Dear Heald Faculty and Staff,
Yesterday, Corinthian Colleges received two letters from the United States Education Department notifying Heald of 1) the Department’s Notice of Intent to Deny Recertification of Heald College Salinas and Stockton and 2)Notice of Intent to Fine Heald College.
These highly questionable, unsubstantiated allegations by the U.S. Department of Education regarding Heald College should not be allowed to shift focus away from the central fact that Heald has a well-documented track record of providing quality education and significant value to its students for more than 150 years—and should be allowed to continue to do so. When Heald students speak for themselves, as they did through a recent independent survey, more than 85 percent believe a quality education is exactly what they are receiving today. Heald graduates have been hired by major employers throughout the state, including the California Attorney General’s Office. Several high quality, well-qualified buyers have demonstrated an interest in purchasing Heald, which would allow its 9,000 students to continue their education and its more than 1,000 faculty and staff to keep their jobs.
The announcement by the U.S. Department of Education now further threatens Heald’s future by potentially imposing added financial and operational hurdles to prospective buyers. It would be no less than a travesty of fairness and justice if the Department were to rely upon selective, misleading, and highly technical, unsubstantiated allegations to thwart the sale of Heald. These unfounded, punitive actions do nothing to advance quality education in California, but would certainly shatter the dreams and aspirations of Heald students and the careers of its employees.
It is doubly disgraceful that the United States government would take these actions without providing either Heald or its parent Corinthian Colleges an opportunity to review, respond and rebut the charges. Until Monday of this week, the U.S. Department of Education provided no details regarding any of these allegations about Heald—neither before nor after entering into the operating agreement with Corinthian on July 8, 2014. Then, suddenly and precipitously, we received notice of the announcement. This one-sided presentation of “evidence” makes a mockery of due process.
While we have not yet had an opportunity to review fully the basis of the findings by the U.S. Department of Education, it is clear from a cursory reading that its conclusions regarding attendance and placement are flawed. The U.S. Department of Education has relied on faulty data and analyses discovered and disclosed more than 18 months ago. Hours prior to the release of the letters, we attempted unsuccessfully to forewarn the department that it should not rely upon data driven by a single erroneous report. The faulty approach used by the U.S. Department of Education on the question of grades and attendance at Salinas has led to erroneous and damaging conclusions. There is simply no excuse for a federal agency rushing to judgment so swiftly that it gets its basic facts wrong.
We plan to contest the Departments allegations about Heald’s failure to comply with regulations governing disclosure of job placement rates. We stand by our graduate placement rates, policies and procedures, and look forward to defending the College against these outrageous allegations. The Department has grossly misinterpreted and misrepresented graduate placement data provided by the College.
Eeva K Deshon
President & CEO
Heald College