pays down student balances so they can re-enroll

Los Medanos College welcomed an interim president last month, and spent $5,000 of emergency funds to pay down student balances that prevent them from re-enrolling.

By Dawnmarie Fehr Correspondent RALSTON

Interim President Pamela Ralston, Ph.D, joined the school on Dec. 29, following the retirement of Bob Kratochvil, Ph.D. who led the school for 10 years.

“I am excited and honored for the opportunity to serve as interim President of Los Medanos College,” said Ralston. “I am deeply committed to working with faculty, staff, and administrators at the college to improve student success and student equity through the creation and support of strong innovative programs, while maintaining a respectful and collaborative working environment.”

Before coming to the Pittsburg campus, Ralston was president of Santiago Canyon College, which caters to Hispanic students. She worked closely with the community to enhance partnerships with business, governmental and community organizations, as well as with the kindergarten-12th grade and higher education institutions in the area. Prior to joining Santiago Canyon College, Ralston was the executive vice president for Educational Programs at Santa Barbara Community College District, overseeing academic affairs, student services and institutional research.

As interim president, Ralston said her role is to ensure the college continues to do the things it is doing well and ensure both the Brentwood and Pittsburg campuses are headed in the right direction.

“I want to make sure this is a safe place for everyone to do their best work before the next transition,” she said. “We are a big employer, and there are a lot of people here, so we don’t want someone to land for six months and make a bunch of changes. My predecessor was a great steward for over 10 years, so I am landing somewhere happy and healthy.”

Ralston said her focus will be on issues that emerged as result of the COVID-19 pandemic (mostly lower enrollment and financial hardship) and supporting her faculty and staff while they wait for a permanent president, something that will likely happen in the summer. The national search for a permanent president will start this month, and Ralston said she intends to be a candidate for that opening.

In January, LMC spent $5,096 from the federally funded Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to pay down 313 student account balances between $10 and $29. The balances were preventing students from reenrolling for the spring semester, and as of print, more than 20% of students whose balances were cleared had re-enrolled, college officials said.

“Their balances were brought down to $0, which means they no longer have a debt preventing them from registering for classes,” said Dean of Student Success Dave Belman. “We want to help students avoid the disruption of delaying their educational and career goals over such a small amount of money, especially if the college can provide that support.”

Belman said since the semester just began last week, more students could register for courses, and others could return in a future semester. He said the program is important, and he sees it as one of the many ways LMC is working to support students in continuing their education, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.

Ralston noted LMC’s enrollment is ticking back up towards pre-pandemic numbers, and she is proud to work with an institution committed to student success and support.

“Making emergency relief for students is wonderful,” she said. “Our whole function is to lower barriers and provide the best education possible.”

Los Medanos has campuses in Pittsburg at 2700 East Leland Road, and in Brentwood, at 1351 Pioneer Square. For more information, call 925-513-1625 or visit www.losmedanos.edu/

CLARIFICATION: In a story published Friday, Jan. 27, a story on an Oakley City Council meeting reported on a drive-through ordinance that was opposed by Council member George Fuller. A quote from Fuller may have been misleading. The full quote should have read, “People are saying, ‘We’re denying people’s use of their land.’”In a later portion of the meeting, he also said, “We do not deny property rights in Oakley.”

CORRECTION In a story published Friday, Jan. 27, on the dedication of the Emil J. Geddes Theater at the Bristow Middle School in Brentwood, we mischaracterized the building as a renovation. Also, Geddes’ first store in Brentwood was on Oak Street, not Second Street. We regret the errors.

Sideshows from page 1 during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more sideshows, which Peart attributed, in part, to people wanting to get out of the house.

Peart also noted that sideshows are a seasonal activity, with fewer occurrences in the winter than in the summer, when they can occur as frequently as once a week.

“This is an issue that plagues every city,” he said. “It’s not unique to Brentwood.”

One tool at Brentwood’s disposal that has allowed police to curb sideshow activity is its partnership with other agencies –including Oakley, Antioch and Pittsburg. Sideshows often begins in one city, Peart explained, and moves to the next city when local law enforcement clears them out. The communication from other law enforcement departments allows Brentwood to anticipate sideshows before they are able to happen.

