Cooperation Clears Way, Educators Say

Cooperation among high schools, community colleges and universities in Orange County is removing barriers to higher education for minorities and others who might otherwise be shut out, county education leaders said Thursday.

“It’s a little embarrassing,” said Rudy Castruita, superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District, “but three or four years ago, our counselors did not know what the requirements were for the state university systems. The cooperative programs we have now are making college a reality for our youngsters. Before, it was just a dream.”

Castruita, who heads the predominantly Latino district with 43,000 pupils, joined Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb and executives of four community college districts Thursday at a “State of Education in Orange County” breakfast meeting hosted by UC Irvine Chancellor Jack W. Peltason.

The links between the institutions have resulted in programs to encourage minority students to pursue college education and in unified lobbying to get more state money, Peltason said.

And while he said the ultimate cooperative effort--establishment of a new campus in the booming South County that would combine programs of the University of California, California State University and Saddleback Community College--is still just a wish, Peltason said he sees no reason to rule it out. Saddleback Chancellor Richard Sneed and Cal State Fullerton President Cobb have suggested that such a university might grow out of CSUF’s new satellite campus in Mission Viejo.