Disabled students fight for classroom space

C.J. Kennedy is trying to change the world. But he'd be happy just to get a classroom.

The 19-year-old is a student in the Transition program, designed for people with development disabilities. The program is run by the Santa Barbara High School District but housed primarily at City College.

Kennedy has started a petition that asks SBCC administrators to grant Transition its own permanent classroom. After 18 years, the program still lacks its own classroom, leaving it in a constant state of transition.

Kennedy was "inspired" to start the petition as part of a project for his Personal Development class. The assignment: Start a project that would help change the world.

"As time went on, I got more and more involved in this thing and decided to make this thing permanent," said Kennedy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and has been in Transition for two semesters.

Seeking classroom

Transition is run by the high school district to help students 18 to 22 earn a high school diploma and develop work experience. The hope is that they will be able to find jobs and take an active role in society. The program has been located in several areas on the SBCC campus and now stays mainly in the Cafeteria.

The lack of a classroom forces the teachers and students to constantly move their equipment and supplies from classroom to classroom. It also causes the students to have problems focusing when they enter a new room.

The reason Transition is at City College and not at a high school campus is because of the age difference. Program proponents contend that disabled students should be surrounded by students in their age group so they can get fully accustomed to the real world.

Kennedy hopes that the petition, decorated with red and black ribbons, will create awareness about the problem. He was set to present the document and a short video to the Santa Barbara School Board Tuesday night, after The Channels' deadline.

He believes he has the full support of friends, family and even some faculty, but wishes the top leaders of the college would also support him. In fact, he says most people at SBCC have a "disconnect" with Transition students. The average student doesn't have a connection with the issue unless they have someone in their lives with a disability, Kennedy said.

"As I look around the school I see not so much a problem to get a bunch of students a permanent classroom but more of an issue of normals versus students with disabilities," he said.

Classroom at a premium

Vice President Dr. Jack Friedlander, interviewed for this story, said the issue is a lack of space, not a lack of respect for the program. The campus doesn't have room to accommodate its own students, much less those belonging to another school district.

"I respect what they do," Friedlander said. "They provide a valuable service."

He said he has told the high school district for years that if Transition students enroll in a SBCC class, they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other students.

Also, he added, if Transition students are identified as requiring services from the Disabled Students Programs and Services, they will receive even more college services.

Friedlander said one solution is for the high school district to find Transition a base at McKinley Elementary, on Loma Alta Drive across the road from City College. But having a class of 18-22 year old students on the same campus as grade school kids might cause problems with parents.

Less space over the years

Kathy Hanley has taught for the Transition program for 15 years. Only 12 students were in the program then, under one teacher and two assistants. Today the program has 30 students, eight assistants, several peer tutors and three teachers.

Hanley said the vice president at the time was John Romo, now SBCC's president, and he allowed the program to use any available classroom. Hanley charges that when Friedlander took over as vice president, he told them that there was no more classroom or office space available on the SBCC campus.

Since then, Transition has been forced to use several different locations on and off campus that require a lot of transportation. The cafeteria has been their main classroom for all these years.

The college's refusal to give Transition a permanent classroom has cost SBCC money.

In the mid-1990s the college lost the support of an organization called The Siff Educational Foundation. The Siff family had a son in Transition, and they used to give $40,000 in grant money to SBCC for scholarships. Now the foundation donates money only for Transition programs peer tutors.

"They've lost a lot of money by not giving us an office back then," Hanley said.

Room for Aspect

While the college is chronically short of classrooms, it has rented space to non-campus groups. The Aspect foreign language program, now located under the bridge at City College, has been given space and classrooms for five years.

Friedlander stressed that Aspect has paid for all facilities and also pays rent to the college. "They paid for everything," he said.

Aspect students also take SBCC classes and pay out-of-state fees, all of which the college gets to keep.

"That's a lot of money, and to them if there's no money, there's no benefit to having us here," Hanley said.

Friedlander countered that it's his responsibility to put the fiscal and space needs of SBCC first.

"I owe no apologies for our efforts," Friedlander said. "I've honored the agreement we have with the school district, that we'll do our best to accommodate them after the needs of the college are taken care of."

Family activism

Kennedy is expected to present his petition Tuesday, and Friedlander said the college will be negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the high school district for fall that addresses the space issue.

Kennedy isn't the first in his family to be come an activist. His grandmother is a legendary activist named Sheryl D. Kennedy, who was a professor of Black Studies at UCSB.

Whether he succeeds or fails in his quest to find Transition a home, he says he's glad he's tried to do his bit to change the world.