officials from the administrators union have referenced the Fremont incident as well as what they said was persistent intimidation of and retaliation against principals across the district by the teachers union leadership, often over the termination or release of a teacher.
The teachers union, the Oakland Education Association, represents the district’s 3,000 teachers, counselors, aides and other educators.
“Our members have been targeted with such language such as, ‘I'm going to kick her ass,’ ‘We will find you in the community,’ ‘We control the board, we got Kyla fired, we can get you fired,’” said the president of the administrators union, Cary Kaufman, at the April 23 school board meeting. “Our members don't feel safe walking to their cars. It happens over and over and over again.”
According to a staff member who spoke with the Chronicle and two witness statements, Taiz-Rancifer identified herself as a parent at the Fremont High gate, saying she was heading to a classroom to see a teacher on that day in mid-March.
The staff member told the Chronicle they informed Taiz-Rancifer that she needed to get a visitor pass first. Taiz-Rancifer refused, said the staff member, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
The staff member, who said they didn’t know who the visitor was at the time, said they couldn’t remember the exact words used by Taiz-Rancifer, but that the union leader threatened to beat up the principal. “She said, I’m going to hit her or I’m going to do something to her,” the person said.
One witness, in the signed statement, said Taiz-Rancifer said that if she went to the office, the principal “was going to get it.” Another wrote that she said “something along the lines of, ‘If I see Ms. Baez, I’m going to go off.’”
As Taiz-Rancifer proceeded to the classroom, the two staff members wrote in their statements, they notified other staff and administrators via walkie talkie that a person was on campus proceeding to a classroom without checking in at the office. Both said they didn’t know who she was at the time.
A case manager at the school, Amado Rosas, told the Chronicle he heard the transmission in his office and headed to intercept the person. By then, Taiz-Rancifer had met up with another union official.
The video shows the other member of the union going into a classroom and Taiz-Rancifer remaining in the hallway with Rosas as the door shuts.
Rosas said he told Taiz-Rancifer that the procedure was to check in at the main office.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegKampala Taiz-Rancifer of the Oakland Education Association was present at the school board meeting held May 14 at La Escualita Elementary School in Oakland.
Kampala Taiz-Rancifer of the Oakland Education Association was present at the school board meeting held May 14 at La Escualita Elementary School in Oakland.
Nathan Weyland/For the S.F. Chronicle
“She said, ‘I understand your procedure, but if I go down there and I see your principal, I will mess her up,’” Rosas said. “But it was more threatening. She said something more along the lines of, ‘I will f— her up.’”
Taiz-Rancifer denied using such language.
“I'll just say unequivocally, I have not ever, ever, ever said any of that,” she told the Chronicle. “It's horrible and offensive.”
Rosas, who said he was among those who signed a witness statement, told the Chronicle that the situation felt “very dangerous,” because the threat of physical violence appeared sincere.
“When you throw those words around it creates a hostile environment,” he said.
Taiz-Rancifer also said several times that Fremont High had an anti-Black atmosphere, Rosas said.
Assistant Principal Derek Boyd told the Chronicle he also heard the walkie talkie reports of a person making threats against Baez, who was teaching a leadership class at the time.
Boyd ensured staff members were following procedures for a threat on campus, and then stood outside Baez’s classroom to guard the door, he said.
When Baez finished teaching, Boyd said, he escorted her to his office, where she remained until the union leaders left sometime around noon.
Boyd, who said he was one of six staff members to submit a witness statement as part of an incident report, said a few staff members reported that Taiz-Rancifer threatened to harm Baez, saying she was going to “f—ing beat her ass.”
The Chronicle was able to view copies of four of the witness statements, with names redacted. The content reflected largely what staff said, although in one case, the time of Taiz-Rancifer’s arrival was described as between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. rather than during the first hour of classes or closer to 8:45 a.m.
The district declined to immediately provide the statements or the report to the Chronicle and requested that the Chronicle file a public records act request, which it did.
“I've never had a union president act this way,” Boyd said.
