Administration vows to work towards
“best possible outcome”
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Photos and Article
By Randy Economy
LCCN Staff Reporter
(Norwalk) Dozens of vocal Cerritos College students converged on the Board of Trustees Meeting early Wednesday evening demanding that hundreds of possible summer school courses not be dropped during the upcoming session.
Wearing t-shirts emblazed with the slogan "Spending on Education is Saving for the Future," the student protestors were demanding that more than 640 summer school classes that are proposed to be on the chopping block be reinstated.The demonstration was coordinated via the social networking site Facebook. Within hours of posting details about “Let's Save Summer School” more than 135 Cerritos College students signed up to be part of the protest.
In Falcon Square, organizers painted signs, chanted slogans, and marched in unity to the Administration Building and into the Cheryl Epple Board of Trustees Hearing Room.
Student organizer Alex Jreisat, 20, Downey told Trustees that he “lives here, works in community, and is a voter in the Cerritos College district.”
“Cerritos is supposed to be a two year institution, and it takes longer to get through this college than it does to get through a four year institution. It is a joke to only offer 200 summer school courses for more than 20,000 students,” said Jreisat.
Student Marco Tolento told the Trustees that he is a “hardworking single father, and I have come full circle here at Cerritos College. I need to complete one more class and then I will be able to transfer to a four year institution.”
“Where is your passion for the plight of the students? Show your passions and anger,” added Tolento. He specifically reminded Trustee Shin Lieu of her campaign promise to “put students first.”
“Now is the time for your words to become action,” said Tolento.
Student Andre Eid of Bellflower said he was enrolled in the Computer and Technology program and a majority of his courses are “always filled up within minutes of registration being opened,” and is tired of being passed around from counselor to counselor, each and every semester. He even went so far as to tell the Board that he is now on anti-depressants because of the stress of being a student at Cerritos College.
“It is time to fix this mess, once and for all,” said Eid.
Student Joseph Silva, 22 of Whittier, said that the time to dip into the proverbial “rainy day fund” has arrived at Cerritos College.
“If this isn’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is. We need to reevaluate our priorities. The only thing that matters are the needs of getting students educated,” Silva said.
Superintendent Dr. Linda Lacy said that “we are all in this together, and together we will come up with the best solution to keep our students in classrooms.”
