S.F. City College’s accreditation trial opens with future on line

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Attorneys-deliver-opening-statements-in-City-5851128.php

By the time a commission voted to revoke accreditation from City College of San Francisco in 2013, the college had a huge obligation to pay retiree health benefits — $189 million and growing then by $10 million a year — and no way to pay for it.

The testimony on opening day of the trial to decide the fate of the college of 79,000 students was key to the commission’s argument that it was justified in deciding that City College had so many financial and other problems that it should lose accreditation and shut down....

The message Goldstein had wanted to convey, and the reason San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s team had asked him to testify, was to tell the court that City College was actually doing far better financially than it had during the recession, thanks to passage of Proposition 30 in 2012, a statewide tax measure that brought colleges relief from relentless cutbacks, and to passage of a local parcel tax for City College that would flood it with cash for eight years.

“It changed the picture from night to day in terms of the financial outlook for City College,” Goldstein testified, adding that the college was finally able to create a long-term financial plan this year, just before he stepped down in March.

[Xithras]

1. One question I've never seen answered...

Let me start off by saying that I like community colleges. I attended one decades ago, and taught at several for years as an adjunct. I've been on a couple of the CCSF campuses, and thought it was a great institution.

The accreditation body wants to strip CCSF of accreditation because it cannot meet their minimum standards for financial viability and because of deficiencies in several other areas. The city of SF and the college counter that the standards are arbitrary, unfair, and unachievable.

So here's the question that I haven't seen answered: There are 112 community colleges in the state of California that fall under the same standards. 111 of them met the requirements and maintained their accreditation. Only San Francisco did not. Why was it unable to achieve the same level of financial stability as the rest of the community colleges around the state? If the rest met the requirements, why was San Francisco unable to do so?

This isn't an accusation, but a genuine question. I've done quite a bit of reading on the proposed shutdown and have never seen that question addressed directly.

[KamaAina]

2. From the comments section:

"Andrew Sclar, representing the commission, said the trial is about the ability of the commission to do its job and hold a college accountable to the same accrediting standards required of all community colleges in the country."

Except that's simply a lie. The ACCJC is one of 5 commissions nationally and is responsible or overseeing 20% of the nation's CCs. Yet over the past 10 years it has been responsible for issuing 80% of all sanctions across the country. Beno's at war with California's community college system and the question is whose water is her group carrying?

http://capitalandmain.com/unfathomable-why-is-one-commission-trying-to-close-californias-largest-public-college/

[Starry Messenger]

3. The other 112 have not had smooth sailing under ACCJC either

I'm on my phone, so sorry this is not copied out: http://www.aft1493.org/other/accjc-gone-wild-1.pdf

The ACCJC has several colleges in the penalty box at any given time. They are the most punitive in the nation.

CCSF suffered the most from cuts because they are the largest. The passage of recent funding bills put them on the road back.

[Xithras]

4. Oh, I get that.

I was actually still teaching at Merced in 2011 when they were placed in "warning" status. As I recall, however, the process of addressing the accrediting commissions requests was fairly straight forward.

As for the cuts, I'm not sure how that works out. CC's are funded by FTE's, which is based on student enrollment numbers. All of the CC's were cut equally based on their FTE counts, so the damage from the cuts should have been similar across all of the institutions.

Does CCSF have a higher percentage of part time students than the norm?

[Starry Messenger]

5. I'm at College of San Mateo.

We've been working out of our own accreditation issues for a few years. A lot of what we were dinged for was things like SLOs, which has been controversial.

I don't have hard numbers on the part-time students, but I imagine it is fairly high, since CCSF provides tons of classes outside of the AA and transfer model.

[KamaAina]

6. Dramatic testimony shakes up City College of San Francisco trial

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dramatic-testimony-shakes-up-City-College-of-San-5854492.php

The president of the commission trying to revoke accreditation from City College of San Francisco admitted in court Tuesday that she had edited out language in the report favorable to the college and that the college was denied a chance to defend itself as required.