Two of the union leaders at Fremont with Taiz-Rancifer, Vilma Serrano and Carrie Anderson, said the union president did not threaten anyone or make the profanity-laden statements.
“Those are inaccurate statements,” Serrano said. “We were there too. That didn’t happen.”
They said they were with Taiz-Rancifer the entire time at the school, though Fremont High staff members disputed that and a security video of Taiz-Rancifer’s interaction with Rosas, which does not include audio, shows she was not with the two union officials when they spoke in the hallway.
Taiz-Rancifer denied issuing the specific threats described by staff or any other threats of physical harm.
“None of the phrases you included are things that sound like anything I would say,” she said.
She did not respond to requests to clarify whether she made any type of verbal threat.
Since the encounter, the teachers union has launched a campaign to get the special education teacher rehired, saying in a flyer that Baez has “led a disturbing campaign of retaliation” against teacher Chris Jackson since his election to union leadership.
“Chris has also been a powerful voice in defense of Black educators and students, confronting racial epithets and longstanding anti-Blackness at Fremont High,” according to the flyer.
So far, 1,008 letters have been sent.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegThe UAOS is speaking out against the teachers union in a rare display of division and anger over the harassment of principals and other administrators including physical threats and smear campaigns. They held a press conference at La Escualita Elementary on May 14.
The UAOS is speaking out against the teachers union in a rare display of division and anger over the harassment of principals and other administrators including physical threats and smear campaigns. They held a press conference at La Escualita Elementary on May 14.
Nathan Weyland/For the S.F. Chronicle
Baez said that making staffing decisions is part of a principal's job.
“We have to make these hard decisions,” she said, adding she expected to get a grievance or a phone call from the teachers union. “What I did not expect was a threat.”
She said that her team filed an incident report after the March 17 encounter, and that the district’s legal department issued a “stay away letter.” But Taiz-Rancifer has returned since, citing union business, and the district did not remove her from campus, Baez said.
Baez and staff, including Boyd, the assistant principal, who is Black, said the accusations based on one staffing decision were unfair. Data shows the school has an 88% graduation rate for Black seniors, one of the highest in the district.
Other principals told the Chronicle they’ve also been harassed for personnel decisions in recent years, but with more frequency this year, allegations they also made at public meetings.
“I have been one of the principals targeted,” said Shalonda Gregory, principal at MetWest High School, adding the union painted a picture of her as an “angry Black lady.” “Their goal is to intimidate us to the point where we don't do our jobs.”
School board President Jennifer Brouhard did not respond to requests for comment about the issue.
At Fremont High, Baez readied for the end of her 18th year as an educator. The last few months have been “unacceptable,” she said. “I worry about how we're going to move forward after all of this is done.”
Incident at Oakland high school has set off ugly battle pitting principals versus teachers
www.sfchronicle.com
Staff members told officials that the Oakland teachers union president threatened to beat up the principal at Fremont High School. She denies it.
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.
S.F. parents are trying to start first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school. It won’t be easy
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/first-k-8-mandarin-immersion-school-20341735.php
By Ko Lyn Cheang,
Reporter
May 24, 2025
From left, Leo Grech, 10, and his father Brian Grech look at his schoolwork at the Potrero Hill playground in San Francisco. Leo is learning Mandarin at school.
From left, Leo Grech, 10, and his father Brian Grech look at his schoolwork at the Potrero Hill playground in San Francisco. Leo is learning Mandarin at school.
Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle
Yunita Tjhai has always wanted her kids to be able to speak, read and write Mandarin. Unable to speak Chinese, the San Francisco mother of three, who grew up in Indonesia, regretted that she was never able to communicate with her monolingual Chinese-speaking grandparents.
She and her husband Brian Hollinger enrolled their kids in Mandarin-immersion day care. The oldest child is now in first grade at one of San Francisco’s only two Mandarin immersion public elementary schools.
Hollinger is concerned that the district has not met the growing demand for Mandarin immersion education and that SFUSD’s turbulent financial situation might jeopardize his kids’ Mandarin education.
