4 Herald - lantern - Dispatch 11 June '86

The Community College Choice

The community college choice facing the county, in brief : A joint Cape May/Atlantic Community College, recommended as first choice by consultant Dr. N. Dean Evans. The two counties would be partners with a board of trustees based on the populations of the two counties. It would include seven from Atlantic, three from Cape May, each county's superintendent of schools, one state appointee and one former student, nonvoting member. The annual operating and capital outlay No Filltips TOWN BANK — Relaying a message from Fire Chief Raymond Brown, Lower Township Manager James R. Stump on Friday asked The Lantern to advise residents against calling Town Bank Fire Co. to fill swimming pools The company doesn't have the manpower, and must pay the township MUA for the water. Stump noted, echoing Brown. Meeting Tomorrow ERMA — Lower Cape May Regional school board plans a special 7 p.m. meeting tomorrow in the high school library. 687 Route 9 here. After a closed session, the board s scheduled to award bids, accept resignations, discuss " finance matters" and 'any other items that may be properly presented," according to a Friday notice from Joan Burkhardt, assistant secretary.

: expenses would be apportioned based on assessed valuations. Cape May County has ' $7 billion and would pay 41 percent ; Atlan- ' tic has $10.2 billion and would pay 59 percent. For the current school year, the i county's share would have been about $2 billion. ADVANTAGES OF the joint college: •Cape May County would be a full partner in an established community college. : with trustees participating in policymaking, curriculum determination, and budget approval. •There would be no "buy in" for existing facilities in Atlantic or Cumberland counties. •Likelihood of favorable consideration by the state Board of Higher Education. •Directed student access to comprehensive course and program offerings, as well as other student services. No quotas on program entry based on county of residence. •Opportunity to join a fully licensed and accredited college. •Development of a comprehensive campus in Cape May County. DISADVANTAGES OF the joint college: •Most costly of the options. •Would preclude, or make much more difficult, the evolution to a Cape May Community College in the future. •Students would still have to travel to the Atlantic or Cumberland campus for certain programs and courses. The community college commission. Evans' second choice, is a mini-college with a freeholder-appointed board and a local administrative staff including president. academic dean, business officer and student services coordinator.

The staff would negotiate with two- or four -year colleges, to offer courses and student services. The commission would collect student tuition and also receive state financai aid. Hudson County started with a commission format and now has its own college. Sussex and Warren counties now operate with commissions. Evans said that one disadvantage was the "image problem" of not having a campus and being "not quite a community college." ADVANTAGES OF a Community College Commission: •Offers considerable county control over educational offerings and finances. •More cost effective than chargeback. •Opportunity for local county "ownership" of the community college operation. •Likelihood of favorable consideration by the state Board of Higher Education. •Student services locally provided and geared to students' needs and interests. •Through brokering, a wide array of courses and degree programs can be offered. DISADVANTAGES OF a Community College Commission: •Degrees may be offered initially only by the brokering institutions. •A limited number of courses may be taught by commission staff. •It is impossible for a commission to be accredited until it receives degreegranting authority. •A commission is sometimes viewed as "not quite a community college." •Chargeback must continue to be paid during the initial years until brokering contracts are in place.

