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Did you know???
Despite alarming evidence, Hartnell administration denies on-going discrimination with an identified pattern of targeting minority and English As a Second Language (ESL) nursing students for dismissal.
There's a lack of due process for nursing students: Nursing administration refuses to honor Hartnell College's Board of Trustees approved grievance procedure for student complaints.
Mounting civil lawsuits filed by nursing students against Hartnell College.
Previous minority nursing instructors were targeted to resign.
Hartnell's administration hired nursing consultant- Donna Duell - from Las Vegas to "improve nursing program". With the present "budget crisis" and increase in student tuition, Duell's paid fee was $134,000+. Duell also comes with a documented history of student abuse at Cabrillo College and Evergreen College.
Presently, all of the nursing instructors were pre-selected and hired by Donna Duell and come out from as far as San Jose.
The recently appointed nursing director - Debra Denham - was also pre-selected by Donna Duell. The interview process was flawed and lacked integrity. Debra Denham has worked in the past with Donna Duell and possesses the same philosophy of student abuse.
Debra Denham is presently not approved as the Nursing Director by the Board of Registered Nursing despite that she was appointed on July 01, 2003 by the Board of Trustees.
Debra Denham applied for the Nursing Director position at Evergreen Community College and was not selected despite the fact that she held senior faculty status. Denham was also denied the Assistant Director position.
Debra Denham along with Hartnell College President Dr. Valeau, Vice President Vic Krimsley, and Dean Charlene Frontiera presented blatant inaccuracies and inflated statistics during presentations to Hartnell's Board of Trustees, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital's Board of Directors, the Office of Congressman Sam Farr, and numerous community and academic organizations.
Questionable background checks for current nursing faculty and staff.
Students were administered "Learning Assessment Test" by Donna Duell with questionable motivation behind testing. Statistical results reported by Duell: Minorities (African-Americans & Hispanics) having a lesser ability than Caucasians for learning.
LVN attrition rate (Drop out) was 58%: Total # of 31 students were enrolled in December 2002 with 16 graduating in June 2003.
RN attrition rate (Drop out) was 46%: Total # of 61 students enrolled in August 2002 with 42 students remaining.
No consistency in teaching, testing, and grading.
No "Remediation Program" is available for current nursing students. The previous successful "Remediation Program" was abolished since the arrival of Donna Duell.
Major exams and quizzes are not returned for student review. Instead, students are verbally informed of their grades.
Non-learning environment due to intimidation, humiliation, and fear tactics by Donna Duell, Debra Denham, Tomas Belnas, and other nursing faculty.
The severest form of verbal abuse comes from the nursing instructor Laura Phillips.
Lowered self-esteem of students is directly related to consistent verbal abuse by the nursing faculty and staff.
No math was taught by nursing instructors despite it being part of the current curriculum resulting in student failures on math exams.
Math exams were not returned for student review despite only 3 allowed chances to pass.
Nursing students were sent to MESA Program for tutoring. Yet, the math tutors didn't understand the medication calculations.
Students were required to purchase expensive textbooks. Yet, those same textbooks were not used by the nursing instructors for teaching purposes.
Documented learning disabled students were denied their rights (i.e., longer times on exams).
Former Nursing Director - Lydia Hampton-Stewart - was replaced after only 3 months in the position. Hampton-Stewart was dismissed after she reported deficiencies in the Nursing Program to the Board of Registered Nursing and Hartnell Board of Trustees President, Valerie Golden. Also, in 1996, Hampton-Stewart was hired as the first "Instructor of Color" in the history of the Nursing Program. She is still recognized as a true student success advocate who developed the previous successful "Remediation Program", which was proven numerous times to be effective.
Lastly, in a desperate attempt to discredit the former Director - Hampton-Stewart, Consultant Donna Duell and Nursing Director Debra Denham have an on-going basis of verbalizing to students that Hampton-Stewart is the "blame" for everything that they have found not to their satisfaction. However, in speaking to former Nursing Graduates, at-large Hartnell faculty, community leaders, and members of the community, the students now know the real truth. As stated so eloquently by members of the RN class of 2002. Hampton-Stewart really was our "Community Angel".
Questions or comments can be sent to the following email at [email protected]
This page was last updated on December 29, 2003