Community College District

Sadly, your editorial, “Bureaucracy at Its Worst,” Nov. 29, was accurate and to the point. There is a vacuum of leadership in the Los Angeles Community College District that includes the district administration, local campuses and the board of trustees. A blanket of ineptness covers them all. There are multiple reasons for their failings.

First, how can a board of trustees attract competent candidates when the first qualification to obtain substantial financial support for election is to be beholden to the faculty union? With this support, election is almost a guarantee; without it, defeat is within your grasp. Perhaps an election based upon districting rather than the current at-large method would provide better representation.

Next, examine how educational administrators are chosen. What training and experience do they represent? Administrators are selected by the time-hallowed tradition from faculty ranks and have little or no experience in management, fiscal policy or, in the case of Pierce College, business ventures.

Compare this to health care, where trained and skilled people administer the hospitals in which physicians are provided the environment to provide skilled care to patients. Physicians do not administer these hospitals simply because they do not possess the training to do so. In education however, a history teacher can be called upon with no prior training or experience in management, real estate, maintenance, fiscal planning or other essential areas to administer campus facilities. On-the-job training is just what is not needed at our community colleges.

The time has come for a separate field of educational administration to be created and for people to specialize in this field rather than go blindly from the classroom into a position in which they have very little in the way of qualifications.

Finally, it is important to remember your history. Early in the history of Mission College, an attempt was made to jointly utilize the facilities at El Cariso Golf Course as part of the college’s development. This was rejected by the county through the efforts of then-Supervisor [Baxter] Ward. It might have been accomplished at this time through support from a community that has recognized and assisted in the success of the college.

The decision processes at the L.A. Community Colleges require dedicated independent people with skills in education, business and communication who can involve the community in serving mutual interests in order to achieve common goals. Until this comes about, mistakes will be repeated and we will all be the losers.

MONROE RICHMAN, Former Member, Board of Trustees, LACCD