President/CEO Message

February 18, 2021

Campus Community,

This week went by fast! I had too many Zoom Meetings, participated in the Achieving the Dream 2021 Annual Convening, and the Association of California Community College Administrators Conference. I am tired. Today someone mentioned that we should have a Zoom Free Day. I love this idea, which means one day this semester, as a College, we will not schedule any Zoom Meetings. I look forward to working with the Consultative Council to identify the Zoom Free Day for spring 2021.

I am excited about the spring 2021 semester. I will continue to implement the following priorities which I shared during my Professional Development Presentation:

COVID-19 Pandemic -- Ensure faculty, staff, and students are in a safe and healthy environment.
Monitor the implementation of the recommendations/activities outlined in the Compton College 2024 documents.
Reestablish the Foundation for Compton CCD.
Succession Planning -- Focus on improving Compton College and Compton CCD policies and procedures.
Development of the Compton College Response to the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Call to Action.
Be more accessible to Compton College faculty, Classified staff, administrators/supervisors, students, and the community.
Continue to follow-up on all recommendations and requests.
Support Professional Development opportunities for faculty, Classified staff, administrators/supervisors, and students.
Monitor the implementation of Collaborative Governance.
Monitor the state and Compton CCD budgets.
Submit a request to the Department of Finance to protect Compton College Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES) through 2028-2029.

I know many of you are concerned with enrollment, and some may feel we are not doing enough as it relates to retention and recruitment. As I mentioned during my Professional Development video, enrollment is a concern that keeps me up at night. However, I am very mindful of the statewide and national community college enrollment data, and I know with three new buildings being built, the implementation of Guided Pathways and the Tartar Success Teams, and implementing activities outlined in the 2024 Compton College Enrollment Management Plan, our enrollment will increase over time. In the meantime, we will be implementing a marketing campaign for the second 8-week spring 2021 session. We will also add additional courses for that session. In future President/CEO Messages, I will provide updates on Compton College's enrollment.

The President/CEO Message - February 18, 2021, includes COVID-19 information and other campus-related updates.

Compton College COVID-19 Update

Los Angeles County's current risk level is Tier 1 (widespread), according to California's "Blueprint for a Safer Economy." On February 17, 2021, there were 2,394 newly recorded confirmed cases in Los Angeles County. The county now has a total of 1,171,664 reported cases (including cases reported by Long Beach and Pasadena Health Departments). For more information, go to publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/index. According to the Compton CCD Pandemic Outbreak - Emergency Operations Plan, Compton College continues to operate at Level Four - Severe Infection Rate.

Spring 2021 Enrollment Update

As of today, February 18, 2021, Compton College has generated 1,275 FTES for the Spring 2021 semester; the fill rate is currently 56%, and our seats filled is 8,385. The Spring 2021 Enrollment Report is available here. Census for the Main Term is March 1. Spring classes begin on February 16, 2021. A list of open sections, including late-start classes, is available here. Please encourage interested students to enroll as soon as possible.

Join Compton College's Black History Month Celebration Virtually

Compton College's annual month-long celebration each February in observance of Black History Month honors the achievements of black Americans and brings awareness to their significant role in U.S. history. This year's celebration will take place virtually, with a variety of events being offered via Zoom. Members of the community are invited to attend any or all of Compton College's virtual events celebrating Black History Month free of charge. For more information, click here.

Spring 2021 Student Resources Available

It's not too late to apply for free resources for the spring semester. Laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, food, housing referrals, headphones, and financial assistance are available to currently enrolled students via the Student Resources Form, available here. CARES Act emergency grants are available to those students who have experienced financial hardship and expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information and to apply for a grant, visit the CARES Act Grant Program webpage www.compton.edu/studentservices/financialaid/ComptonCollegeCARESActProgram.

Summer 2021 and Fall 2021

As I mentioned in the President/CEO Message - February 8, 2021, we will be offering the majority of our summer 2021 courses online, with many career and technical education, physical education/athletic, and nursing courses being offered on the Compton College campus. We will seek approval from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to offer these courses on campus.

