How long must the 80,000 east side residents be essentially pawns in the hands of those who do not work or live on their side of the mountain but who make all the important educational decisions for them?
Editor Robert Oliphant
EDITORIAL. It is fair to say that at the present time Yavapai Community College has a superb administration; probably one of the best if not the best it has ever had. Bright, hard-working, committed administrators are at the top.
But there is a really big problem; it is not one of their making. That problem is the archaic structure they were handed that was designed fifty years ago and has completely outgrown its usefulness. It was a structure completely centralized post-secondary community college education almost exclusively in Prescott, Arizona. At the time, it met the immediate needs of a County population with less than 37,000 residents. Today, with a 2020 population estimated at more than 236,000 residents the structure does not work and is crying out for change.
Because of the initial effort at centralization, which was never abandoned in any real form, Yavapai Community College has struggled for over 50 years to develop an effective community college system in the Verde Valley on the east side of Yavapai County. By any account, its efforts have fallen far short of what one would expect; especially now that the population in the east side of the County has reached or will reach over 80,000 residents.
Recall that at the time the decision to create a Community College District in Yavapai County was made a little over 50 years ago, to gain recognition from state authorities meant it had to meet certain legal requirements. As a result, those wishing to establish a community college in Yavapai County were forced to include its entire high school population and its entire land value. Today, whatever legal requirements are needed to create a Community College District, the residents of the East side of the county can meet them.
But for the legal requirements of 50 years ago, creation of a single community college district encompassing such a huge land mass makes no sense. The Yavapai Community College District covers all of Yavapai County consisting of 8,125 square miles. The size of the County is comparable to states such as Connecticut (5,543 sq. miles — 12 community colleges and universities), Delaware (1,982 sq. miles — three community colleges and universities), Rhode Island (1,214 sq. miles— one public and two private community colleges) and New Jersey (8,723 sq. miles — 19 community colleges and universities). The state of Israel encompasses 8,550 square miles (ten universities and 53 colleges).
Today, most agree that Yavapai Community College operates and resembles a state college or university. On the Prescott side of the County, it boasts six athletic teams, athletic fields, a cadre of coaches, two residence halls, a major gymnasium, heated indoor swimming pool (including special therapy pool for seniors), professional tennis complex, weight complex, 104,000 square foot Career and Technical Education Center, and a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center (PAC) with an 1,100 seat ultra-modern auditorium — offering over 50 major theatre cultural performances annually and at least 20 free special events, probably many more. The College offers more than a dozen of music and performing arts courses not offered elsewhere. It will be offering four-year degrees shortly.
It has even dropped the name “Community College” in favor of being called “Yavapai College.”
The Community College Governing Board is dominated by west county Governing Board politicos who in 2012-13 boldly approved a $103.5 million plan to further develop the institution with less than 5% of development flowing to the east side of the County. The Community College top administrators, including its president, are all based in Prescott or Prescott Valley. The vast majority of faculty and staff live and work on the Prescott side of the County. In any faculty vote, the Prescott-based faculty have an overwhelming majority over faculty located outside that area.
All major decisions regarding courses, construction of facilities, and other projects are ultimately decided by the Prescott-based executives. The decisions come directly from Prescott and must be approved by them. The current Dean of the Sedona Center/Verde Campus is not given a strong voice in decision making; it is claimed she is required to spend at least one day a week off campus on the Prescott side of the County on matters unrelated to the east side. Even the College Foundation is dominated and controlled almost entirely by the west side residents despite the fact that the current president is from the Verde Valley.
The Governing Board holds one or two meetings a year on the east side of the County while all other meetings are held on the west side: most on the Prescott Campus. The Community College Foundation meets monthly and only on the rarest of occasions has it ever met on the east side of the County.
There have been repeated calls over the years for the Verde Valley to establish its own independent community college, but those calls have fallen on deaf ears. Others have called for a middle ground, which would result in the cooperative development between the east and west sides of the County of two administrative colleges — one for each side of the County. In the Administrative model, the hope is that the two administrative colleges would share common resources but independently prepare budgets and develop their own programs and projects. The pervasive influence of Prescott and its yoke of control would be somewhat loosened, or so it is hoped.
The two- County administrative model would be developed in a flexible fashion that could best serve the unique needs of each side of the County. The framework would be similar but not identical to the administrative college model created in the Maricopa community county system over the past several years.
If an Administrative College were created, a person such as Dr. Lisa Rhine, the current President of Yavapai Community College, would normally become the chancellor in the Community College District. She would provide overall direction to both the east and west sides of Yavapai County’s two administrative community colleges, each of which has its own Administrative President.
But ever since the idea has been broached some ten years ago, the Prescott-based executives and a majority on the Governing Board have ignored it. Former Governing Board East side representative Al Filardo resigned in 2016 in part over the refusal of the Governing Board to agree to make an independent assessment about developing an administrative college on the east side of the County. Joel Staadecker, a 16 year Sedona resident, urged the Sedona Mayor and Council at the September 27, 2016, meeting to join him and others to persuade the Governor and State Legislature to create an independent taxing district for an independent Verde Valley community college. We “must get out from under the crushing oppression of the Yavapai College governance system, leadership and management that resides and works on the West side of Mingus Mountain for the benefit of the Prescott region communities,” he said.
