Board approves multiple vocational nursing and psychiatric technician program requests; one school withdraws VN admission request

The Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians on Nov. 22 approved a series of program recommendations from its Nursing Education Consultants (NEC), adopting motions by roll-call vote.

Board members unanimously approved the minutes from the Aug. 16 meeting and ratified executive officer program decisions for Sept. 3–Oct. 1, 2024. The board then considered program-specific items brought by the NECs.

Career Care Institute (Oxnard) — NEC staff recommended approval for a full-time Vocational Nursing class of 20 students to begin Dec. 9, 2025, and the board carried the NEC recommendation by roll-call vote. Cypress College’s psychiatric technician program was approved to admit 20 students starting Jan. 7, 2025 after program representatives described program improvements and staffing changes. Summit College San Bernardino’s requests for both part-time and full-time VN classes were approved while the program remains on provisional status.

Medical Career College’s request for continued approval and admission of a 20-student full-time replacement class was approved after the program director described ongoing curriculum work. The board voted to deny a second class request from Sunrise School of Nursing and to remove Sunrise from the program-approval list; that NEC recommendation passed on a 7-0 roll-call vote.

Pacific College (Costa Mesa) — NEC staff reported five site-visit violations (two corrected, three unresolved) and multiple student complaints under active review; program representatives described faculty hires, scheduling changes, and a new clinical placement coordinator. The NEC recommended rescinding the program’s pattern of admission pending correction of deficiencies; the board adopted the NEC recommendation.

Pacific College (Cerritos) — NEC reported four violations with one unresolved and additional student complaints. Program representatives described recent campus moves and corrective actions; the board adopted NEC recommendations.

Smith Chason College (Ontario) — Staff presented a request to admit 30 VN students. During the hearing, Director of Nursing Dr. Tiffany Jorgensen said the college owners have decided to shift institutional focus to degree programs and will “forego any future enrollments into our Vocational Nursing program.” The college withdrew its request for a new VN cohort and said it will continue to support existing BN students until program completion.

What’s next: For several schools placed on provisional status or with unresolved site-visit findings, NEC staff set correction deadlines (several items noted as due Jan. 13) and will continue to review student complaints and program responses. The board’s roll-call votes appear in the public meeting record for each agenda item.

Quotes: “We’re going to do a fee audit so we can right size our fees,” Assistant Executive Officer Mark Ito said earlier in the meeting when discussing fund condition and program revenue. Dr. Tiffany Jorgensen, director of nursing at Smith Chason, told the board the owners had decided to concentrate resources on degree programs and would not enroll future VN cohorts.

The board’s public packet lists NEC reports, site-visit findings and the full roll-call vote tallies for each approved motion; the board continues to track corrective-action deadlines and student-complaint follow-ups.