“The district hasn’t prioritized Mandarin immersion,” Hollinger said. “They haven’t expanded on it even as the city’s demographics have changed, even as Mandarin immersion day care has exploded, even as private school options have exploded.”
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegKids books in Mandarin sit at the Potrero Hill playground in San Francisco on May 22, 2025.
Kids books in Mandarin sit at the Potrero Hill playground in San Francisco on May 22, 2025.
Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle
In March, Hollinger alongside two veteran educators and two other district parents, kick-started an effort to create San Francisco’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion public school, a charter school to be called “Dragon Gate Academy.” Supporters say the school would address unmet demand and offer more continuity as well as efficient use of resources with students remaining at the same site for elementary and middle school.
“There’s an opportunity for the board of education to say we recognize the demand,” Hollinger said. “Let’s deliver a win for these families. Let’s deliver an alternative for them to take advantage of tuition-free public education through Mandarin immersion in a K-8 format.”
Hollinger said they have already gathered meaningful interest from almost 200 parents and teachers and are preparing to bring the charter petition to the San Francisco school board in the next couple months. They needed 77 prospective parents — 50% of the K-4 students expected for the first year — to sign the petition to be eligible.
The team will likely face an uphill endeavor to seek authorization from a school district that’s historically been opposed to expanding the number of charter schools.
In the absence of the San Francisco Unified School District opening a K-8 Mandarin immersion school, Hollinger said he and other parents feel they have no choice but to serve unmet needs of hundreds of parents who couldn’t secure one of the coveted K-5 spaces.
SFUSD has two Mandarin immersion elementary schools and one middle school. Both elementary schools have long waitlists for every grade for the upcoming school year.
With only 66 seats in the incoming Mandarin immersion kindergarten classes at Starr King and Jose Ortega elementary schools, about two-thirds of which are reserved for proficient speakers, parents say that’s far from enough in a city where 22% of residents are Chinese and where Chinese languages are by far the most widely spoken after English.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegWyatt Chow, 6, who is enrolled in Mandarin immersion kindergarten at a San Francisco public school, displays his Chinese homework at home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025. Chow’s father Albert, a San Francisco native and president of merchants and community association People of Parkside Sunset (POPS), is among a group of SFUSD parents pushing for the district’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school.
Wyatt Chow, 6, who is enrolled in Mandarin immersion kindergarten at a San Francisco public school, displays his Chinese homework at home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025. Chow’s father Albert, a San Francisco native and president of merchants and community association People of Parkside Sunset (POPS), is among a group of SFUSD parents pushing for the district’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
“If you’re thinking of equity, people who can afford Mandarin immersion day care in preschool have a massive leg up in getting into Mandarin immersion” because their kids can test into the spots reserved for proficient speakers, said co-organizer Brian Grech, who has three boys in Mandarin immersion, two at Starr King and one in preschool.
There were 174 kindergarten seats for immersion in Cantonese, the most common Chinese dialect spoken in San Francisco, at four elementary schools, which also have waitlists, and 163 for native Cantonese-speaking kindergarteners who may not speak English. By contrast, San Francisco Unified School District had almost 400 Spanish immersion kindergarten seats even though there are more than twice as many Chinese speakers with limited English proficiency in San Francisco than Spanish speakers with limited proficiency.
San Francisco Unified School District spokesperson Hong Mei Pang said the district is “supportive of expanding SFUSD language immersion programs as a strategy to increase enrollment options for families while improving student learning and outcomes,” including the possibility of a Mandarin immersion K-8 school, and that the district is engaging experts to determine next steps.
District spokesperson Katrina Kincade said that an additional kindergarten classroom could fulfill the existing demand for the 2025-26 school year. She said there are vacant seats in the middle school Mandarin immersion program.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegWyatt Chow, 6, who is enrolled in Mandarin immersion kindergarten at a San Francisco public school, displays his Chinese homework at home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025. Chow’s father Albert, a San Francisco native and president of merchants and community association People of Parkside Sunset (POPS), is among a group of SFUSD parents pushing for the district’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school.
