Newcomer Compelled to Run For Trustee Seat
Board of trustees candidate, Bunny McFadden, says she understands the nuances of being a community college student, and hopes to become a part of "change" within the business of "educating" them and serving the neighbors.
Bunny McFadden, writer, mother, community member, teacher, and, possibly, a future trustee for the college, filed to run for a seat on City College's board of trustees just before the Aug. 12 candidacy deadline, a decision she made after a neighbor urged her to run.
“It was not something that I planned to do,” McFadden said.
She is running under a slate with Jeremy Lee and Leah LaCroix, whose platform is backed by the labor union, American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, and several trustee members.
A Newcomer
She described herself as “the newcomer” between the three but that the three of them working together "are far better" than just one.
“I believe in a big-tent democracy, where everyone has a unique perspective but ultimately we’re all working,” she said, adding that she has seen her co-slates "show up for" and be "invaluable to their communities."
A former high school English teacher in New Mexico with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, McFadden has never worked or studied at City College of San Francisco, but she says she has long-standing connections with the junior college environment – she is one of four sisters raised by a single mother who worked as a custodian at a community college in New Mexico.
Now, McFadden works at Yerba Buena Gardens, just a block away from the college’s Downtown Center on Mission Street, and is the “self-proclaimed Educated Palette number-one fan” because of the positive experience she’s had while ordering pastries from the students.
“So cool to see people caring about something bigger than themselves,” she said.
Downtown Divide
“Working downtown, it almost feels like a city built for the ultra wealthy and people who don’t have the best interest [of the city],” McFadden said, thinking of the neighborhood’s climate.
Though she said "it feels lonely," she said it "makes her sad when people say that downtown is not a part of our city," because, she said, it is.
“We are the wealthiest economy, so many really high valued companies and billionaires that have outsized footprints in the economy and I hate hearing that there’s not enough to go around, we are fighting each other for scraps — does not put students at the center, by being stingy or being unwilling to find more resources to our students. That’s the message it sends to our students,” she said.
“It’s quite complicated to be an institution and have to walk that line and not bring unwanted attention. It doesn't mean shut up but be tactical and strategic, how to go about protecting our students,” McFadden said.
The Board's Role
“[The board of trustees] should serve the neighborhood, and neighborhoods change over time so that answer should change over time,” she said. “We are not in the business of being a land-lease operator or a lending bank, we’re in the business of educating people.”
She said the Westside neighborhoods are "hungry for education" and should be served by the college, as much as other parts of the city.
"A lot of people interested in vocational development, dual-enrollment and ESL,” she said, and those “are not investments that we are currently making, childhood development classes and ESL is not as robust as [they should be].”
She thinks it's "fool-hearted to not think of the impact of decisions," and one of those decisions is providing for student-parents
“[Students'] energy is currency,” she said.
“Every student that has a family is juggling a ton, caregivers included, we need wrap-around services for every student and that they should feel like they have the time and the energy to be their very best.”
A City College for All
She hopes that City College becomes a place where “students don’t have to give up any part of their life or identity,” and said she will work with students to understand barriers to their successes to make informed decisions.
McFadden said that it would be "tempting to come in and say I have all the answers and all we have to do is hold students accountable" to achieve similarly to their peers, but the reeality is that "there needs to be a holistic approach" because students have "full lives, families behind them, an entire community who wants them to succeed" so she sees value in "considering what is happening" to students in every angle.
She said that “[educators should ask] why the students are struggling to meet the requirements that we have for the program,” giving them “meaningful interventions.”
“And I experienced this as a high school and community college teacher, where oftentimes the students want to succeed and they want to be there, and there's just things that prevent them from doing so,” she said – like meeting rent.
