The College Planning Council (CPC) convened on Tuesday, Oct. 7 where they discussed recommended Chromebooks and changes in the academic calendar. 

Assistant Superintendent-Vice President of Academic Affairs María Villagómez gave the council an update on the faculty obligation number (FON). It is used by community colleges to help maintain the goal of having 75% of classes being provided by full-time staff which is 13.9 above the faculty obligation compliance number of 184.1. 

Villagómez also gave an update about the 2026-2027 academic calendar which has been changed to comply with the spring break schedule that the Santa Barbara Unified School District follows. The change will move the 2026-2027 spring break to occur from March 30 to April 3. The calendar could be subject to further changes in the future. 

Other changes to the academic calendar will start to be discussed later this month. Some changes could possibly affect the dates of summer break. 

The Student Equity Plan (SEP) for 2025-2028 is in the process of being written up. It is due to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) by Nov. 30.

The council decided to focus on first-year students for this plan. With the equity plan they hope to eliminate disproportional impact and to close equity gaps while improving student success. 

Assistant Superintendent-Vice President of Business Services Chris Renbarger updated the council about the budget committee recommendations. The council decided to move forward and vote to suggest the recommendations for

Superintendent-President Erika Endrijonas to consider. 

Endrijonas to be considered. 

“There have been requests for Chromebook carts and Chromebooks in certain areas,” Renbarger said. 

Some will be moved from the labs to the library so that students can check them out when needed. They will only be taking Chromebooks from areas that don’t use them and will relocate them into the library to give students more access. 

Academic Senate President Joshua Ramirez gave a brief update to the council regarding the service request to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC). Ramirez had hopes that the City College Academic Senate could have some more conversations with ASCCC about the request. 

Executive Director of Institutional Research and Planning Keller Magenau covered the campus climate survey which will be conducted through the RP Group, a company that provides research on community colleges and that has recently developed surveys to meet the needs of college-standard surveys.

City College will be purchasing three surveys to get input from students and staff on the “college climate” from the RP Group. Endrijonas said it’s hoped to get a broad amount of perspectives. 

“Their [RP Group] entire mission is about improving equitable student outcomes in California community colleges,” Magenau said. 

There will be three surveys, two of which will be sent out to students this year. The first will occur later during the fall semester and the second will be administered in the spring. The last survey will also be for staff to be released later this year. 

“This is your leadership opportunity to help create the campus climate,” Magenau said. 

The next CPC meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 21.