Wyatt Chow, 6, who is enrolled in Mandarin immersion kindergarten at a San Francisco public school, displays his Chinese homework at home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025. Chow’s father Albert, a San Francisco native and president of merchants and community association People of Parkside Sunset (POPS), is among a group of SFUSD parents pushing for the district’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
“Public school language immersion programs are a key priority for Superintendent Su,” Kincade wrote in a statement as they “strengthen enrollment in SFUSD.”
Kincade said as the district prepares for the upcoming budget cycle, “we will be sharing plans to enhance and grow our acclaimed immersion offerings.”
Hollinger said the idea that an extra kindergarten class could meet the exploding demand for Mandarin immersion schools reflects the district’s lack of understanding. Hollinger said numerous private Mandarin immersion schools are entering the market, including one called Hiba Academy opening in fall 2026, showing how high demand is.
Albert Chow, a co-organizer of the school, is a native Cantonese speaker who said he doesn't speak Mandarin very well. But he said he enrolled his son in SFUSD's Mandarin immersion kindergarten because he thinks speaking Mandarin is necessary now. It is the official dialect of China and most widely spoken language by native speakers worldwide.
“I know it's the future,” Chow said.
Dragon Gate Academy would adopt a similar immersion model to SFUSD, where kindergartners receive 80% of teaching in Mandarin and the rest in English, scaling down to 50% by fourth grade. Research has shown K-12 Mandarin immersion has enabled students to achieve extremely high levels of Mandarin proficiency while performing on par with or better than peers in English and math.
But a key difference is the K-8 throughline.
SFUSD’s Mandarin immersion middle school, Aptos, is on the opposite side of the city from Starr King, one of its two immersion elementary schools, creating a 38-minute round trip drive that parents said is inefficient and impractical, especially if they have kids in both schools.
ratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegratio3x2_960.jpegSix-year-old Wyatt Chow, center, watches as brother Apollo, 3, plays with their father Albert in the living room of their home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025.
Six-year-old Wyatt Chow, center, watches as brother Apollo, 3, plays with their father Albert in the living room of their home in San Francisco on May 24, 2025.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Grech’s oldest son is expecting to enter sixth grade at Aptos next year. His middle child is at Starr King. Grech is bracing for a commute of over an hour, with traffic, from his home to each of his children’s schools, putting his oldest on a long bus ride, or enrolling him in another middle school altogether.
“It was obvious that the entire Mandarin immersion program, broadly, was an afterthought in the way it was constructed by SFUSD,” Grech said. “While I’m very thankful all those programs exist, it should be rethought, in my mind, in a more coherent way that serves the interests of parents across all kinds of demographic groups and every single neighborhood and city.”
The organizers envisioned a centrally located school and proposed co-location with an existing, underused SFUSD school, paying rent to the district to share a building. Nonnative speakers would have 41%of seats reserved for them. The goal, according to the charter petition, is to mirror the diversity of the district, through an open lottery admissions process with no quotas or preferential admissions and outreach to underserved communities.
Hollinger said he started having concerns when he heard in fall 2023 that the Mandarin immersion teacher for seventh and eighth graders at Aptos Middle School had resigned at the start of the school year.
“That was the first, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Hollinger said. “What is the path for the kids if the district isn’t supporting the program enough to get a teacher?”
It would be months before the position was filled, said Sherry Lin, a parent of two Aptos middle schoolers, who organized parents at the time. From September until March, Lin said her seventh-grade daughter was taught by a rotating cast of substitutes, including many that Lin said did not speak Mandarin proficiently.
“It took the wind out of their sails,” Lin said.
The proposed charter school will have to be supported by a majority of the school board, which can, by law, reject it for a host of reasons, including that the district is not positioned to absorb the financial impact of the proposed charter school.
