The Evil Empire Continues to Enforce Educational Apartheid

EE: Thank you for this email, three days before Christmas. Besides the fact that this policy is shortsighted, prejudiced and wrong, wrong, and oh yeah wrong, was the timing really necessary? Or was this just a big raspberry to faculty, staff and students? A big middle finger to us for Christmas/Holiday Break? Another illustration that the needs of students, staff and faculty come in last place when at odds with the hubris of our leadership.

Special Announcement dated 12/22/2015

“Faculty and staff:

 We are writing to inform you about an important update to the timeline for the transition of City Colleges of Chicago (CCC)’s Child Development and Education programs to Truman College.

 To ensure students are prepared to seize the 39,000 jobs coming to our region in education over the next decade, City Colleges has designated Truman College as the College to Careers center for excellence in education, human and natural sciences.  General education courses continue to be offered at all City Colleges, such that students can start their programs at any of the seven colleges.

Bringing our child development and education programs under one roof at Truman College represents a unique opportunity for all our Child Development students, faculty and staff to be associated with best-in-class programs. Students in these programs will benefit from learning from all of CCC’s child development faculty and from one another, as they will be exposed to the full extent of education programs and faculty within the school of education at Truman College.

In addition, students will be able to engage in experiential learning through a new dedicated child development space to be designed with input from faculty and employers, and they will be able to secure internships, employment and transfer opportunities through enhanced partnerships with employers and four-year colleges and universities.  Our focus is to ensure all students are prepared to reach their goals – whether those goals are to transfer to a four-year university or to move immediately into an in-demand career.

Child Development and Education Programs Transition Update: Currently enrolled Child Development students will have through Fall semester 2017 to complete their Child Development coursework at their home college. If they do not complete in that time frame, students can finish their coursework at Truman College, the College to Careers center for excellence in education programs.

New incoming Child Development students will be admitted only at Truman College beginning Fall 2016.

Harry S Truman College will house City Colleges’ Child Development and Education programs as part of its College to Careers emphasis on education, human and natural sciences.

 ·       Programs transitioning to Truman are:

·         Basic Certificate (BC) in Child Development Pre-school

·         Basic Certificate (BC) in Family Child Care Business

·         Advanced Certificate (AC) in Child Development Pre-school

·         Advanced Certificate (AC) in Child Development and Infant Toddler

·         Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in Child Development Pre-school

 ·       Programs sunsetting completely are:

·         Advanced Certificate (AC) in Elementary Education (Students will be referred to Elementary Education AA as a possible alternative)

·         Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in Elementary Education (Students will be referred to Elementary Education AA as a possible alternative)

·         Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in School Age Child Care (Students will be referred to Human Development and Family Studies AAS, Elementary Education AA, Child Development Preschool AAS or AA)

·         Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in Bilingual Teacher Aide (Students will be referred to General Education AA pathway (Bilingual/Bicultural FA16)

           At the end of Fall 2017, all students in Child Development and Education at Daley, Harold Washington, Kennedy-King, Malcolm X, and Olive-Harvey Colleges who have not completed their Child Development certificate or degree must transition to Truman College to complete their program. Students should work with their advisor now to plan ahead.

·       Child Development 101 and 102 courses will continue to be offered as part of the Addiction Studies pathway at Kennedy-King College and the Occupational Therapy Assistant pathway at Malcolm X College.

·       Both new and currently enrolled students can complete their general education courses at any City Colleges they choose.

·       Child Development Faculty from DA, KK, MX, OH and HW will have a phased transition to Truman each semester, depending on numbers of Child Development course sections required at Truman and at their home campus.

Advisor roundtables will resume in January, and will be announced via email.

 Background:  City Colleges’ C2C initiative is designed to ensure our educational programs fully prepare students for the demands of employers and transfer universities so they can seize one of the more than 600,000 jobs coming to the Chicago region in high-demand careers over the next decade.  We do this through partnerships with employers and four-year universities who not only help design our programs but also provide our students with internships, employment and transfer opportunities.  Additionally, we ensure our curriculum is relevant to real-world expectations, and we invest in faculty and staff, equipment and facilities to make sure students have access to the best education available.

 Each of our seven colleges serves as the official home for a C2C focus area. Last year, Harry S Truman College was designated as the C2C center for excellence in Education, Human and Natural Sciences.

 Rationale: To better serve students by bringing together district wide faculty and staff under one roof.   Specifically:

·       Consolidate our investments and gain efficiencies to better support our students.

·       Concentrate our resources to provide students with access to excellent facilities and strong partners.  The partner list includes: Chicago Public Schools, Jewish Council for Youth Services, and Christopher House, who are among the nearly 50 employer partners who have hired CCC students for education-related jobs this fiscal year.  Some of our transfer partners in Education include: University of Illinois at Chicago, National Louis University and others.

 A similar communication has been shared with students.  A list of Frequently Asked Questions is attached to this email.

 For any additional questions about this transition, please contact Peggy Korellis, Dean of C2C at Truman College, pkorellis@ccc.edu or 773-907-4321.”