The faculty at Cerritos College had a forum in the Teleconference Center on Wednesday, Oct. 29 to decide whether the school will continue 18 weeks of classes or condense the schedule.

The forum was lead by Cerritos College President Jose Fierro, Dean of Liberal Arts David Fabish and faculty senate president Michelle Lewellen.

President Fierro began the forum by stating that he was not for or against the possible switch from 18 weeks a semester to 16.

“If it is not going to provide anything for the student, we’re not going to do it,” Fierro said.

The main goal is to have students gain access to opportunities for their education, reach success in those opportunities, and complete their goals at a good rate.

Lewellen continued the forum by describing the possible schedules that could happen if the move was made.

Two possible 16-week schedule configurations that were offered were having two five-week summer courses and a five-week winter session with a 16-week spring and fall semester.

The other would have one eight-week summer session with a six-week winter session.

Fabish explained the possible downsides of having a shorter schedule would be that classrooms would be impacted and that many rooms would give to be used from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

President Fierro acknowledged that whatever would accommodate students best would be done.

“The average student takes six years to complete a two year course…this is a college wide issue,” Fierro said.

Questions and concerns were taken after the explanation of the schedule.

Adult education instructor Martha Robles seemed to be in favor of the lighter schedule, as her students would start school at the same time as their kids, rather than earlier.

Educational Technology instructor Cynthia Alexander asked,”Overwhelming majorities of colleges use 16-week calendars, did they lose any student success?”

It was revealed that there has not been any research done on student success at other schools yet.

History instructor Julie Davis brought into consideration that with an extra two weeks, students would be able to have some flexibility in their personal and professional careers.

A few other instructors believed that students get burned out by week 16 anyways, so what was stopping them from switching?

Many of the faculty, including those running the forum believed that it is definitely possible to do the switch and that it would benefit the students, but there was concern as to why it should be done.

There was no definite answer, and the questions and concerns would be taken into consideration for the next forum.