An Open Letter to Mayor Cox
I served on the C.V. Economic Development Commission when the city was working on its Vision 2020 back then. Education was a key component of that vision to attract high paying high tech and biomedical companies to the future Otay business parks.
Due to budget cuts and differences in focus and vision, an unprecedented 25% cut is planned to take place at Southwestern College. This is when $20M is available in the reserves, $1.6M of which could save most of the classes vital to our students. It seems like the wrong medicine for the south bay which has no institution of higher education other than the Southwestern college. It could cripple the college to the point of becoming irrelevant to the matters of higher education in the county.
Indeed, this is a golden opportunity for few good and visionary men and women from the City and Southwestern College to put their heads together and plan for the expansion of SWC’s 2-year program to 3 years, on its way to becoming a 4-year university. As Warren Buffett says, it is during the bad times that the foundations for progress and wealth are laid. This is the time to prepare the community for “when boom times return.”
Spring 2010 registrations are taking place next week. Time is running out, and I wish the good folks at the city and Southwestern College quickly get together and tentatively align their visions for the community. At least to re-instate the vital classes for the Spring 2010 with less than 1 tenth of funds available in the reserves.
This will give the city and Southwestern college time to think things through and align their visions and goals. To work with the administration and faculty to not only resolve the accreditation issues, but to possibly lay the groundworks for a 4-year program at SWC.
Emotions are running high and there are actions that are better not to be taken for the good of all parties involved. If the Tuesday elections is an indication, the public is very sensitive to the any real or perceived progress and failure and is voting accordingly.
It is best to earn their vote of confidence for the next round of elections in 2010.
Ramin Moshiri
Chula Vista
No more school-no more books-no more teachers dirty looks
Maybe it is because I spent my “union days” in the viciously right-to-work state of Kansas BUT in a union with equally vicious “friends” in the Kansas City mob that I just don’t quite understand why an organized workforce like the teachers would go a year and a half without a contract and then vote almost 100% to accept a deal as lame as the one they just received. They apparently didn’t get anything they wanted. No raises, larger class sizes with another bump coming next year and just a vague “promise” that it might be a little smaller sometime in the distant future. And to top everything off they had to give up their unfair labor practices lawsuit against the administration.
Sure looks like a lose-lose situation to me. The teachers lose for obvious financial reasons and many students will lose because of the increase in class size will surely impact their right to a free public education.
Additionally, I am afraid we may have embolden the “enemy” as our former president opined and will see a LOT more of the non-student friendly decisions that are happening at some of our local institutes such as Southwestern College and San Diego State. Oh well, looking on the bright side there shouldn’t be nearly as many defaults on student loans if nobody has a school to go to anymore.
Ted Kennedy
Chula Vista, CA