Finally, some promising news for embattled Modesto Junior College | Opinion

Dramatically increasing students’ access to college courses while still in high school is a leap in the right direction for Modesto Junior College.

Yes, you read that right — The Modesto Bee Editorial Board, which of late has been critical of MJC for various shortcomings, is praising the community college, giving credit where surely it is due.

The gold standard for dual enrollment courses involves a formal agreement between MJC and individual high school districts. Upping CCAP courses from three in fall 2022 to 37 in fall 2023, as expected, represents a better than 12-fold increase.

Three, without question, was pathetic. No wonder Stanislaus County had the lowest rate of joint high school and college enrollment in the Central Valley and one of the lowest in California, as noted in Bee reporter Adam Echelman’s sobering piece in December.

Thirty-seven suggests that someone recognized the problem, decided to fix it and went to work with determined resolve.

“The MJC team and the (high school) districts are doing fantastic work,” said Scott Siegel in a telephone interview with the Editorial Board. He singled out Brian Sanders, MJC’s interim vice president of instruction.

Siegel is a former Ceres schools superintendent contracting on the dual enrollment issue with the Yosemite Community College District, which administers MJC. “This benefits students and the community to a great degree,” he said.

This is a big deal because dual enrollment helps high-schoolers see themselves as college material. It can save them time and money if they graduate earlier and face fewer loans.

CCAP agreements make it possible for the college to waive fees and book costs. Sanders and his team now have deals with districts in Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Patterson, Hughson, Hilmar, Waterford and Aspire, the YCCD board learned Monday in a presentation. And other districts are close to making similar deals.

“You’ll see it all over the county next (school) year,” Siegel said. “It will be nice to have it quickly implemented, so we can all see what the lessons are.”

Good time for morale boost

MJC has needed a morale boost like this.

Recent criticism has been heaped upon YCCD management, by community leaders and this Editorial Board, because of MJC’s frustrating inability to retain top executives. Modesto’s beloved campus has struggled more than all of California’s 114 other community colleges, going through 16 presidents and interim presidents since 2000. The statewide average is 4.2.

Make that 17, with the Jan. 30 announcement that Chad Redwing, a humanities professor, will fill in while YCCD searches for a permanent successor to Santanu Bandyopadhyay, who was shown the door in December after only 18 months.

So learning of a serious turnaround in high school dual enrollment is a timely shot in the arm for this 101-year-old community gem.

It’s likely, however, that 37 dual enrollment courses is not enough for a county of this size. The community deserves to see even more the following year, and the year after, until Stanislaus finds itself far out of the state’s cellar.

That will take time. For now, it’s encouraging to see significant progress.

This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 6:00 AM.