College Will Win Back Its Accreditation : Education: State agency also removes the Compton school from probation. Fiscal and administrative changes prompt the action.

Compton Community College, which was in danger of losing its accreditation last year because of loose fiscal controls and a shaky administration, has been given the green light by a state accrediting agency.

Officials from the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges notified college officials this week that the school has been removed from probation and that its accreditation will be renewed later this year.

“The college has made good progress in restoring effective governance and administrative good practice,” said John C. Petersen, the association’s executive director. “We are pleased with the changes they have made.”

Petersen said the probation was lifted after college administrators met a number of conditions set in June after a series of visits to the campus by association representatives. Those officials found several deficiencies in the college’s accounting procedures and discovered a “climate of antagonism and factionalism” on the campus, Petersen said. As a result, the organization delayed renewing the college’s accreditation.

Since then, the college’s trustees have placed tighter controls on spending and adopted a code of ethics for administrators, board members and faculty members, college President Byron F. Skinner said. The college also hired vice presidents to direct academic affairs and business affairs, Skinner added.

Skinner said he hopes the association’s decision signals better times ahead for the troubled institution.

“The feeling on campus is one of delight because we have achieved what we set out to achieve,” he said. “Now we just want stability and continuity, and hope that it all lasts.”

Skinner arrived in November, 1993, to find a college in turmoil.

An audit had uncovered questionable expenditures of nearly $500,000 in federal funds intended for low-income students. It found that some administrators had hired relatives to work at inflated salaries.

Several key administrators were dismissed or demoted after the audit.