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Grossmont
Health Occupations Center Restructures ROP and Adult Education Classes to Meet AB2448 Mandate |
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For over 50 years, Grossmont Health Occupations Center (HOC) has offered both ROP (Regional Occupational Programs) and Adult Education programs in nursing and allied healthcare fields. There has been recent concern that East County ROP is withdrawing their courses from the Grossmont Health Occupations Center (HOC). Although this may be the case for some classes, it is not the case for all the classes. However, there has been a recent Assembly Bill (AB2448) passed that is forcing a restructuring of how some of our ROP classes at HOC are administered. Rest assured all these changes are mostly “behind-the-scenes.” These changes will not affect the overall excellent education that is offered by the Grossmont District, whether administered by ROP or Adult Ed. These classes at HOC are all taught by highly-trained medical professionals who also happen to be outstanding teachers.
In response to Assembly Bill 2448 (AB2448), state Regional Occupational Programs (ROP) have had to restructure to ensure they serve 90% high school students, and 10% adult students by the end of the 2010 academic year. The bill states that “The Legislature hereby finds and declares that vocational training resources that are provided through regional occupational centers and programs . . . should be focused primarily on the needs of pupils enrolled in high school.” The state has mandated that ROP programs should focus their course offerings to high school students and allow Adult Education and the Community Colleges to focus on the adult population.
In recent years, Grossmont ROP has served approximately 40% adult students. This number needs to be reduced to 10%. One way to do this is to increase the offerings of ROP classes to high school students on high school campuses. These classes will be Career Technical Education courses that are high quality, rigorous, and relevant in sequenced pathways and aligned with academic standards. |
Together, these courses will allow our high school students to succeed in areas such as career development, higher education, and job-ready skills. Some of the courses that will be offered on the high school campuses will be medical classes that have previously been offered at HOC and difficult for high school students to attend due to a busy schedule. Grossmont ROP will continue to offer a few medical classes at HOC. Where feasible, Adult Education will assume administration of courses previously offered by ROP. Recently, the Pharmacy Technician class and the Medical Assistant/Clinical class have switched administration from ROP to Adult Ed. The GUHSD Health Occupations Center (HOC) housed behind West Hills High School is one of seven Grossmont Adult School centers. Currently HOC offers a large number of medical courses and employs over 30 instructors. The Grossmont Union High School District ROP has over 70 programs with 120 sections offered at comprehensive high school campuses throughout the district as well as HOC. ROP has approximately 100 instructors that are trained professionals in the subjects that they teach. The Grossmont ROP is the second largest ROP in the state of California. HOC has been serving primarily adult students, with some of its programs funded by ROP and some by Adult Education. Though the classes at HOC will be virtually indistinguishable from past course offerings, the difference in funding sources will affect the charges for student course fees. The classes offered through ROP were tuition free, and students needed only to pay for their books. Since the Adult School receives about 1/3 less in funding per student than ROP, they must charge fees for classes. The Pharmacy Technician class, for example, has a course fee of $150. The LVN program, which includes books, uniforms, and training over three semesters, costs a total of $2,500. The Adult School receives federal funding for Career-Technical Education through the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. These funds are used to purchase specialized equipment for Health Occupations Center’s programs and to pay course fees and defray transportation expenses for low income students. The Grossmont Healthcare District has also given generous grants to the nursing programs at HOC and scholarships to students in the Vocational Nursing and Pharmacy Technician programs. |
Adult Ed classes are for those 18 and older, except for some allowance for high school students to take a class outside of their school’s hours of operation, with parent and counselor permission. Day, evening, and weekend classes are offered at a variety of times to accommodate the schedules of HOC’s diverse student body. HOC’s Adult Education Classes include: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT); Healthcare Essentials; Medical Assistant/Clinical; Nurse Assistant/Home Health Aide; Nurse Refresher/Reentry; Pharmacy Technician; Vocational Nursing; Medical Billing, Coding, and Reception; and a number of continuing education classes for healthcare professionals. ROP classes include: Dental Assistant/RDA Eligible; Medical Professions Exploration; Medical Assistant/Administrative, Medical Lab/ Phlebotomy Technician; and Veterinary Assistant.
The anticipated time to complete the transition in restructuring classes from being offered by ROP to being offered by Adult Education at HOC is one to two years. The classes will continue to be the same high quality they have always been with a focus on the needs of the students and local medical field. The local health industry will continue to be served as Grossmont ROP and Grossmont Adult Education provide students with an excellent education in health occupations at the HOC. The only difference should be “behind the scenes” as the funding sources are realigned between ROP and Adult Education to meet the state mandates.
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Article
written by Emily Moore, Ann Vroom, and Carol Otjens |
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