President/CEO Message
February 25, 2021
Campus Community,
In the President/CEO Message-January 25, 2021, I provided information on the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) and how we need to utilize those funds to support student enrollment and re-engage students who were previously enrolled at Compton College. Included in the draft Compton College HEERF II Budget:
- $3 million for emergency aid for our students, including:
- $1.5 million for current students that will be expended during the spring 2021 semester and continue through December 31, 2021.
- $1.5 million for students who enroll in the spring 2021 second eight-week session or thereafter and continue to enroll through December 31, 2021.
The draft Compton College HEERF II Budget is available for your review here. If you have feedback or creative input on the draft Compton College HEERF II Budget, please forward them to me at kcurry@compton.edu. Please note, we will be making additional changes to the plan next week as we continue to review HEERF II guidance.
The President/CEO Message - February 25, 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 24, 2021, there were 2,157 newly recorded confirmed cases in Los Angeles County. The county now has a total of 1,185,457 reported cases (including cases reported by Long Beach and Pasadena Health Departments). For more information, go to http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/index.htm. According to the Compton CCD Pandemic Outbreak - Emergency Operations Plan, Compton College continues to operate at Level Four - Severe Infection Rate.
St. John's Well Child & Family Center Community Vaccination
As mentioned in the President/CEO Message-February 22, 2021, St. John's Well Child & Family Center will provide 1,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each week. St. John's Well Child & Family Center is using our on-campus health center as a vaccination pod. Currently, the COVID-19 vaccine is only available to health care workers and adults 65 and older by registered appointments. Individuals may call (323) 541-1411 to register for an appointment.
Spring 2021 Enrollment Update
As of today, February 25, 2021, Compton College has generated 1,276 FTES for the Spring 2021 semester; the fill rate is currently 56%, and our seats filled is 8,410. The Spring 2021 Enrollment Report is available here. Census for the Main Term is March 1. A list of open sections, including late-start classes, is available here. Please encourage interested students to enroll as soon as possible.
FREE Student Resources Available for Spring 2021
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.
Compton College Enrollment Data
In previous President/CEO Messages, I have mentioned and shared research about the national decline in enrollment at community colleges. Lauren Sosenko, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, has prepared a report of the last 5 to 12 years of our enrollment and comparisons to the surrounding community colleges. This data should inform conversations across campus about enrollment. The report is available here. In the 2019-2020 year, we anticipated the decline in enrollment due to the separation from El Camino College, and now the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted our enrollment. We will continue to focus on growing our enrollment and enrollment management. Enrollment is not just about recruiting new students. We need to make sure students stay enrolled, considering we are much lower in student persistence than neighboring community colleges. I am eager to see the persistent data for the 2019-2020 year, as this was our first year of the implementation of Guided Pathways and the Tartar Success Teams.
Hopefully, the data report prepared by Lauren Sosenko will be discussed at committee meetings, and creative input will be provided to the Enrollment Management Committee.
Compton CCD Five-Year Fiscal Management Plan
Each year, we prepare a Five-Year Fiscal Management Plan for Compton College and the Compton CCD. The Five-Year Fiscal Management Plan is a living document that guides our annual budget. The updated Compton CCD Five-Year Fiscal Management Plan is available here. The updated plan will be presented at the next Planning and Budget Committee meeting and to the Compton CCD Board of Trustees at their Tuesday, March 16, 2021 meeting. If you have any questions or creative input, please forward them to Dr. Abdul Nasser, Vice President of Administrative Services, at anasser@compton.edu.
Final Thoughts
I want to thank the many employees who attended the Virtual Tartar Talks on February 23, 2021, and I appreciated the feedback I received regarding the Eventual Return to Campus. We are compiling the notes and reviewing the chat comments as we develop our plan for the gradual return to campus. There are a lot of questions that need to be addressed and many unknowns. We are also reviewing the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's "Protocols for Institutes of Higher Education," which was updated on February 22, 2021. As I mentioned in the President/CEO Message - February 18, 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.
I also noted that a decision for fall 2021 will be made by Thursday, April 1, 2021. I am very interested in offering some of our enrollment services and support services on campus for potential and returning students. Cabinet members are collecting the necessary information and plans to ensure that we provide the services in a safe environment for all employees and our students. We will continue having conversations and will provide updates on the Eventual Return to Campus in future Presidents/CEO Messages.
In closing, some people have mentioned that my President/CEO Messages are too long and too frequent, causing some people not to read them. That is disappointing to hear. The President/CEO Message provides an opportunity for me to provide information and essential updates to the campus community as we remain a telecommuting campus. I will continue to provide these messages on Mondays and Thursdays via email, the web, and social media. If individuals refuse to or are not interested in reading the President/CEO Messages, please don't complain about transparency or the lack of communication about what is happening at Compton College and with Compton Community College District. All President/CEO Messages are available online here.
Have a wonderful Friday! One more day, and thenit's the weekend.
Keith Curry, Ed.D.
(preferred pronouns: he/him/his)
President/CEO
Compton College
