Westmoreland County commissioners, administrators at the community college and the school's trustees will meet next week for the first time since a controversy over hiring has threatened the institution's accreditation.
Representatives of Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the regional accreditation agency, will meet privately with county commissioners Wednesday then later that afternoon in a joint session with college officials and board members.
That meeting comes a month before a Sept. 1 deadline set by Middle States for local officials to devise a plan to guard against political influence in the community college's hiring practices.
The Middle States commission could vote later this year to put the college on probation or even issue a warning as a precursor to removing the school's accreditation.
The loss of accreditation would mean that WCCC could no longer award degrees and would render its students ineligible for financial aid.
"I would hope that the meeting will result in resolutions that will be acceptable to Middle States," WCCC President Steven Ender said Thursday.
Commissioners Tom Balya and Tom Ceraso have challenged Ender over his hiring practices and denied they attempted to influence hirings at the school.
They contend the Middle States ruling, which suggested there was political influence at the school, was based on false accusations by Ender.
Gene Ciafre, chairman of the WCCC board of trustees, called next week's meeting a mediation session with Middle States representatives working to help the commissioners and Ender reach a compromise that would leave the accreditation intact.
"We're simply working on getting it resolved. I believe that is very attainable," Ciafre said.
Commissioners have said they want to preserve the accreditation but also want to make their case to Middle States that there has been no political influence imposed on board members or college administrators.
All three county commissioners voted earlier this year to restrict Ender's hiring ability at the college by requiring the school's trustees to approve every new job candidate at a public meeting.
Commissioner Kim Ward, a Republican, has since backed off that effort and said she believed there were political overtones to her colleagues' actions.
Meanwhile, Ender contends the Democratic commissioners have pressured him and other board members to consider political friends and supporters for jobs. He said that as the college's president he should have more hiring authority and that school trustees should vote only on top administrative positions.
Trustees now have the authority to approve the hiring of all salaried workers.
"We will argue that nothing has gone wrong, and our suggestion will make it more open to public scrutiny," Balya said.
The public, though, won't be able to attend the meeting. Balya and Ciafre said yesterday the meeting with Middle States will be private.
Ward called for the session to be open to the public.
"In the spirit of transparency, open it up. It's all being based on a public decision, so it should at least be open to the public," Ward said.
Ender and Ceraso said yesterday they would not object to a public meeting with Middle States.
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