Committee Favoring Own 'Mini' College?—

i From Page 1 ) newspaper. "It was strictly that the freeholders wanted control. But I just give my best professional judgement. " "Your first recommendation is a joint college." said committee member Diane Hevener. "You feel Cape May County could not handle its own?" "YOU DON'T NEED your own college," said Evans. "I know every county likes to have its own things, and Cape May County is like every other county." "Maybe even more so." cracked Kilpa trick. The joint college Evans recommended would be the more difficult way to "evlove into a Cape May Community College in the future," Evans wrote in is report. "A Divorce is always more difficult than the marriage," he added. EVANS RULED OUT continued use of the current chargeback procedure and the development of branch campuses as being no solution to the present problem of rising costs and the disadvantage of travel to an out -of -county campus He said the chargeback cost - in which the county pays its share of the student's tuition — increased to percent this year to $1.1 million and he predicted it will be "close to $1.5 million very soon" and $2 million "by 1990 or before." The advantages of chargebacks, he said are that they are "easiest to administer," offer "a wide array of courses and programs. and the county doesn't have to provide facilities. THE DISADVANTAGES, he said, inIcude increaseing costs "with no fiscal control." the courses decided by the college rather than the county, the county has no administrative participation, and students must travel long distances. Although both Atlantic and Cumberland colleges have said their proposed branch campuses would end that travel. Evans said, "I predict the students would have to go to main campus" to meet degree requirements. \ Once Evans decided a joint college was the best answer, he ruled out Cumberland because each county's share of the budget would depend upon assessed valuation. CUMBERLAND HAS a somewhat higher population (about 135.000 compared to 95.000 in Cape May County which would give Cumberland six of the 10 countv trustees. But Cape May County's assessed value is three times as high as Cumberland's ($7 billion vs. $2) and that would mean Cape May County would be paying 76 percent of the budget of a.joint Cape May/Cumberland community college. "We knew that formula works against Cumberland." said Dr. Thomas Henry, dean of development at Cumberland.

"That left us with either a branch campus or contracting with a commission. It will be up to Cape May County to determine the cost and whether they have the ability to decide their own fate." EVANS SAID he guessed it would take "the better part of the year" before a joint college could start and six to eight months for a commission form. In either case, then, it would possibly be January 1978, but probably September 1988, before either new system began. Evans actually recommended "a bicounty study committee" be appointed to examine the joint Cape May/Atlantic Community College. He said Somerset and Hunterdon Counties recently completed such a study and their report could be of assistance. The 15-member Community College Proposal Review Committee, down to 14 members since shortly after it was named last July, originally was charged with examining branch campus proposals from Atlantic and Cumberland colleges. KILPATRICK MONDAY fJointed out that "some people are not here today" (six of 14 were absent ) and the committee "will need time to digest this report." He scheduled another session at the vo-tech school on June 25. Evans had given both colleges the opportunity to update their year-old proposals. Atlantic Community College President Ronald W. Bush pointed out that 1,745 county students were taking ACC credit courses in the county in the 1985-86 academic year and he pledged "a significant part of its (ACC's) faculty, staff and yearly operating budget to the implementation and operation of the branch campus." And. whereas ACC's year-old proposal covered a branch campus and a "joint commission" to study a joint College, Bush now said ACC "proposes" a joint college. CUMBERLAND COUNTY College President Philip S. Phelon restated that schd61's interest in establishing a branch campus here administered by a dean reporting to the president. Both colleges had proposed classes be located in the vo-tech school complex at Crest Haven, and Evans said both proposals were "roughly comparable in cost." Evans said either option would require additional college facilities in the county and that "right where we're sitting" (votech) would be the best place. "Any further south would be considered inconvenient," he said. EVANS SUMMED UP the joint college and commission proposals this way: Joint college with ACC: "Cape May County would become an integral part of

