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Town:
Compton’s Joey Spraggins Featured in Bus Ads, Billboards
School Officials Rally Against Proposed Cuts
Social Workers Protest Compton Office Overcrowding
Tower of Faith Breaks Ground on $11 Million Community Center Complex
Education By Any Means Necessary Conference Slated for Next Thursday
School Board Considers Fourth Audit of District Operations
Law Enforcement Officials Urge Residents to Wear Seatbelts
Board of Supervisors Again Offering Reward for 2005 Murder Info
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson:
Gross Overkill on a Supervisor’s Seat
Information
Under Tight Control at Compton Center
Bulletin’s
attempts to interview campus personnel deflected
By
Cheryl Scott
Bulletin Staff Writer
It
seems that there is an embargo on information about the former Compton
College, now known as El Camino College Compton Center.
Calls to faculty and administrators are consistently referred to Community
Relations Director Ann Garten at El Camino. Individuals at the Compton
campus who formerly were available to the press now refer The Bulletin’s
calls to the community relations office.
However, Garten is frequently not available for days at a time, and
calls to that office are often not returned. When calls are returned
it is frequently after a delay of several days.
In an attempt to research a story about the Learning Resource Center,
still unused despite the fact that the building appears to be finished
and ready for occupancy, newspaper staff tried repeatedly to speak
to Provost Doris Givens and others at the Compton Center. All of our
calls were referred Garten, who is located on the campus of El Camino
College in Torrance.
The fact that all calls are referred to the same person bears the appearance
that information is under tight control.
Lorraine Cervantes, Compton Community College District trustee, told
The Bulletin that she believes there is information that is being kept
hidden from the public.
“The board of trustees has been stripped of its power by the
terms of AB 318,” she said. “From the beginning we were
told that it would take approximately seven years for us to become
accredited
again under our own name. At a recent town hall meeting we were told
that the estimate is now 11 to 13 years. Why is that?”
AB 318 is the legislation crafted by Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally that
allowed the college to remain open as a satellite facility of El Camino
College. The bill also installed a special trustee to operate in lieu
of the elected board of trustees. The board of trustees still exists,
but is not empowered to vote on issues related to the operation of
the college.
“In order for us to get our accreditation back we have to have
a fully operational board of trustees,” Cervantes said. “But
how can we ever fulfill that obligation if we are not allowed to function?”
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC)
withdrew accreditation from Compton Community College in August 2006.
In 2004 the state took control of the college’s administration,
citing longstanding fiscal mismanagement and weak administrative leadership.
In the previous fiscal year, 2002-03, the college had projected a deficit
of $275,000.
“An audit done right after they took over control of the college
showed that there was no deficit,” said Cervantes. “There
is a deficit now, but it has been incurred since El Camino took over.”
AB 318 also cleared the way for a $30-million loan that will be used
to reimburse and compensate El Camino College for expenses incurred
by the operation of the Compton Center. The partnership arrangement
originally was to continue for a minimum of five years, with a three-year
extension at the discretion of the California Community Colleges Board
of Governors.
According to the terms of the agreement El Camino is required to offer
instruction to Compton Community College students at the Compton campus
beginning in August 2006.
Since that time there have been many complaints from students about
the closure of classes at the Compton Center. 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 College
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.
Cervantes says that El Camino College needs to operate the Compton
Center in a way that will fulfill the needs in Compton. “Our
community is completely different from the community of Torrance. We
need more vocational courses. I think that El Camino is starting to
understand that we have different course requirements.”
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.
There is another perception that information about operations at the
college is being closely guarded.
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