Should Santa Monica College Give Additional Preference to Local Students? - Santa Monica College Board - 2014 - ProCon.org

Santa Monica College Board - 2014

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Last updated on: 10/1/2014 10:49:59 AM PST

Should Santa Monica College Give Additional Preference to Local Students?

Dennis C.W. Frisch

Dennis C.W. Frisch
Pro

Nancy Greenstein

Nancy Greenstein
Not Clearly Pro or Con

Louise Jaffe
Not Clearly Pro or Con

Maria Loya
Pro

Barry A. Snell
Con

Andrew Walzer
Pro

Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found. Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.

Should Santa Monica College Give Additional Preference to Local Students?

Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Dennis C.W. Frisch

Dennis C.W. Frisch - Pro

"The last report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission reported that 42% of the Samohi graduating class of 2010 intended to attend a two-year college, however current SMC figures show that only 20% of students currently come from within the District. While that percentage might be high compared to other districts in the state, it is not good enough. Additionally, greater emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring college readiness for those students who do come to SMC from Samohi. The most 2013/2014 Youth Wellbeing Report Card shows that only 17.6% of students place in college-level Math and/or English. There needs to be more aggressive outreach and college preparation to families in the Pico and Ocean Park neighborhoods so that the College is accessible to ALL students, and more accurately reflects the diverse and vibrant communities that make up Santa Monica and Malibu."
Oct. 1, 2014 Dennis C.W. Frisch

Nancy Greenstein

Nancy Greenstein - Not Clearly Pro or Con

"The state has prioritized preference criteria for community colleges. Within this context we have developed a number of programs providing a smooth pathway for local students to attend SMC, such as Duel Enrollment - enabling students to begin their college career while in high school. Young Collegians is a partnership with the SMMSUD targeting under-represented freshmen students from Santa Monica and Olympic High Schools, who typically have a C average and will be the first in their family to attend college. The Pico Promise Transfer Academy (PPTA) is a partnership between SMC and the City of Santa Monica designed to meet the needs of the underserved youth living in close proximity to the College. Other programs that local student can avail themselves of are: First Year Experience - participants receive guaranteed classes for the year and early course enrollment dates and Summer Jams - helps first time college students with their transition from high school into college. All these programs encourage retention and provide support.

SMC benefits from the students, who attend from throughout our region. These students, reflecting the diversity of Los Angeles, come to SMC for a first-class education and the promise of a better tomorrow."
Oct. 1, 2014 Nancy Greenstein

Louise Jaffe - Not Clearly Pro or Con

"SMC has a special obligation to our local community that we fulfill through many programs: Emeritus College for older adults; participation with the City of SM in Cradle to Career; fields, pool and track open to neighbors; the Broad State; and countless other special programs.

SMC also works closely with SMMUSD through our Education Collaborative to make sure we are serving local students well. In fact, one of our Board Goals/Priorities is to 'strengthen and expand programs and partnerships that serve SMMUSD students.' We do this by coordinating schedules, providing SMC counselors at SMMUSD schools, offering dual enrollment and Counseling 20 classes at Samohi, and recruiting local students to participate in special student success programs like Young Collegians, Summer JAMS, First Year Experience, and Pico Promise. These programs are designed to connect access with success. I would like to see these programs expanded with more and more local students participating and we are working on that, growing these successful programs every year. I would also like to see SMC and SMMUSD faculty working together to improve student readiness. These are the kinds of programs and partnerships – programs that will increase student success – that I support."
Oct. 1, 2014 Louise Jaffe

Maria Loya - Pro

"SMC should give preference to local students. Residents pay the taxes that help build SMC and we have to shoulder the burden of increased traffic and lack of parking due to SMC students, local residents deserve priority registration."
Oct. 1, 2014 Maria Loya

Barry A. Snell - Con

"Any local student that wants to attend SMC can do so. The College has an amazing counseling program that can help local students identify their course of interest and assist them in obtaining the necessary financial support to pay for their tuition "Santa Monica College and Santa Monica –Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) in 2008 established a program call The Young Collegian. The goal of the program is to support those high school students, whose parents never attended college by having them to participate in SMC courses during the summer until they graduate from high school. In addition to the Young Collegians Program, SMC has a program call the Pico Promise which also works with students who live the Pico neighborhood to introduce them to the college experience.

I believe that it is important for SMC to keep a strong relationship with SMMUSD and its students and we should continue to find ways to support and encourage students to look beyond high school for their educational pursuit."
Oct. 1, 2014 Barry A. Snell

Andrew Walzer - Pro

"We already give preference to local students because Santa Monica College has special programs and outreach to the local middle and high schools so that those students have a strong connection to Santa Monica College when they graduate. For example, we offer the Young Collegians program which provides college classes and a summer bridge program to first generation college students. We also offer concurrent enrollment which allows high school students to take courses at the college. We also have the Pico Promise program which offers additional support to students from the Pico neighborhood, for example day care, additional tutoring and counseling as well as priority enrollment. We also need to maintain our commitment to open access to ensuring that we have stable funding from the state so that all students have the opportunity to take courses at Santa Monica College."
Oct. 1, 2014 Andrew Walzer

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