President/CEO Message

January 14, 2021

Campus Community,

Okay, I have officially failed with my Zoom Meeting schedule this week. Yesterday, January 13, 2021, and today, January 14, 2021, I had too many Zoom meetings. I surpassed my daily limit, and as always, Kamilo Ali Curry interrupted every one of my meetings. On January 8, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom released the Proposed Budget for California for the 2021-2022 year. The Governor's Proposed Budget maintains the state's recent commitment to paying down liabilities, maintaining reserves, and increasing spending primarily for one-time initiatives. For California community colleges, the Governor's Proposed Budget includes around $600 million in funding for one-time and ongoing programs Governor's Proposed Budget initiatives. I am interested in additional information on the following one-time initiatives:

emergency student financial assistance,
funding to address students' basic needs related to food and housing insecurity,
and funding to address retention and enrollment strategies at California community colleges.

These one-time investments will provide Compton College with additional funding to continue implementing the Compton College 2024 Comprehensive Master Plan initiatives during and after the COVID-19 pandemic to address our students' success. You can find the 2021-2022 Joint Analysis of the Governor's State Budget Proposal that was released by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, here. I am excited about the possibilities available in the Governor's Proposed Budget and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II. The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II is authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law 116-260, signed into law on December 27, 2020. From the information I have gathered from the United States Department of Education (see page 98), Compton CCD is projected to receive $6,356,599.

I am incredibly excited about the additional funding in the Governor's Budget Proposal and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II. However, I am deeply concerned about the future of Compton CCD's financial status due to the long-term fiscal outlook for the state of California, the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the Compton CCD FTES hold-harmless, scheduled to end in the 2025-2026 year. More information on the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II and the Governor's Proposed Budget will be available in a future President/CEO - Message.

The President/CEO Message - January 14, 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 January 13, 2021, there were 14,564 newly recorded confirmed cases in Los Angeles County. The county now has a total of 958,497 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.

Essential Employees Work Schedule

The current Essential Employees Work Schedule is posted online here. The Essential Employees Work Schedule will continue to be updated weekly and made available in the Thursday President/CEO Messages through January 2021.

Compton College Cranium Cafe

As mentioned in the President/CEO Message - October 19, 2020 and President/CEO Message - October 26, 2020, similar to many Compton College departments and programs, I utilize Cranium Cafe to interact with employees, student workers, and students. In the next couple of weeks, we will be working to set-up Cranium Cafe cards for all full-time managers/supervisors and Classified staff. Our goal is to set-up Cranium Cafe cards for these employees before the beginning of the spring 2021 semester. Please contact the Dean of Counseling and Guided Pathways, Dr. Cesar Jimenez, at cjimenez@compton.edu, for more information and assistance in creating a Cranium Cafe card.

Spring 2021 Enrollment Update

As of today, January 14, 2021, Compton College has generated 778 FTES for the Spring 2021 semester; the fill rate is currently 30%, and our seats filled is 5,152. The Spring 2021 Enrollment Report is available here. Spring classes begin Tuesday, February 16, 2021.

Mandatory Spring 2021 Professional Development Day

We will begin the spring 2021 semester with two Professional Development Days on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 (optional for full-time and part-time faculty), and Thursday, February 11, 2021 (mandatory for full-time faculty), at Compton College. All Compton College full-time faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors are expected to attend the general session at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2021. Jasmine Roberts, Strategic Communication Lecturer at Ohio State University, will serve as our keynote speaker. Thursday's Professional Development Day activities for full-time faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors will conclude at 4:00 p.m. The complete schedule of events will be available in a future President/CEO - Message.

Important Announcement: Achieving the Dream Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool

Thank you to the Compton College faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors who completed the Achieving the Dream Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool in fall 2020. However, we have received word that only approximately 12% of the Compton College faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors completed the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool in fall 2020. To increase our response rate, we have extended the deadline to complete the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool to Thursday, February 4, 2021. The Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. The results will help guide the college in our work with Achieving the Dream over the next three years. I emailed the link to the survey to all Compton College employees on January 13, 2021.

If you have already completed the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool, you do not need to complete it again. For the Compton College faculty, Classified staff, and managers/supervisors, who complete the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool, you may enter your name in an opportunity drawing, where four employees could win $200 each. The end of the survey should direct you to the drawing entry.

Compton Community College District Board of Trustees Meeting

The Compton CCD Board of Trustees' next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19, 2021. The closed session begins at 4:00 p.m., with the open session commencing at 5:00 p.m. via Zoom Meeting. Information on how to access the Compton CCD Board of Trustees meeting is available here.

Final Thoughts

I recently asked our faculty, Classified staff, and students to describe Compton College in one positive word. Here is a graphic representation of the positivity surrounding Compton College. I'm very proud of what we accomplished together in 2020 and what we will do moving forward! May this serve as our inspiration to help every student create his or her success story.

Compton College 2020 Word Cloud