Community College Layoffs

I must commend Harold W. Garvin, member of the board of trustees for the Los Angeles Community College District, for his article (Editorial Pages, April 26) regarding the teacher layoffs and the closing of several academic disciplines within the Community College District.

As Los Angeles City College is within my council district, I am deeply indebted to Garvin for his stance. I believe that the closure of the nursing program at Los Angeles City College would severely diminish the level of nursing care within our community, as well as create extreme hardships on those nursing students, many of whom are minorities and women who dream of entering the nursing profession.

I am aware of the state funding shortfalls that have hurt the community colleges and that enrollment has decreased. But I am also aware of reports indicating the district will have a surplus of almost $2 million at the end of the fiscal year with enrollment expected to swell when the college returns to its traditional starting date to accommodate the anticipated California State University overflow.

Local hospitals, desperate for nurse graduates from accredited schools (Los Angeles City College is one of the few such schools in the area) have even offered to help. At a recent board meeting Carol Coulter, director of registered nurse recruitment at Kaiser Permanente, offered the board the possibility of having Kaiser partially subsidize the nursing program at Los Angeles City College. The offer by Kaiser was both altruistic and practical.

The severe nursing shortage, plus the accreditation makes virtually every graduate of the Los Angeles City College School of Nursing a wage earner upon graduation. Indeed, the nursing shortage is so acute that Joyce Ross, assistant personnel director and nurse recruiter at Good Samaritan Hospital, states that Good Samaritan offers a $1,000 recruitment bonus to any nurse bringing in another qualified nurse. Ross further stated that the nurse graduates of the Los Angeles City College School of Nursing are actively solicited by her institution due to their excellent training.

In Chancellor Leslie Koltai’s budget proposal of Feb. 5, he stated that one of the considerations in retaining a program is the career opportunities of the graduates. The nursing program at Los Angeles City College is within walking distance of three large medical facilities. There is a nursing shortage and graduates are in high demand. The Times has a minimum of seven pages each Sunday in its classified section advertising for nurses. Federal surveys indicate that the demand for nurses will increase by 200% over the next 10 years. The matter speaks for itself.

My constituents who attend Los Angeles City College School of Nursing are primarily minority students and come from homes of modest means. Most work as well as attend school. Many rely on public transportation for both work and school. Where are they to go to get an equivalent education? How can they afford to travel long distances?

As a councilman, my responsibility is to meet the needs of the community as a whole as well as to meet the needs of each individual within the community. Sometimes there is conflict between the two. In the case of the Nursing School at Los Angeles City College, a school within my council district, there is no conflict. On the one hand there exists a medical community desperate for additional nurses. On the other hand are the students, young people seeking a life of service and dignity. I cannot let the community nor the future nurses down and sincerely hope that the board does not either.

JOHN FERRARO

Councilman

4th District

Los Angeles