We the below signed are students currently enrolled in
the Behavioral Health and Human Services (BHHS) program at Community College of
Philadelphia.
We are submitting this petition to register a formal
complaint regarding the closing of the main campus on Friday evenings and
Saturdays.
Many of us in the BHHS program are trying to navigate the
challenge of balancing our personal lives while simultaneously remaining
committed to our educational goals.
Unlike the majority of traditional CCP students we are nontraditional:
65% of us are older (35+), parents, grandparents, caregivers, caretakers,
employees, etc. attempting to improve our lives through education.
We have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the
changes in the class day/time schedule offerings for spring 2013. The changes
will have a disruptive impact on us as follows:
·
Graduation – many of us who are scheduled to
graduate in May 2013 do not have the required offerings to do so. Many sections of various BHHS courses have
been either cancelled or overlap in time with other courses we need to
graduate.
·
Employment – many of us are employed by
shift; 7-3pm, 3-11pm or 11-7am. The spring 2013 schedule competes with or
overlaps with our employment schedules. Getting permission to leave our jobs
2-3 times per week to attend class presents a hardship.
·
Economic – the schedule change will
immediately increase our time and cost for transportation and/or parking.
·
Childcare – the schedule will demand that we
find alternative/additional childcare arrangements.
·
Safety – leaving the campus at 9:45pm
presents a potential safety risk to students who travel by public
transportation.
We are angered and dissatisfied with the lack of
communication, input and consideration of students regarding this significant
change. We are not alone; there are many other students within the college who
have been negatively impacted by this decision.
We request that we be given a commitment to have previous
schedules restored going forward; we need the option to attend classes that are
conducive to our graduation, employment, economic, childcare and safety concerns.
We believe you are concerned about all Community College
of Philadelphia students and look forward to an acknowledgement of our petition.
Sincerely,