 "Photo: Eastfield College")
Eastfield administrators expressed relief after the school was removed from warning status by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges on June 28.
However, the battle isn't over. School officials have now turned their attention to preparing for reaffirmation in 2013.
"We were excited," interim President Dr. Jean Conway said. "We were pleased because [the warning status] had diverted our efforts on reaffirmation."
In December 2008, Eastfield was given a warning by SACS for failure to comply with SACS Core Requirement 2.8, which requires a certain ratio of full-time to part-time faculty, ensuring greater fulfillment of the overall program.
SACS is a non-profit, voluntary, non-governmental association, and one of six regional accrediting associations in the United States. Its central purpose is to improve education at member schools through the process of accreditation.
The warning meant Eastfield had to show SACS evidence that the number of full-time faculty was sufficient for its college mission statement.
"The warning did not keep us from doing anything, Conway said. "It didn't keep the college from awarding degrees or financial aid or anything like that. It was just a warning."
Since the warning, the college has increased the full-time to part-time faculty ratio. The faculty is now 53.4 percent full-time and 46.6 percent part-time.
Conway said Eastfield made an effort to increase the number of full-time faculty because of the warning. However, she also said students are just as successful in adjunct faculty classes, and that's one the pieces that was included in the evidence sent to SACS.
"Yes, we want enough full-time faculty to be sure we carry out the mission of the college, but please understand that all of our adjunct faculty are fully qualified, fully credentialed, they're trained, and our data show that they have as great of student success as full-time faculty do," Conway said.
The goal for the college is to increase the number of full-time faculty to 60 percent, which Conway said is the standard in an urban area. Due to decreases in the budget, however, it is difficult to hire enough faculty to match the increase in student enrollment.
A second issue noted in the SACS warning was an unsatisfactory system for processing and resolving student complaints.
"All they wanted were examples of how we had used the process, " Conway said. "They said the process looks great."
The SACS news was a big hit with faculty and staff who celebrated at a campus-wide event on July 1.
"It's like a great relief," psychology and criminal justice professor Myesha Applewhite said. "It let us know what the administration is doing in order to keep Eastfield up to educational standards."
Others gave a thumbs up to the administration's A-Team for its efforts.
"Indeed, this is very good news," ESL program director Maria Caratini-Prado said. "We need to thank the A-Team which successfully made this happen."
Conway said by being off SACS's warning list, Eastfield can focus its efforts on the reaffirmation, and administrators are putting all their efforts into the reaffirmation documentation.
The reaffirmation happens every 10 years, Conway said, and it takes about two to three years to prepare.
"We have wanted to work on the new initiatives and new projects, but we always had this SACS issue we had to deal with," Conway said. "We're excited to not have our attention diverted anymore."
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