Dragon Gate Academy will likely face opposition, especially from the teacher’s union, which opposed expanding charter schools in its public education pledge. At least four current San Francisco school board members are listed as having signed it. Neither the union nor the school board members responded to a request for comment.
Charter opponents say charter schools siphon funding away from district schools as they attract students who would otherwise have enrolled in district schools. California state funding for schools is allocated on a per pupil basis — about $22,000 per student.
Hollinger has argued that Dragon Gate Academy could attract some students who otherwise would have left the district to enter private schools or move out of San Francisco, and therefore doesn’t subtract from the district’s coffers as much as opponents might think.
One such parent is Kailee Boyce, who has two kids in Mandarin immersion preschool and an 8-month-old baby. Neither she nor her husband are or speak Chinese, but they wanted to give their children the benefits of language immersion, including cognitive benefits and cultural exposure.
Her older daughter’s first word was in Mandarin. “Gou,” she had said, seemingly pointing to the sidewalk, Boyce recalled. Her daughter was pointing at the dogs on the sidewalk.
“My son was like, ‘No Mommy, she means dog, you don’t know Chinese,’” Boyce recalled. “I felt just proud.”
But when she started researching elementary Mandarin immersion schools for her four-year-old, she said a parent at Jose Ortega told her that unless they had a sibling already enrolled, the chances of getting in were almost zero. Starr King, located in Potrero Hill, is a 25-minute drive from her younger children’s Sunset District day care. It wouldn’t be logistically possible, she said.
She’s betting on Dragon Gate Academy to succeed.
“If the charter school doesn’t get traction,” Boyce said, “I think we would probably leave San Francisco.”
S.F. parents are trying to start first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school. It won’t be easy
www.sfchronicle.com
These parents are trying to start S.F.’s first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school. It won’t be easy.
UK University and college workers call for strikes to defend education
socialistworker.co.uk/trade-unions/ucu-members-vote-for-national-ballot-on-strike-action/
Workers called for national action at the UCU union conference over the weekend
Dundee university workers struck against redundancies
University workers are gearing up for a fight with the Labour government.
Delegates at the UCU union’s conference in Liverpool on Sunday overwhelmingly voted to “prepare for an industrial dispute” with the government over funding.
The UCU announced on Monday that it was “the first step towards a potential strike ballot”.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said, “The prime minister and chancellor must stop standing in the way of proper funding for our universities.
“This vote sends them a crystal-clear message. If you refuse to listen to the educators responsible for the world leading reputation of Britain’s universities, then you must be prepared to face a potential strike ballot.”
The conference came as universities across Britain face a funding crisis—and an avalanche of job cuts. And more branches, including Edinburgh and Bournemouth universities, have won ballots for strikes.
The supporters of the demand for a trade dispute argued that the union needs to address the broken higher education funding model.
Richard Wild from Greenwich in south London told Socialist Worker that activists should respond positively to the idea of a trade dispute.
But many UCU members say this political campaign needs to be backed by coordinated strikes.
Workers at the University of Brighton were on strike against redundancies in 2023. Ryan Burns from Brighton UCU told Socialist Worker, “Last year we failed to take nationwide action and in 12 months we have seen massive attacks.
“These things are connected. When bosses see that we are industrially weak, they attack us branch by branch.
“We didn’t save all of the jobs. It was gutting and awful. But the vice chancellor left—it showed that management couldn’t stomach a fight.”
Ryan added, “Half of higher education institutions are facing job cuts and they are lowballing us on pay.
“The attack is so undeniable it’s alerting people to the necessity of nationwide action.”
At Newcastle University, over 200 people joined the picket line last week. Matt Perry from Newcastle UCU explained that bringing speakers from Brighton to branch meetings had inspired his own branch.
Hundreds rally on first day of Newcastle university strikes
Read More
He said, “We are trying to spread the resistance. But it can’t just be done at the grassroots level. It has to be nationwide action.”
Saira Weiner chairs the union’s recruitment, organising and campaigning committee. She said, “I am being told by colleagues from various branches that they do not feel able to fight alone. And they do feel alone.
