WOODLAND HILLS : Pierce Likely to Cut 4 Industrial Arts Programs

Pierce College officials, facing fiscal woes and declining enrollment, on Tuesday announced a proposal to cut four industrial arts programs to save money, an idea that has drawn opposition from students and teachers who say the courses are sorely needed.

The school’s Planning Committee is recommending that the school’s welding, woodworking, machine shop and metallurgy courses be cut, school officials said. Panel members said enrollment is low in those programs and the school will lose state grants for new buildings if the programs are continued.

The committee, a sub-committee of the Pierce College Council, takes up the matter again at 2 p.m. today in the school’s Administrative Conference Room, officials said. The council, made up of students, faculty and administrators, presents recommendations to college President Mary Lee, who has the final say on campus matters.

The Planning Committee, school officials said, voted about a week ago to cut the four programs, but the vote was later ruled void because the committee had failed to reach a quorum. If the committee approves the cuts today, the matter will then go before the council--which has final say--on March 21, school officials said.

The committee, in determining what programs should be cut, used a formula that compares enrollment to how much use certain buildings get, school officials said. The state uses the same formula in awarding grants, school officials said. In general, the school’s shop classes have big buildings with few students.

But critics of the plan say the programs serve a need in the community by training people in trades that are in demand. They add it makes little sense to base cuts on such formulas, because the fiscally strapped state has no money to award for construction anyway.

“Basing it on square footage is a fantasy,” said Leon Marzillier, president of Local 1521 of the American Federation of Teachers.

Bart Trinchero, an auto shop instructor, disagreed with the notion that the four programs generally have low enrollment. One welding class had 40 students in its fourth week, he said. On the first night of that class, the teacher had to turn five students away, he said.

The committee, according to school officials, never considered making cuts in Pierce College’s farm, which some say has low enrollment and is a drain on the school’s academic programs.

College President Mary Lee, facing intense pressure from influential neighborhood groups who want the farm preserved as a community resource, has vowed to keep the farm.

Phil Stein, the school’s dean of academic affairs, said it’s not true that the agriculture program has low enrollment. The animal and horse science programs have waiting lists, he said.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Neil Yoneji answered questions from students on various topics, including the proposed cuts.