Critical Support for Early Childhood Education/Child Development Programs

Fall
2020
Resolution Number
21.01
 
Assigned to
Curriculum Committee
Category
Career Technical Education
Status
Assigned

Whereas, The state of California will experience no economic recovery without securing safe and equitable accessible childcare for Californians as well as employment

opportunities and child education for the California Early Childhood Education workforce, over 85% of whom complete classes at California community colleges;

Whereas, Early care and education field-based courses have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and new state guidelines disallow non-essential adults into classrooms, so students are unable to complete required coursework, thus

jeopardizing the completion of their degrees and certificates and further impacting the early care and education workforce, adding to the existing teacher shortage;

Whereas, The California Early Childhood Mentor Program (CECMP), from which the state of California is proposing to diminish or withdraw funds by 2021-22, gives early childhood education students—the majority of whom are women and people of color seeking a teaching career—the necessary practical, verifiable, and curated experiences with young children in an appropriate instructional setting; and

Whereas, Adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic have severely limited the requirement of direct experience in a classroom with children, necessitating the less optimal, costly, and often inaccessible alternative of video footage resources, and the absence of this direct experience will continue to impact the ability of ECE programs to adequately prepare students in accordance with the requirements of the California Community College Early Childhood Education certificates and degrees and the California Child Development Teaching Permit issued by the State Commission for Teacher Credentialing;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office to purchase access to the necessary quality, closed-captioned, and accessible raw footage of early childhood education classrooms and other distance-education materials available from the California State Department of Education and nationally recognized organizations and corporations and make these materials accessible to Early Childhood Education departments statewide;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, the governor, and the governor’s Early Childhood Policy Committee, to advocate for and support full funding for the California Early Childhood Mentor Program to the California Department of Education;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges assert to the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and California community college CEOs that lab schools and college early childhood centers must be reopened to ensure that California has a trained early childhood workforce that will allow for post-COVID economic recovery and security; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges support full funding for lab schools and early childhood centers to provide access to appropriate personal protective equipment, cleaning equipment and supplies, and training as well

as sufficient staffing to ensure a healthy work environment for staff and a safe learning environment for children and families.

MSC