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Last Updated 3/19/08

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Low Enrollment a Challenge at Compton Education Center
40 classes cut by El Camino administration this semester

By Cheryl Scott
Bulletin Staff Writer

As many as 40 classes have been cut from the Compton Education Center’s curriculum this semester, forcing some students to go to the El Camino Community College (ECC) campus in Torrance to meet the requirements for their degrees. Many of the closed classes are vocational courses that have always been a mainstay at the college.

The loss of classes could hinder the efforts of the Compton Community College District (CCD) to restore the college’s accreditation in the future by reducing the student population to a number that is untenable.

Officials with the city of Compton have expressed concern about the college and are monitoring events closely.

“We are aware of a number of problems that exist in the Compton Community College District, including the massive cancellation of three-week-old classes and the alleged referral of students from the Learning Center to El Camino College’s main campus for classes,” said City Atty. Legrand Clegg. “At this time we are monitoring developments with an eye toward determining whether any legal action is appropriate.”

El Camino denies any attempt to siphon off enrollment from the Compton campus.

“When a class is cancelled due to low enrollment, the faculty member for that class and the division chair both work with the students to find a different section for that course or a similar course, and assist the student in enrolling in another class section that fits with the student’s educational master plan,” said El Camino Public Information Officer Ann Garten.

Professor Rodney Murray, president of the CCD Federation of Certificated Employees, said that it is standard procedure to cut classes if enrollment is under 15 students. “But they are supposed to be cut during the first week,” he told The Bulletin. “We have a memorandum of understanding with the CCD that allows classes to be cut for low enrollment through the second week. After that, they should remain open regardless of enrollment.”

“ECC’s policy on canceling classes due to low enrollment is, in general, classes with less than 15 students enrolled are cancelled,” said Garten. “Before any class is cancelled the division chair reviews the circumstances on a case by case basis – sometimes classes do run with fewer than 15 students if the chair determines there are circumstances that warrant it.”

Many of the cancelled classes were closed after the third week. The Federation of Certificated Employees is formally protesting the class closures, Murray said. According to sources at the college, some classes have been cancelled before the enrollment period is over.

The decision to close the classes was made by Dr. Mary Callahan, interim assistant dean of Academic Affairs, who refused to comment for this article.

Garten said that the classes closed were not in just one academic area. “The courses cancelled are in a variety of disciplines. This is the case at both the Compton and Torrance campuses.”

Sources connected with the college have said that the Compton community must support the college by enrolling in and attending classes. “We are approaching a make or break year,” said Murray. “After the 08-09 school year our funding will be based on our fulltime student enrollment numbers.”

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) withdrew accreditation from Compton Community College in August 2006. Since then educational services to the community have been provided at the Compton campus through a partnership with the El Camino Community College District. The college is now named the El Camino Community College Compton Educational Center, or Compton Center.

The transition at the college has been difficult and confusing because of unclear lines of communication and other operational challenges inherent to the situation. The college is now being managed by administrative personnel of the El Camino Community College District. There is a perception, at least, that decisions are being made that are more advantageous to El Camino than to Compton.

“The best thing we can do in the community is to enroll in classes at the Compton Center,” said Murray. “This is our facility. It should be used by the people of Compton. Enrollment is increasing. It is up from last year at this time. But we need more students. Once we have a large, growing, vigorous population of students, we can demand the services we are entitled to, instead of having someone else coming here and calling all the shots.”

Garten said that the Compton Center has added a number of courses to the second eight-week session, which begins April 12. “Many are in the subject areas where classes for the start of the spring semester were cancelled,” she said. “The list of second eight-week courses available is posted across campus and on the web. Counselors, faculty and staff in registration and student services also have updated lists of the added courses.”

Students can go to www.compton.edu and select MyECC to get the most updated list of courses available for the April 12 session.

While, theoretically, Compton Community College no longer exists, the Compton Community College District remains as a legal entity whose priority is to restore the college’s accreditation as soon as possible, a process that could take five to 10 years.

The situation at the college is “unprecedented and extremely complex,” according to a recently released report by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistant Team assigned to monitor progress at the college.

“Compton College is the first California public community college to lose its accreditation, have a special trustee assigned to administer the college district, have the authority of its elected governing board suspended by legislation, and receive a multimillion-dollar state loan to continue operations,” the report says.

Despite the challenge of managing an educational center in a unique and unprecedented situation, the mandate to restore the college’s accreditation has never been in doubt.

Neither has the directive to continue to provide educational services within the community of Compton. At this time, if the college is to be preserved and restored as Compton Community College, it seems that the residents of the community are faced with a “use it or lose it” situation.