“You have some amazing examples of people who have stood up and fought and have won.
“Look at what they have won at Dundee. As soon as they were told there was a likelihood of redundancies they balloted.
“They were told there was no hope. But there was a Scottish parliament bailout and jobs were saved.
“When you take action you can win. But this government isn’t going to turn round and find a new funding model on its own. We need it now. But it is very clear we are going to fight for it.”
Ana from the University of Bedfordshire told Socialist Worker that branches are crying out for more support from the union to help them coordinate a fightback.
She told Socialist Worker, “cross branch communications are terribly useful – and we don’t have enough of that.”
Andreas from Leicester University told Socialist Worker that bosses there have refused to rule out redundancies. He said his “branch feels isolated” by the union leaving individual branches to fight the tidal wave of redundancies.
But workers at Leicester are nevertheless determined to fight. A recent emergency general meeting was unanimously in favour of pushing for industrial action. “There is no other way,” he said.
Grassroots union members will have to organise for the hard-hitting, national action necessary to push back the assaults.
College workers vote for strike ballot
Further education workers across England could strike together early in the autumn.
The UCU further education conference on Sunday voted for an England-wide coordinated ballot for industrial action for over pay. It also vowed to campaign against vicious cuts that would carve working class people out of education.
Some delegates were cautious about striking nationwide. One speaker said that balloting unsuccessfully for strikes had undermined their union branch’s ability to negotiate with management. Another argued that they supported strikes, but that September is too soon.
But college lecturer Richard McEwan disagreed and made the case for a campaign that takes on the government. He said, “We haven’t had a national strike in England for a decade or more. The time has come to escalate. If you try to fight in your own local college it is not enough to shift the scale of what is facing us.
“There is huge disappointment about the nature of this Labour government. We know tougher stuff is coming down the road. We need a culture that says we are all in this together.”
The motion for a disaggregated ballot passed by a majority of 71 for and 18 against. This means workers will vote on an employer by employer basis.
It was amended to strongly encourage branches to take part rather than exempting themselves.
Cecily from Petroc College in Devon told Socialist Worker that she was very glad that the conference had agreed “to urge all colleges to opt in to the strike ballot”.
There is an ongoing consultative ballot until 10 June to lay the ground for this.
The UCU is demanding a 10 percent pay rise for further education lecturers, equal pay with school teachers, national bargaining and nationally agreed workloads.
Regi Pilling told Socialist Worker that 50 percent of further education teachers leave their jobs within three years of starting. There will be more students and fewer and fewer teachers.
She said, “teachers are leaving in their droves. Yet the government is failing to address the crisis. Without demonstrating our collective strength we will be unable to push them—and we can push them.”
The Labour government has offered £160 million of funding for colleges. It is not enough. But it shows that Keir Starmer is shifting his position.
Delegate Safia Flissi argued for a campaign for the same pay increase as school teachers. She said, “I have over years watched colleagues in schools be paid better than us. Why is this?” She explained that the NEU union had led strikes that resulted in a 5.5 percent pay rise for teachers in England.
Delmina from Croydon College in south London told Socialist Worker that further education lecturers feel “left behind” compared to school teachers.
She said, “it is not just about funding. It is about working conditions and high workloads. People say it is a vocation. Yes it’s a vocation. But we have families and we have to eat and pay our bills. There needs to be action—it’s about time”
Pete Bicknell from Lewisham College in south London said it was “heartbreaking” to see cuts that could mean 400 students not getting a place there this year.
The conference showed the level of support for long overdue national strikes in further and adult education. Workers need to turn this into reality with a strong vote in the consultation and a national ballot that every branch fights for.
