SANTA ANA : 2 District Trustees Drop Complaint

Satisfied that fellow trustees are beginning to work together, two members of the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees have withdrawn a complaint lodged with a regional accrediting board.

Trustees Carol Enos and Shirley Ralston two weeks ago wrote to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, charging that fellow board members were failing to live up to their responsibilities in governing the 46,000-student district.

Enos and Ralston had indicated special concern about a plan to add three new vice chancellors at a time when the district faces a projected $6-million budget deficit for the 1992-93 school year. They asked the accrediting commission to conduct a formal review of district policies and procedures.

Enos said Wednesday that she and Ralston have decided to withdraw their request, citing improvements in trustee communication and last week’s special board meeting to outline the fiscal 1992 budget before a vote on the reorganization plan.

“I feel good about things because the board has looked at the budget to see the implications of the new reorganization plan,” said Enos, the board’s vice chairman and a trustee for 21 years.

“You don’t turn something like this around in two weeks, but I think we looked the budget (issue) square in the face. Before, we were making decisions without any budget information at all. . . . It’s not perfect, of course, because the state hasn’t passed its budget yet. But we have a better idea where we stand.”

Enos said she and Ralston were heartened that fellow board members had agreed to join a second workshop in the coming weeks on how the board should work together and what procedures they will all agree to follow. A workshop was held after the pair made their charges at the May 11 trustees meeting.