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CLARION CITRUS COLLEGE
A First Amendment Newspaper
ccclarion.com
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Candidates pursue trustee position BY
BOARD MEMBERS SEEKS TO REMOVE FELLOW TRUSTEE
Jessica Soto / Managing Editor
Candidates for the Area 1 seat on the Board of Trustees look to take advantage of controversy surrounding incumbent Gary Woods who was a no-show to the forum. Cristina Cruz-Madrid, Barbara Dickerson, Shawn Millner and Lorenzo Rios are the candidates challenging current trustee Gary Woods. Woods, who has served on the Board of Trustees since 1982, is being accused of living outside of his district. Bruce Langford, Citrus College Faculty Association president and Candidates Forum moderator, opened the event by reading a statement from Woods that pointed out his 32 years experience on the board as well as his 42 years as an educator. In his statement, Woods said that he did not receive any official notification of the forum taking place and that he found out via reporter the day prior. John Fincher, past president of the CCFA, said otherwise. “I personally mailed the invitation to his Azusa address,” Fincher said, later noting that each candidate received notification via email as well. Former Azusa Mayor Cruz-Madrid conveyed that “all of [the candidates] that are running are very well qualified and they will all do better than the incumbent.” She said that she would bring leadership and a way of doing things differently. Dickerson is vice president of the Azusa Unified School Board and executive director of Neighborhood Homework House. “I have come to know the dreams, concerns, [...] and fears of several of the families in Azusa,” Dickerson said. Millner, a member of the city’s Planning Commission said that she feels strongly about helping her community grow. “I knew that a decision not to run would be me admitting that the needs and representation of our community have been properly addressed, when in fact it has not for some time,” Millner said. Rios is a retired utility worker from Rancho Santiago Community College District in Santa Ana. Rios’ understanding of shared governance is that “the college leadership direct its resources to the students who are our primary concern.” Cruz-Madrid expressed her desire for a stronger leadership, Rios believes that there needs to be a broader focus on the student veterans. Dickerson said that Citrus needs a workforce that is stable and unstoppable, while Millner believes that the problems facing Citrus are not insurmountable. The election will be held on Nov. 5.
vol lxviii issue 2
Scott Lewis / Staff Writer
In front of a full house on Tuesday, Sept. 10, attorney Christopher Keeler of Fagan Friedman & Fulfrost presents his report regarding the issue of residency of Gary L. Woods to the Citrus College Board of Trustees. Following Keeler’s report providing evidence that Woods does not utilize his property in Azusa as his residence, the Board voted 3-2 in favor to authorize the school district’s legal council to ‘sue in quo warranto’— to have the California Attorney General’s office determine whether Woods is ineligible to hold office based on residency outside of his trustee area.
Fall enrollment BETTER than expected BY
Christian Rodriguez / Editor-In-Chief
C
itrus College has reached 96.36 percent seat capacity for fall 2013. Arvid Spor vice president of student services said that it was somewhat a surprise considering how much Citrus College grew in terms of sections, 200 hundred more than fall 2012. There is also a belief that the number of high school graduates has peaked and now in a downward slope. “Our peer colleges have been adding sections so we figured we might struggle to get 100 percent and having the summer session come in lower than expected had us think even more so.” Dr. Sam Lee said. This year 35,415 students enrolled in Citrus College’s fall semester, with an increase of 6602 from last year’s 28813 fall session participants from last year’s 4,125 summer session participants. With the increased funding from the state Citrus College could afford to add more sections, had Prop 30 had not passed addition of 200 sections would not be possible. “With the passage of Prop 30, many schools are out there actively promoting larger offerings,” Lee said. Prop 30 was an initiative that raised taxes on personal income on annual earn-
Citrus Community College District Summary of Funded FTES 12,200 12,000 11,800 11,600 11,400 11,200 11,000 10,800 10,600 10,400 10,200 10,000
11,882
11,739
11,928 11,618 11,343 10,684 10,668
10,905
06-‐07 07-‐08 08-‐09 09-‐10 10-‐11 11-‐12 12-‐13 13-‐14 Courtesy of Judy Rojas
ing over $250,000 for seven years and increased sales tax by one-fourth cent for four years. 89 percent of the tax revenues are allocated to K-12 schools and 11percent are distributed to community colleges. Lee explained that community colleges are funded by the state of California based on the concept of the Full-Time Equivalent Student (FTES). “So if a student takes two semesters, fall and spring, 15 units each term, that together equals one full-time equivalent student: two semesters, 15 units. Now you could take five students each taking three units for two semesters, and that would equal one FTES.” Lee said. Each fiscal year Citrus College has to
meet a certain number of FTES to receive funding from the state. The target for this fall session was 4640, which based on the latest reports produced an additional 128 FTES. Many factors contributed to the enrollment numbers. One of those being the call centers run by students ambassadors who called students with alerts of open classes and warnings of roll out dates and unpaid student fees. To encourage the continual growth of enrollment and FTES there have been talks of creating a Wingspan App to make it easier for students to keep track of classes and important dates.