an ongoing institution with full partnership on the board of trustees and ability to participate in educational and financial decisions. Transportation routes are excellent between the two counties. Cape May County students would have full access to the programs and services of a community college which is already serving many residents of the county. The ratio of assessed valuation, while currently tilted in favor of Atlantic County, offers a better option to Cape May County than any other possible joint college arrangement." Cape May County Community College Commission, Evans wrote, "would give considerable autonomy to the county in determining its future in higher education. A commission supervised by a board of trustees would have the ability to contract for community college programs and services with several community and state colleges. It would be possible to negotiate cost-effective contracts that would serve Cape May County residents well. As the population and financial base of the county grows, the commission could petition the state Board of Higher Education for degree-granting authority and eventually community college status." WALTER S. SACHS JR.. director of the county's Department of Economic Development, asked Evans if the county's minority status on a joint college board of directors would not be "a disadvantage, or do you assume general agreement?" "I can't make that kind of assumption." smiled Evans. "There's an inconsistency in the legislation to have the board by population, the cost by assessed valuation," commented Kilpa trick. "Whoever drafted that legislation probably didn't think that through," agreed Evans. KILPATRICK SUGGESTED the possibility of having the legislation changed. "You could give it a shot," said Evans. Committee members present included Kilpatrick, Hevener, Carol Bruno, Audrey Hardy, Ruth Millward, Gene DeGenova, Vo-Tech Supt. Wilbur Kistler, and Wildwood School Supt. Arthur Motz. Committee members absent included Freeholder Herbert Frederick, Rev. Charles Rowe, county Schools Supt. Robert Bongart, Wildwood High School Principal Ernest Harper, Special Services School Supt. George Bailey and Dr. William Lauer, head of the Ocean City High School Business Department. Also present were Sachs; Norman Zimmerman, vo-tech's director of Curriculum and Instruction; and freeholder clerk stenographer Madelyn Beloin who Is serving as committee secretary.

/J®^NEWS1 IP4/ DIGEST f^y 1/j / The Week's llllll Top Stories (From Page 1) backbay and two Delaware Bay spots that are traditionally problem areas. After a second testing, only one location (Baywyn Road in Lower Township) showed an unacceptable level. No matter. said Public Health Coordinator Louis J. La manna ; all those areas have been posted no-swimming for the summer. Striking the Match WOODBINE - County MUA officials want freeholders to call a public hearing within two months on the authority's recommendation last week for a waste-to-energy incinerator on 15 acres here. The 750-ton-a-day incinerator could burn trash from Cape May and Cumberland counties, furnishing steam to the Woodbine Development Center and electricity to Atlantic Electric Co. Freeholder approval is needed to amend the county's Solid Waste Management Plan. Sewer Districts Intact COURT HOUSE — Middle Township Committee passed on first reading June 5 an ordinance that would creaje a Department of Sewage, run by a department head and answerable to township committee. Spared for the moment are Sewerage District Nos. One and Three, which service Court House and Avalon Manor. Those bodies would remain intact for an undetermined amount of time while the new body' would oversee the operation and construction of facilities in ^ unsewered areas of the township. Reef Takes Shape STRATHMERE — A barge unloaded 20,000 concrete-filled tires and four, 40-foot aerial towers in the ocean off Corson's Inlet last week as the start of construction of a 2.5-mile artificial reef. First proposed by Bruce Miley in 1979, the reef when completed is expected to improve fishing by creating an underwater shelter and breeding ground for fish. It's All Relative WILDWOOD CREST - Kevin Yecco, former director of personnel in Wildwood, said he accepted the $27,000 a year post of borough clerk here because of the community's relative political calm compared to Wildwood. But the appointment immediately led to accusations by Mayor Frank McCali that Commissioners Georg Denham and Robert Young had violated the state Sunshine Law. Denham and Young denied the charge and said McCali was trying to turn the clerk's job "into one of personal political patronage." Fire Closes Busch's SEA ISLE CITY - Two hot water heaters on the roof of Busch's Seafood Restaurant were destroyed by a fire last Friday that forced evacuation of patrons, and closed the facility. No one was injured in the blaze fought by firefighters from Sea Isle and Avalon. The restaurant may not open until later this week. A Paving Break OCEAN CITY — Resort streets earn a respite of three years from jackhammers under an ordinance passed last week by City Council. The new law permits streets to tje torn up less than three years after they are paved only in the event of a utility emergency. It also requires the city to notify property owners and utility companies in advance of street openings so that installation of utility lines can be included. Trial Continues CAMDEN — Charges continued to be exchanged as a damage suit filed by Dr. Suketu Nanavati against Burdette Toyilin (Page 62 Please)