University and college workers call for strikes to defend education
socialistworker.co.uk
Further education workers across England could strike together early in the autumn to demand that they receive decent pay.www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-bill-requiring-ten-commandments-in-public-schools-moves-closer-to…
Texas bill requiring Ten Commandments in public schools moves closer to governor's desk
www.msn.com
A bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom in Texas cleared a key legislative hurdle. NBC News’ Steven Romo reports on the bill moving closer to potential appr…
Higher Education Labor Leaders & Policymakers Release Worker-Led Agenda for Systemic Policy Change
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ja0UcqJPcI
Streamed live on May 22, 2025
Amidst a national wave of attacks on workers and students in U.S. colleges and universities, labor unions organized by Higher Education Labor United (HELU) and partners from CWA, AFT, AAUP, UE, and UAW release an affirmative policy agenda for higher education in the U.S. The agenda was developed by a cross-union coalition of educators, campus staff, and student workers alongside policy advocates, organizers, and scholars. The agenda calls on federal policymakers to protect, invest in, and rebuild this vital public institution.
CUCFA is proud to be a founding member of HELU, Higher Education Labor United, working with our partner, the newly reinvigorated AAUP, which focuses on higher ed activism and organizing as a critical part of its traditional support for academic freedom, shared governance, and free speech.
Exclusive: City College of San Francisco poised to select outsider as chancellor over interim chief
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/ccsf-selecting-outsider-chancellor-over-interim-20337125.php
By Nanette Asimov,
Higher Education Reporter
Updated May 22, 2025 7:37 p.m.
Veteran educator Carlos Cortez is in contract negotiations to become City College of San Francisco's next chancellor.
Veteran educator Carlos Cortez is in contract negotiations to become City College of San Francisco's next chancellor.
Provided by the San Diego Community College District
Veteran educator Carlos Osvaldo Cortez is expected to be named next week as the 11th chancellor in 13 years to lead the financially troubled City College of San Francisco, edging out the interim chancellor, the Chronicle has learned.
The seven trustees are in contract negotiations with Cortez, and a majority favor him over Interim Chancellor Mitch Bailey, said knowledgeable sources who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Bailey has fallen out of favor with the faculty union, which strongly influences the majority on the seven-member board of trustees.
The chancellor selection echoes a constant debate at City College over the best approach to restoring the college to good fiscal health and increasing enrollment. The faculty union and its supporters on the board want to dip into reserves to boost spending, saying this approach is the best way to attract more students.
By contrast, Bailey says he wants to “adjust college operations to align with current resources,” a practice that matches expectations of accreditors and state officials. The college has been under an accreditation warning sanction over its governance and finances since early 2024.
Chancellor selections are secretive, with deliberations happening behind closed doors. At City College, they are a near-annual ritual. If approved, possibly at the May 29 board meeting, Cortez would become the school’s fifth permanent head since 2012. There have been six interim chancellors during that time.
The selection of Cortez over Bailey would be the second time in a year that the trustees have replaced a chancellor who sought greater financial stability by aligning spending with revenue.
Cortez is seen as faculty-friendly. In the San Diego Community College District, where Cortez was chancellor from summer 2021 through spring 2023, faculty pay increased modestly, by an average of 2.5% in 2022 and 4.5% a year later, after a period of small increases before he arrived.
Cortez quit that job after a year and a half. He was paid a total of $1.36 million during his short tenure, including $546,601 for his final four months, according to Transparent California, a database of California public employee salaries.
While chancellor in San Diego, Cortez made news in 2022 when he was forced to cancel his belated welcoming ceremony at Petco Park after receiving complaints for inviting Alice Walker as keynote speaker. The Pulitzer-Prize winning author of “The Color Purple” has for years been accused of antisemitism, including for penning a poem in which she called the Talmud, the book of Jewish law, “poison,” and for her support of conspiracy-theorist David Icke.
After 20 months on the job, Cortez announced in March 2023 that he was taking “extended emergency leave” to care for his ill parents. On May 1, district officials announced that he had resigned to be with his parents in Florida. By that fall, however, he was a finalist for the chancellor’s job in three Bay Area college districts: Peralta in the East Bay, Contra Costa and San Mateo.
