College of the Canyons trustees took a preliminary step toward asking the state to reimburse the school for hosting an emergency command center during the Foothill Fire in July.
    “When we had the command center here, there were certain impacts, including some students not being able to attend classes in the gymnasium,” said College of the Canyons spokesman John McElwain…

 Because a certain amount of state funding depends on student attendance, the college stands to lose money.
    “When students can’t be in the classroom, we have the potential for losing dollars when we do our actual report at the end of the year,” McElwain said. “So we keep statistics on those numbers all the time.”
    COC Vice President Barry Gribbons said the college hasn’t computed the exact number of student hours lost.
    “With any disruption to a California community college — like a fire or an earthquake — the state has a process for reimbursing the district for any loss in apportionment due to that event,” Gribbons said. “I think (the impact is going to be a) very minor one. We might not even choose to further pursue it. But we thought it would be prudent to fill out the proper paperwork.”

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