The surprising admissions by commission President Barbara Beno made for dramatic testimony in Day 2 of the trial to determine whether the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges broke the law when evaluating City College in 2012 and 2013 before voting to revoke its accreditation. The college remains accredited pending the outcome of the trial in San Francisco Superior Court....

Flynn’s questioning also revealed that a team appointed by the commission to evaluate the college had come to several positive conclusions that were omitted or changed at Beno’s request. Beno is not a voting member of the commission, but was portrayed as a powerful leader able to influence its decisions.

On the stand, Beno acknowledged that the team’s draft report said City College “demonstrated a high level of dedication, passion and enthusiasm to address the issues, and provided evidence of compelling action to address previous findings.”

BUSTED!!!

[KamaAina]

7. Panel chief appears to change testimony in CCSF trial

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/In-CCSF-trial-panel-chief-now-says-she-didn-t-5856869.php

The president of the commission trying to revoke the accreditation of City College of San Francisco returned to the witness stand Wednesday and said the college was not denied time to defend itself and that she did not direct others to edit out favorable language about the college from a report.

The testimony of Barbara Beno, president of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, appeared to reverse earlier damaging statements she had made under questioning from San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Ronald Flynn. It also shed light on practices within the secretive commission, which, as a private entity, is not subject to open records laws and has shielded itself from public scrutiny.

The city is suing the commission to invalidate its 2013 decision to revoke accreditation from City College. In an effort to prove that the commission evaluated the college in an illegal and unfair manner, Flynn had asked Beno on Tuesday if the commission had identified new deficiencies in 2013 without giving the college additional time to defend itself against them as required by its own policy. On Tuesday, Beno admitted that was true.

But under friendlier questioning Wednesday from Kenneth Keller, the commission’s attorney, Beno testified that no new “deficiencies” had been identified. Instead, the new problems related to accrediting “standards,” which meant that no additional time had to be provided.

Can you say "perjury", kids? Mr. KamaAina can!

[KamaAina]

8. Panel that rejected CCSF appeal over accreditation had ties to commission

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Panel-that-rejected-CCSF-appeal-over-5863332.php

Four people on the independent panel that rejected City College of San Francisco’s appeal of the 2013 decision to revoke its accreditation had ties to the commission that made that decision, a witness testified Friday under questioning from a San Francisco city attorney trying to prove bias against the school.

Krista Johns, a vice president of the accrediting commission being sued by the city, acknowledged that her boss, Barbara Beno, appointed the appeal panel that included three ex-commissioners and a college trustee who does training workshops with Beno.

Deputy City Attorney Yvonne Mere asked Johns if she agreed that the appeal “was required to be heard by an independent panel.”

“Correct,” said Johns, who also acknowledged that the college’s challenge to those appointments was denied.

I'm beginning to wonder if I ever left New Orleans after all.

[KamaAina]

9. Fate of City College of S.F. now in judge’s hands

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fate-of-City-College-of-S-F-now-in-judge-s-5946253.php

The fate of City College of San Francisco is now in the hands of a judge after lawyers made their final arguments Tuesday about whether the beloved institution deserves to have its accreditation revoked.

Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow said he will issue a written ruling in January on whether the school should lose its accreditation and close, a question that evoked impassioned pleas and a raft of accusations from the college about the accrediting process....

She argued that Peter Crabtree, a Laney College dean who was part of an evaluation team in 2012, had a conflict of interest because he is married to the commission’s president, Barbara Beno. She said Crabtree and Laney were likely to benefit financially from the closure because students from City College would probably transfer to Laney. The city attorney’s brief accused Beno of vindictively punishing the college in retaliation for City College activism against legislation narrowing access to California’s community colleges. The commission supported the legislation, which later became state law.

The city also claimed that there were not enough academics — only three of 16 members — on the commission’s evaluation teams. Eisenberg accused the commission of giving unclear signals before 2012 that City College was violating accreditation standards and did not give the college an adequate chance to respond before voting to revoke accreditation in 2013.