On Aug. 15, during the Fall 2025 district FLEX Day, Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson publicly introduced a transformation plan for the district’s long term future. 

The plan represents a multi-year strategy from Peralta leadership to bring about institutional change as the district navigates the effects of a long term budget deficit. 

During her address, Gilkerson announced six focus areas where she plans to make future recommendations to the Board of Trustees, one being the unification of Laney College and Merritt College.

Gilkerson shared that she will explore each focus area in detail through the formation of “taskforces” comprised of representatives from each constituency group within the district. Since her initial announcement, the district has appointed representatives for each taskforce and established a strategic direction for them.

Gilkerson and her fellow district administrators shared that progress in a series of Sept. “College Roadshow” presentations across the four Peralta colleges.

During the Sept. 10 College Roadshow presentation at the Laney College Forum, Gilkerson said the district is in the process of creating a “strategic direction” for each focus area, to inform the final recommendations she will present to the trustees.

That presentation also included the official titles and scope of work for the taskforces, who will convene over the next few months in order to provide the chancellor with constituency feedback.

Here’s what we know so far.

Taskforces in early stages

According to the agenda for the Oct. 7 Peralta District Academic Senate meeting, the final appointments for each taskforce are set. 

According to District Classified Senate President Tachetta Henry, only half of the taskforces have set meeting dates. The distance education taskforce will hold their first meeting on Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., while the unification taskforce will hold their first meeting on Oct. 31 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

A small committee composed of the faculty and classified shared governance presidents, district employee union presidents, and the chancellor appointed the members of each taskforce. Each constituency president was designated a varying number of taskforce positions to fill. 

According to Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1021 President Richard Thoele, the chancellor spoke with each constituency president about expectations for the selection process during the Fall 2025 Shared Governance Summit.

Thoele, who was unable to attend the summit, said that SEIU selected taskforce appointees who had “some experience with shared governance.”

“It was a mixture of bringing in new perspectives, new voices, but also making sure that with certain appointments, we did have folks that are focused and engaged,” Thoele said.

Student representatives will also be included in taskforce discussions. Student Trustee Leo Migliaccio wrote in a text message to The Citizen that the student trustees are in charge of presenting the chancellor with potential appointees.

He said that most student appointments have already been made but they are still looking for some “student leaders ready to make a change.”

Classified Senate president Henry said that the student trustees are expected to finalize their appointments in time for the first taskforce meetings.

What will the taskforces do?

Three taskforces have been created to flesh out each proposed recommendation with the chancellor. A fourth pre-existing committee will be included in these planning discussions as well.

The Unification Taskforce will develop an actionable plan to “ensure a smooth and equitable transition” into a three-college district. During her College Roadshow presentation at Laney, Gilkerson said that the process of unification will involve all four Peralta campuses in order to streamline a centralized network of colleges in order to “operate as a stronger district.”

The taskforce will take in data found by the Student Success and Enrollment Committee, who will oversee course and program assessments and the implementation of evening and weekend programs, in order to provide their own recommendations.

The Distance Education Taskforce will recommend majors for fully online associate degree pathways based on analysis of student success metrics and current distance education offerings. According to the slideshow presented by Gilkerson, fully online degree pathways are expected to be available by Fall of 2027.

The objective of the taskforce is to consolidate distance education into “one system” in order to provide students with consistent programming, clear expectations, and support for adopting new schedules for online learning.

The Dual Enrollment and Concurrent Enrollment Taskforce will create a clear and efficient process for dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment students based on dual enrollment data pulled from this year.

Dual enrollment is the process of a high school student taking a college course at their high school, while concurrent enrollment is the process of a student taking a course at a community college while still enrolled in high school or a four year university.

They will also develop coordinated marketing and outreach strategies for parents and students.

The Student Success and Enrollment Committee will oversee course and program assessment by ensuring that “every program is strong, sustainable, and strategically placed” to best serve students while reducing program and course duplication. According to the presentation, the committee will “identify duplication, needs, gaps, and areas for greater success” without “reducing opportunity.”

They will also be in charge of creating evening and weekend course programming by assessing “student demands and workforce needs to guide program selection.”

Shared decision-making builds “cautious optimism”

During the Laney College Roadshow presentation, Gilkerson said that the transformation plan “was not built in a vacuum.” Over the past year, district leadership met with shared governance committees to hear feedback for district-wide changes they would like to see implemented.

Henry said that each taskforce will send their findings to the Planning and Budgeting Committee, who will then draft recommendations for the chancellor to review and submit to the trustees.

According to the District Academic Senate president, Leslie Blackie, the initial report from the chancellor to the trustees is expected to occur during a spring districtwide shared governance summit on Feb. 27, 2026.

The president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, Jeff Sanceri, was one of the representatives who made appointments for each taskforce.

Sanceri said that the chancellor “has been a lot more open to listening and taking advice” compared to other administrations in the past. But he still holds some reservations, citing his experience with previous district administrators.

“My optimism is out there, but it’s always going to be cautious optimism,” Sanceri said. While he expects that “faculty will be heard” during these meetings, he wants to be prepared for “the moment that might not be the case.”

Henry is excited for the new changes to the district, believing that sometimes “it takes pruning to go where you need to go.”

“I think that Peralta is shifting into a better position, and it will, like with anything, [take] time to get there,” Henry said.

Chancellor looks forward

Gilkerson feels the transformation plan has made good progress since she introduced the central ideas to the wider district community in her  Aug. FLEX Day address.“I think it has […] much more meat to it,” Gilkerson said in an interview with The Citizen.

“This now has a strategic direction and a goal and work for each group to do,” she continued. “I actually feel like we’re making a lot of progress, but the work hasn’t started.”

No direct changes to district operations have been made based on Gilkerson’s recommendations so far.

Under the current anticipated timeline, the recommendations that emerge from the taskforce discussions will be “put into action” within the next 12 to 24 months. Over the same period, according to financial reports from the district, Peralta will not face any budget cuts or borrow from future semesters for the first time in over a decade.