Coast College District considers layoffs
The Coast Community College District this week will consider laying off dozens of full-time employees as it pulls back from running a career center in Irvine.
Some of those termination notices will probably be rescinded by May while others remain in force.
Thirty-two full-time “classified” staffers from the clerical and related ranks could receive pink slips if the Board of Trustees approves the move Wednesday night.
Those targeted for reductions include clerks, administrative assistants and information technology professionals. No teaching jobs are slated for elimination.
The layoffs are being considered because grant money that Coastline Community College has received for the two career centers it operates in Orange County has been reduced.
The community college, with campuses in Newport Beach, Garden Grove and Westminster, runs One-Stop Centers in Irvine and Westminster. The centers offer free employment training and resources.
Federal grant money awarded through Orange County’s Workforce Investment Board funds the centers.
Coastline’s latest grant expired in June, Coastline spokeswoman Michelle Ma said, and when the college reapplied, it received half the amount of previous years.
The Workforce Investment Board awarded it a contract for $3.1 million to continue operating only the Westminster center, she said.
The Workforce Investment Board did not return a call seeking comment on the future of the Irvine One-Stop Center.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the grant money at its May 7 meeting.
In the lag time between the grant’s award and final approval, Coastline will lay off all of its One-Stop Center employees, Ma said. “It’s really ... a technicality,” she said.
But some of those staffing cuts may remain in place.
A yet-to-be determined number of the layoffs will be rescinded to staff the Westminster center, but just how many and which workers will keep their jobs remains to be seen, Ma said.
“We’re analyzing that right now,” she said.
The layoffs are scheduled to take effect in summer.
The veterans’ career and education center Coastline operates at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base will continue operating under the umbrella of the Westminster One-Stop Center, Ma said.
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