Feedback -- To bond or not to bond?

A lot of the facilities in the Coast Community College District are in

disrepair, especially at OCC, the oldest of the three colleges (“College

district moves $344-million bond forward,” April 5). I’m reluctant,

however, to just hand over the money.

This is a district that has managed over the past 20 years to force

Orange Coast College, a first-rate educational facility, to become a

school whose main academic glory lies in what it used to be.

District bean counters have systematically imposed daunting

restrictions upon everything from class size to teaching moneymaking

courses. The excellence that has made OCC a pearl among community

colleges has been declining over the years with an aging faculty and

salaries too low to attract good teachers who can afford living in this

area. The district has also lacked the foresight to build affordable

faculty housing.

The district is very vocal about its academic excellence but manages

to put its money into other expenditures -- mostly its own bureaucracy,

which has tripled in size over the past 25 years while the student

population has decreased over the same period. The public is already up

to its ears hearing about mismanagement in businesses, government and in

K-12 education.

Learning about mismanagement in our community college system shouldn’t

surprise us that much. We already pay plenty in taxes for our schools.

The money just hasn’t gone where we think it should go. I’m not sure we

should just hand over more money to the same folks. There should be a

series of meetings where some of this can be aired.

ALAN REMINGTON

Costa Mesa

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Remington is an Orange Coast College professor.

It’s a good time to have a bond issue. They need new buildings.

They’re overcrowded. They need lots of infrastructure investment at the

school at this time.

As we know from other experiences, the investments that are put off

today cost a great deal more tomorrow.

So, let’s go ahead and give them the bond’s money that they need to

build the buildings and expand the classrooms. They definitely need the

help over there at this time. I know people going to school there now,

and there’s a lot of crowding. This is a good time.

ROBERT RASMUSSEN

Costa Mesa