Staff members at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) are urging state leaders to remove their president – and invest more in staff retention.
President Debra McCurdy will make nearly $600,000 this year after receiving a raise in September that almost doubled her previous salary. Now, she makes more than key city leaders, like the mayor and police commissioner.
At a rally Tuesday afternoon, around 25 staff and union leaders protested, holding signs that read, “spread the wealth” and “invest in students and staff.”
“We shouldn't be waiting on the state to give us cost of living allowance increases,” said Nena Kutniewski, local union president and BCCC registration specialist. “BCCC clearly has the money to pay President McCurdy's exorbitant salary.”
Over one-third of the college’s staff positions are vacant, and student enrollment decreased for the third year in a row.
Susan Gruzs, who leads adult education services, said these two trends are related.
“Our students need to be given high quality service,” Gruzs said. “We cannot do this when we are understaffed, instructed to perform tasks outside of our job descriptions for extended periods of time, and treated with disrespect and condemnation.”
Gruzs said her department has seen four directors and two interim directors in the last eight years. And that turnover rate is common, other attendees added.
Brett King said he was the only person at BCCC evaluating and approving transfer student transcripts for a while “due to staffing needs.”
“I could speak about a lack of shared governance, a lack of transparency, and ongoing acts of mismanagement, all of which lead to rock bottom morale levels amongst the staff,” King said. “We need partners and leadership who work to address inadequate staffing so that together we can better this community.”
King also said the college lost six recruiters for incoming students this year alone.
“Among the recruiters who left were those most fluent in Spanish, cutting us off from effectively engaging that community,” he added.
Earlier this year, over 250 BCCC community members and workers signed a petition calling for McCurdy’s removal. But staff at Tuesday’s rally said that petition was largely ignored by the Board of Trustees.
“You choose to ignore all the red flags,” said Cynthia White, a senior records and registration specialist. “We have done our due diligence to alert you. It is now time to do yours.”
Rally participants urged Governor Wes Moore to not only appoint a new president, but also a new head of the Board of Trustees.