Court records show that on Jan. 19, 2024, police in Florida arrested Cortez on suspicion of driving under the influence. Ultimately, he pled no contest to the reduced charge of reckless driving.
In a phone conversation, Cortez declined to answer a reporter’s questions without authorization from City College. But he said the Florida charge was due to a “mixture of prescription medicine.”
The trustees installed Bailey as interim a year ago after they ousted Chancellor David Martin, the college’s former financial chief who, as its top administrator, oversaw faculty layoffs.
While Bailey has not suggested layoffs, he has adopted an approach that acknowledges financial instability at the college of 44,000 full- and part-time students. Salaries eat up 90% of the general fund, compared with 82% statewide, and next year the college will lose millions of dollars in extra state funding that has kept it afloat since 2018 due to severe enrollment loss. Reserves are at 16% of general fund expenditures, far below the 33% average across other colleges.
Among the ideas Bailey references in a May 8 budget update are reducing the number of single classes that attract few students and currently make up 70% of academic offerings. Instead, Bailey wants faculty to consider teaching more groups of classes that carry large numbers of students toward their degrees.
It’s an idea that does not sit well with the union, the American Federation of Teachers, Local 2121.
“In a dizzyingly shallow presentation, Interim Chancellor proposes cuts to 70% of College with no analysis,” the union headlined its essay accusing Bailey of targeting ethnic studies classes. The union essay called for “serious leadership” that would tap into its $31 million reserves to pay for more academics, not less.
Bailey did not respond to requests for comment.
Alexis Litzky, a communications professor and outgoing chair of the Academic Senate, called the union’s description of Bailey’s idea for boosting more popular classes a “mischaracterization of the chancellor’s presentation.” She said Bailey is not suggesting that the college axe classes but that faculty review course offerings so that City College can “evaluate options for updating our programs and schedules.”
The Academic Senate works with both the union and administrators.
Litzky said the college has been confronting its accreditation missteps by working with a state assistance team, and that Bailey’s budget workshops have been helpful in educating the college community about its finances.
“It actually feels like we’re going in the right direction,” she said.
Cortez, 50, earned his doctorate at the University of Southern California, focusing on “African American Womanist political historical contributions to social welfare and education policy reform,” according to his employment bio. During his academic career as an instructor and administrator, Cortez served as dean of instruction at Berkeley City College and, before becoming chancellor in San Diego, was president of San Diego College of Continuing Education.
The Chronicle reached out to trustees in each of the Bay Area college districts where Cortez applied since leaving San Diego, as well as to trustees of Madison College and Pasadena City College, where he was a finalist in April 2024 before he withdrew his name from consideration. Cortez told the Chronicle he had decided he didn’t want to live in Madison.
Only one trustee responded, agreeing to comment without being identified because the person was not authorized to speak about it publicly.
“He is very charismatic. He dazzled us,” said the board member from Pasadena. But the college did not select Cortez as its leader. The trustee declined to say why.
San Diego trustees did not respond to requests for comment.
Professor Inna Kanevsky, who teaches psychology at San Diego Mesa College and got into a public dispute with Cortez over the Alice Walker episode, said she was “sad to hear” that he was the leading candidate at City College.
Cortez drew ire from the free-speech group FIRE — the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — when he blocked Kanevsky on social media after she complained that the Walker invitation would harm Jewish students. FIRE told the college district that the action violated Kanvesky’s First Amendment rights.
The chancellor then deleted his own account.
Exclusive: City College of San Francisco poised to select outsider as chancellor over interim chief
www.sfchronicle.com
City College of San Francisco poised to select outsider as chancellor over interim chiefwww.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-blocks-trump-s-orders-to-dismantle-the-education-department…
Judge blocks Trump's orders to dismantle the Education Department and fire employees
www.msn.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Education Department and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in…www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/supreme-court-religious-charter-school-oklahoma.html
Divided Supreme Court Rejects Bid for Religious Charter School in Oklahoma
www.nytimes.com
In a 4-to-4 decision, the court upheld a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that blocked the school.