This week during the Consultative Council meeting, I shared that a decision for fall 2021 will be made by Thursday, April 1, 2021. Regardless of the decision for fall 2021, as it relates to student enrollment, I am very interested in offering some of our enrollment services and support services on campus for potential and returning students. At this moment, I do not have a timeline for those services being offered as we need to make sure we can provide the services on campus in a safe environment for all employees and our students. More information on summer 2021, fall 2021, and the updated Eventual Return to Campus Plan will be provided in future President/CEO - Messages.

Compton College Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) Budget

In the President/CEO Message - January 25, 2021, I mentioned the HEERF II funding for Compton College and some of my general thoughts related to these funds' usage. Over the past couple of weeks, the President/CEO Cabinet Members drafted the Compton College HEERF II Budget, which is available here. This is a draft, and if you have feedback or creative input on the draft Compton College HEERF II Budget, please forward them to me at kcurry@compton.edu.

Compton College 2024 Teaching and Learning Update

In the President/CEO Message - December 7, 2020, and the President/CEO Message - December 17, 2020, I introduced the Compton College 2024 Teaching and Learning Professional Development Plans. We will be requesting each Guided Pathway Division to submit a proposal for professional development that focuses on teaching and learning activities to be scheduled over the next 18 months. The plans are due by Tuesday, May 11, 2021, and we are proposing an allocation of $250,000 from Compton College HEERF II Budgets to support this initiative.

Manage your Zoom Recordings to Prepare for Future Changes

California Community Colleges TechConnect recently sent an email to ConferZoom users regarding Zoom recordings. Due to an unprecedented number of Zoom meetings driven by the switch to remote instruction across the California Community College system, CCC TechConnect is nearing maximum capacity in their allotted ConferZoom cloud storage space. Your help is needed. TechConnect is asking everyone to adopt recording management practices that align with a temporary storage approach for all Zoom recordings as they work to develop their TechConnect Zoom recording retention policy which will include specific storage limits. You can proactively manage your Zoom cloud recordings by:

Decide which recordings you need to keep long-term. Review all recordings in your TechConnect Zoom account and determine which need to be used again or saved, and which can be discarded.
Download recordings you need to keep. Manage your recordings you decided to use again or save by downloading them locally to your desktop, then move them to a different storage repository for later access.
Delete recordings you no longer need. Be sure to delete all recordings that you no longer need from your Zoom account, along with all those that you downloaded to your desktop. Make a habit of doing this regularly.

Compton College will be developing policies and best practices for the retention of Zoom recordings for both instructional and non-instructional purposes.

Spring 2021 Professional Development Day #2 Satisfaction Survey

We appreciate your participation in the Spring 2021 Faculty & Staff Professional Development Day #2. Please take a moment to share your feedback through the completion of the survey sent via email by Professional Development Manager, Pilar Huffman, on February 11, 2021. The deadline to complete the survey is Monday, February 22. 2021.

Final Thoughts

This week, two very important reports were released. As I mentioned in the President/CEO Message - August 6, 2020, and the President/CEO Message - February 1, 2021, I served on the California Higher Education Recovery with Equity Taskforce, which is a taskforce of Governor Gavin Newsom's Council for Post-Secondary Education. The taskforce report and recommendations are available here. This morning the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL), the African American Male Education Network and Development (A2MEND), the Umoja Community Education Foundation, and the Campaign for College Opportunity released a startling new brief, “Follow the Money: California Systematically Underinvests in Black Degree Attainment.” The brief illuminates how California’s higher education policies have led to enrollment patterns for Black Californians that have resulted in underinvestment in Black students relative to peers in other racial/ethnic groups. Hopefully, you can read these reports in the coming weeks.

Please be safe and tomorrow is Friday!

Keith Curry, Ed.D.
(preferred pronouns: he/him/his)
President/CEO
Compton College