Representatives from the Kern Community College District, including Bakersfield College president William Andrews, met at the Science and Technology building at BC’s Delano campus on May 3 to discuss plans to expand the campus.
According to Delano campus director John Jaramillo, the Delano campus has approximately 570 Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES), or the amount of students added up to make one full-time student, a statistic that the state of California uses to determine necessary funding for community colleges.
That number is up 50% since the commencement of the Science and Technology Center in November of 2005, according to Jaramillo. Next year, it’s estimated that there will be more classes at the Delano center than at Porterville College.
If Delano’s FTES continues growing at a rate of 25% per year, its FTES is estimated to be at 2,500, or 4,286 students taking an average of eight units per semester, by 2013, which is the time the initial buildings for the Delano center are estimated to be built, according to Chris Addington, executive director of facility planning for the KCCD.
For now, temporary relocatable buildings will be necessary to replace the Randolph Center, an antiquated building that will be demolished by 2008.
Many people feel that the Randolph Center is inadequate to maintain the expansion that the Delano campus requires to meet the growing needs of the community. Thus, the Randolph Center will be torn down and all the expansion of the Delano campus will take place on the 50 acres of property acquired by the KCCD on Timmons Avenue.
Some relocatable buildings necessary would include six classrooms at 40 students per class, eight faculty facilities, a maintenance and operation facility, a security facility, a conference room, student health center, a bookstore, and an eating and vending area, which could possibly be contracted by a private enterprise. The first set of temporary buildings will be available by 2008, while the second set of temporary buildings are planned for 2009.
Addington wanted to emphasize that the estimates for growth on the Delano campus, as well as the plans for facilities to expand the campus, are still tentative in nature. “Your results are only as good as the data coming in. This is not set in stone.”
Some facilities will be supplied by a collaboration the KCCD has established with the newly built Robert F. Kennedy High School adjacent to the Delano center. Through a unique joint-use system, Delano center students will share the vocational and industrial technology classrooms, lecture center and gymnasium with the high school students as soon as the high school opens in 2008.
Before the permanent buildings are planned to be built in 2013, a Learning Resource Center is planned for 2011 pending the passage of a bond measure on the 2008 November ballot. This building will house a library with a reference section and general collection of books, a computer commons, and a space for supportive services.
Addington, along with Jaramillo, Vice President of Student Learning Ed Knudson and representatives from different departments at BC discussed the logistical concerns of expanding the Delano campus and talked about what they think can be done to better represent their respective departments, as well as temporary buildings necessary to replace the Randolph center.
A later meeting involved BC president William Andrews and Jaramillo talking with a group of Child Development students about the plans to expand the campus, and students offered suggestions on what could be done to make the campus better.
According to Andrews, only 15% of people in Bakersfield have any college education, which is “the biggest problem Bakersfield has,” said Andrews to the Child Development class. He explained that Delano could avoid this problem by increasing college rates, as it still hasn’t grown to its full potential yet.
Ideas some of the students had included having more classes on Saturdays for people who have to work and bilingual classes to ease the transition for those learning English as a second language.
Andrews and Jaramillo explained that the difficult part of expanding the Delano campus will be making the necessary facilities without overbuilding. According to Andrews and Jaramillo, a classroom needs to be used 53 hours per week to be fully funded. “If you overbuild, you can’t get classrooms full,” said Andrews.
Andrews also mentioned that he has talked with John Lopez, BC Student Government Association president-elect, about charging Delano students a Student Center fee to create a student center similar to the Collins Campus Center at BC. “The student center fee would be important,” said Jaramillo, to motivate students to have a greater sense of community among students on campus.
Jaramillo believes the success of the Delano campus is dependent on dedicated people working for the benefit of the students. “The key thing will be identifying quality faculty,” Jaramillo said.