In some situations, proactive policing is not enough to stop a sideshow from developing, Peart said. They can develop “rapidly” and quickly become out of control. In these instances, the focus shifts to community safety and making sure residents are not caught in a dangerous situation.

Peart recalled a recent incident that took over the intersection of Sand Creek Road and Highway 4 in which 200-300 cars were part of the sideshow, leaving the department’s traffic unit outnumbered. The solution was the use of the department’s drones to capture vehicle information so that a judge could have the vehicles seized.

Another resource Peart expects to be helpful is an annual grant the department receives for traffic enforcement. This year, it is $101,000, he said. That money goes to a variety of programs, including DUI enforcement, general traffic enforcement and diversion of sideshows.

According to Peart, assigning officers to break up a sideshow can cost the department up to $3,000 per incident. Having that funding come from a grant frees up the de- partment’s budget for non-traffic policing without sacrificing the traffic department’s ability to enforce.

“We make every effort to follow up on sideshow activity,” Lt. Walter O’Grodnick said in September when asked about the department’s approach to sideshow activity. “We want to see this type of activity curbed.”

At the Dec. 13 City Council meeting, Police Chief Tim Herbert discussed some of the challenges the department faces.

“These events are very disturbing to our community,” he said in reference to a large sideshow that took place over the summer. “But when we have 100 [or more] vehicles with people discharging firearms into the air and four police officers and one sergeant to handle it, it’s not safe.”

Although mutual aid from neighboring agencies has proven helpful in breaking up sideshows, Herbert said, a much more effective method of dealing with them is to stop them before they can begin. To that end, Brentwood police partner and communicate with other regional agencies to be aware of sideshows in the greater East County so they may shut them down before they occur.

Oakley

The city of Oakley has passed an ordinance that allows them to take action against both participants and spectators of illegal sideshows. Any person who violates this ordinance could be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to jail time and a $1,000 fine.

In July of 2022, Police Chief Paul Beard gave a presentation to the City Council on sideshows and their potential to result in damage to vehicles, public and private property damage as well as injury or death to participants and onlookers and secondary effects such as blocking roadways for first responders.

“We did have a sideshow here in Oakley where one of our officers was attacked,” Beard said during his presentation. “He was not injured. They began to descend on his car, but he was able to back out of the scene.

A shot was fired. We don’t believe it was at our officer, but we believe it was more or less just a shot in the air.”

Following the April incident, there was a pursuit, and a stolen vehicle and stolen gun were recovered, according to Beard.

Despite this, there have been no documented sideshows in Oakley as far back as September 2022, according to Beard. He credits this, in part, to the city’s focus on traffic enforcement as a priority.

“I am getting ready to start a process that will fill a vacancy in my traffic enforcement unit,” Beard said on what action his department would take if sideshows were to become a problem in Oakley. “Once that position is filled I will utilize all of my traffic officers to conduct enforcement efforts if we were to get any such activity.”

Antioch

Sideshow participants face having their vehicles impounded for 30 days, with a $3,000 cost to recover them as well as a $300 citation.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe declared his city to be a “no sideshow zone” in 2021. However, enforcement of this declaration has presented a challenge to law enforcement, with large sideshow events taking place in May 2022 and January of 2023.

The May incident resulted in an Antioch police vehicle being rendered inoperable and other police vehicles being pelted with bottles by sideshow spectators and participants, according to officials at the time.

During the Jan. 6 incident, Antioch Police towed several vehicles and issued citations during an illegal sideshow on Lone Tree Way, according to officials. The sideshow took place in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby on Lone Tree Way. Citations were issued to both participants and onlookers.

“These incidents bring great danger to responding officers, participants and bystanders,” Antioch Police Chief Steve Ford said during a May press conference. “Violent, disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. To those from out of town, you are welcome to enjoy our city, parks and amenities. But if you engage in sideshow activity, your vehicle will be towed. Going forward, there will be a zero-tolerance approach to sideshows in the city of Antioch, and all resources at our disposal will be used to mitigate these activities.” To comment, visit www.thepress.net