President/CEO Message
February 8, 2021
Campus Community,
As we prepare for spring 2021 Professional Development Days, I have the wonderful opportunity to participate in the U.S. Department of Education's Fundamentals of Federal Student Aid Administration training this week. If you receive an email or question related to Financial Aid from me this week, know that I am in training, and want to verify we comply with the U.S. Department of Education requirements. From the information I learned today, I truly appreciate all of the Financial Aid staff and what you do to support our students, especially since you have to be very familiar with all the federal regulations.
The President/CEO Message - February 8, 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." OnFebruary 7, 2021, there were 3,123 newly recorded confirmed cases in Los Angeles County. The county now has a total of 1,146,450 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 8, 2021, Compton College has generated 1,154 FTES for the Spring 2021 semester; the fill rate is currently 46%, and our seats filled is 7,618. The Spring 2021 Enrollment Report is available here. Spring classes begin on February 16, 2021. Please encourage any interested students to enroll as soon as possible. Sections with nine or fewer students enrolled will be reviewed for consolidation/cancellation tomorrow, February 9, 2021.
Compton College and Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services Partnership
As mentioned in the President/CEO Message - December 21, 2020, and President/CEO Message - January 7, 2021, I mentioned Compton College has a partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) related to CalFresh food assistance. On February 1, 2021, Compton College working with the DPSS and the California Student Aid Commission, sent a communication to Compton College students regarding CalFresh benefits they may be eligible to receive. The notification was sent to over 1,500 students with a $0 Expected Family Contribution, based on their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for the 2020-2021 year. Please note, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an eligible one-person household will get $234 on their EBT card each month to help pay for groceries, so we encourage Compton College students to apply to receive this valuable benefit.
On January 28, 2021, Compton College participated in CalFresh training for staff. Finally, we are currently exploring CalFresh application drop-in assistance for our students during the spring 2021 semester. For more information on this partnership and CalFresh food assistance, please contact Dr. Cesar Jimenez, Acting Vice President of Student Services, at cjimenez@compton.edu.
Spring 2021 Professional Development Days
We will begin the spring 2021 semester with two Professional Development Days on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 (optional), and Thursday, February 11, 2021 (mandatory), via Zoom Meeting. The agendas, including Zoom Meeting information, are available on the Professional Development webpage: www.compton.edu/facultystaff/professional-development/. The agendas, including Zoom Meeting information, are available on the Professional Development webpage: www.compton.edu/facultystaff/professional-development/.
Lunch is being provided for all full-time faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors for Professional Development Day 2 (mandatory) on Thursday, February 11, 2021, through the utilization of UberEats. The $20 vouchers can be redeemed via the Uber app or ubereats.com. Managers/supervisors will email individual vouchers to their full-time employees by February 9, 2021. For more information on how to use UberEats, click here.
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.
Compton College's Campus Community Continues to Mirror Population It Serves
In this President/CEO Message, I would like to publicly provide information and official data regarding the gender and ethnicity of the Compton CCD employees, students, and the communities served by the Compton CCD. During the last quarter of 2019, I published my commentary regarding the CCCD faculty and staff diversity, and I recently decided to publish this commentary each year. The February 2021 commentary provides an overview of the population (employees and students) at Compton College by gender and ethnicity; the document is available online here. Compton College's population of students, faculty, and staff reflects the diversity of the residents that live within the Compton CCD service area.
Compton Community College District Succession Planning
In my President/CEO Message - January 11, 2021, I announced that I have been developing a non-emergency succession plan based on the Compton College 2024 Human Resources Staffing Plan. The plan is centered on two over-arching strategies:
- a focus on developing key leadership and the knowledgebase among internal faculty, Classified staff, and administration; and
- an analysis of the key skills and traits of identified leadership positions that can be deployed as needed.
- Development and implementation of the #Real114 Leadership Academy.
The plan includes exit interviews and exit memos for employees when they leave the organization outlining their key projects, concerns, and important dates. The information collected will be used for development purposes to help Human Resources improve the employee experience. As previously mentioned, if you have any suggestions or recommendations regarding the Compton College Succession Plan, please send them to me at kcurry@compton.edu.
Final Thoughts
In my President/CEO Message - December 10, 2020, President/CEO Message - January 11, 2021, and the President/CEO Message - February 1, 2021, I stated that a decision had not yet been made regarding summer 2021. I want to inform you now that 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. Furthermore, we will be expanding the on-campus staffing schedule for some departments. In the coming months, we will be updating our Eventual Return to Campus Plan, which is a living document, to reflect this decision and begin the planning for summer 2021.
We have many details to think through as it relates to this decision, and we will need your creative input as we prepare for the summer 2021 and the 2021-2022 year. No decision has been made regarding the fall 2021 semester, as we still are gathering information. More information on summer 2021 will be provided in future President/CEO Messages.
I wanted to mention that the California Community Colleges #BlackStudentSuccess Week is scheduled for Monday-Friday, April 26-30, 2021. The theme for #BlackStudentSuccess Week is Follow The Money: Unapologetically Supporting Black Students.
In closing, we are purchasing all full-time faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors new Compton College t-shirts from the Compton College Bookstore. Our goal is to provide the Compton College t-shirts to you sometime in March 2021, and we are planning to have a Zoom group picture at the Tartar Talks scheduled for Wednesday, April 20, 2021, at 1:00 p.m.
Please be safe and have a wonderful week.
Keith Curry, Ed.D.
(preferred pronouns: he/him/his)
President/CEO
Compton College
