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College cuts jail GED program due to budget constraints, college mission
The Advocate
Mt. Hood Community College eliminated its GED program at Inverness Jail over the summer for three reasons, according to MHCC President John Sygielski.
“One had to do with finances, one had to do with organizational structure, and the third had to do with the mission of the college,” Sygielski said.
MHCC had spent roughly $250,000 per year on the program, and the current budget problems led in part to the decision to cut the program.
At the same time, he said the GED program just didn’t fit in with MHCC’s current direction.
“Did it fit? To a degree,” said Sygielski. “But the amount of time and effort and energy we were putting into it – knowing where our budget was as an institution, knowing through our strategic plan where we were focusing – we just needed to take our folks and move them in a different direction.”
During late winter or early spring, MHCC and Sygielski began looking at the programs the college offered as they were developing a new strategic plan.
It was determined that the GED program at the Multnomah County jail facility no longer served MHCC’s interests, according to Sygielski.
The contract with Inverness officially ended June 1, and thus, the program.
According to Byron Moore, program administrator for the Multnomah County Sherriff’s Office at Inverness Jail, the cancellation of the GED program at Inverness does not have a large impact on inmates there. The program itself was just one facet of an inmate’s rehabilitation.
“If someone were to ask me the impact of not having the program, it is an impact, but in conjunction with other things, education is one of the things that’s important in addressing a person’s criminality or rehabilitation. Yeah, it’s important, it’s up there. Its certainly something we’re trying to get back,” said Moore.
About 16 to 18 inmates obtained a GED last spring through MHCC’s program at Inverness, though Moore was unaware of any previous graduates from the GED program.
“A brochure from the graduation class last spring (term) was actually in my mailbox, and I had never seen one. I think I counted up about 16 or 18 people that were (former) inmates who had obtained their GED in that ceremony,” said Moore.
Inmates at Inverness are awaiting sentencing and, according to Moore, the voluntary participation in the GED program, as well as drug and alcohol treatment programs, ESL programs, and adult basic education programs are usually a part of an inmate’s effort to influence their eventual sentence.
After sentencing, inmates from Inverness are transferred to larger prisons or released on parole. The average length of stay of an inmate at Inverness is about 28 days, Moore said. Because of the short-term nature of an inmate’s incarceration at Inverness, most inmates are unable to complete their GED there. Though some inmates do enroll in the program, Moore did not know how many went on receive an education while in the custody of other prisons.
“Its very rare for us to have someone that we can work with daily for two weeks in a group setting. It’s that brevity of time here and other types of factors that come up (that keep inmates from completing their GED at Inverness),” said Moore.
While the program was administered under MHCC, the college gave nine free credits via tuition waver for inmates who completed their GED through the program. “Under Mt. Hood, they could go to the campus and get a free term. So the idea was: ‘Here’s a carrot for you,’” said Moore.
Joyce B. Coleman was the supervisor of the GED program at Inverness, though Sygielski said that her involvement with the program did not have anything to do with MHCC’s decision to cut the program or her recent resignation.Coleman resigned in late September and took a position with Bakersfield College in California, according to Gale Blessing.
Moore would not comment on the record about Coleman’s involvement or performance with the GED program.
Asked why Coleman resigned, Sygielski would only state that “personnel matters” led to her resignation and that he could not discuss the matter for legal reasons.
According to Sygielski, MHCC has no plans to revive the GED program at Inverness despite an increase in enrollment at MHCC and therefore an influx of funding gained from tuition.
“You can never say never. At this point in our life-cycle, we have too many other things to focus on — especially because of the poor state, the poor financial health of the college – that I’ve got to put the resources into our programs that are supporting our strategic plan and supporting the needs of our workforce and our community. So that’s what I and we as a college have to focus on,” said Sygielski.
Portland Community College or the Multnomah Education Service District may pick up the GED program eventually, according to Moore.
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