It was no accident that back in 2016 two days after the Verde Valley Forum, attended by about 100 participants from all over the east side, recommended that an unbiased, independent study be conducted to examine the establishment of an independently governed community college in the Verde Valley, the Prescott dominated Governing Board effectively abolished the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee had made over 20 recommendations to the Governing Board with almost all of them ignored.
Aside from the cruel yoke history and political domination by the west side of the County over the east side, sometimes one asks, “are there any real benefits to an east side community college?” Well, yes, there are many.
The following is a list of some of the possible benefits that the East Region residents might receive if an Administrative College or, for that matter, an independent community college model were created. Included are some historic examples to illustrate and support the view that it’s time to create either an administrative community college or a completely independent community college in the Verde Valley. The benefits are not listed in any particular order of priority.
Share a common vision
An Administrative College may help bring the various communities in the East Region together in a common cause. With an Administrative College controlled by East Region residents, the small communities and towns that make up a total of more than 75,000 residents may more easily come to share a common vision of developing a strong post-secondary community college. It may also help reduce the competitive, non-cooperative, bickering spirit that communities and other institutions in the East Region sometimes exhibit.
Greater school district cooperation
An Administrative College may provide the basis for encouraging the school districts in the East Region of the County to join in a common integrated, shared educational experience. Past history has shown that the school districts in the East Region of the County are not necessarily always united in a way that is helpful. For example, it has taken more than a decade to get the school districts to jointly agree to consider sending high school students to a tiny, centralized career and technical education center as a part of the Joint Education District (JTED). By comparison, since 2007 the school districts in the West Region of the County have embraced the Mountain Institute JTED and centralization of major CTE learning programs under the Community College CTEC umbrella.
Citizens retain a larger portion of their property tax revenue
An Administrative College may help East Region citizens retain a larger portion of their property tax revenue going to the Community College by providing a stronger voice to Governing Board members about how and where the taxes should be spent.
More return of tuition, grants, fees
An Administrative College should provide a greater potential for returning the tuition payments, state aid, grants, and fees paid by or as a result of East Region students attending the College to the East Region.
Greater share of construction tax
An Administrative College should allow the East Region to receive a greater share of the revenue produced by the County annual new construction tax collected by the Community College.
More aggressive CTE development
An Administrative College may encourage greater consideration among the 74,000 residents of the East Region in more aggressive development of a centralized College Career and Technical Education Center.
Dual enrollment program cooperation
An Administrative College should encourage closer coordination between the College and the three public high schools and one charter school in the East Region in operating the dual enrollment program. The dual enrollment programs at those four high schools in the East Region allow qualified high school students to simultaneously obtain high school and college credit for certain courses.
Possibly local athletic projects
An Administrative College may provide an opportunity for creating local athletic programs in the East Region (where currently there are none).
Own identity and traditions
An Administrative College should provide the East Region with its “own identity and traditions.” It is believed that students attending an educational institution like to feel that it has its own traditions, its own plan, and its own programs. They don’t like to feel, does the argument, that their community college is just an off-shoot or a branch of another controlling institution.
Perceived ownership
An Administrative College should permit East Region residents to fully participate in the selection of their own administrative campus president. As a result of their “ownership,” it is argued that East Region citizens will naturally more easily see themselves as real owners and participants in the future of the Community College.
Greater voice in decision making
An Administrative College should provide a stronger administrative voice acting on behalf of the East Region because of the selection of a president.
Fair competition between regions
An Administrative College may provide an opportunity for the two regions to compete for scarce resources more fairly. With the existence of a president of an Administrative College in place representing the East Region, that person can compete annually on a level financial playing field for scarce educational dollars with the Prescott President who represents the interests of the West Region of the County. (Budgets go through a Chancellor and then to the Governing Board.)
More long-term consistency in programs
An Administrative College should help reduce the chances of dramatic alterations of programs when there is a College President changeover. For example, when the Sedona Center was built, it had a strong supporter in then College President Doreen Daily. However, in 2013 former President Penelope Wills stunned the East County region by announcing she was shutting down the Film School and potentially putting the Center up for sale as a part of a ten year plan.
Former President Daily was also a champion of bringing Career and Technical Education training to Northern Arizona. She promoted and began developing the Northern Arizona Regional Training program on the Verde Campus, which was intended to teach career and technical education (CTE) skills to students in at least three counties. Three years after Daily resigned, the new College President and the Community College Governing Board, essentially shut down a focus on trade instruction at the Northern Arizona Regional Training program that Daily had promoted.
Gain better knowledge of local culture
An Administrative College should provide a greater opportunity for the East Region Community College President and staff to gain intimate knowledge of the East Region of Yavapai County and its culture.
No traveling back and forth over the mountain
As a practical matter, an Administrative College should reduce, if not eliminate, travel time to meetings by staff and faculty to either side of the County. Currently, the perception is that East Region staff and administrators spend significant amounts of travel time away from East Region duties by traveling back and forth to the West Region for a variety of meetings. It may take a half day or more out of their work on in the East Region’s community college.
Develop East County Student government
An Administrative College on the East Region of the County may help stimulate restoration of a vibrant student government in the East Region’s college.
Working more closely with Yavapai-Apache nation
An Administrative College should provide a better opportunity for the Community College to work more closely with the Yavapai-Apache nation.
Left out towns and villages
An Administrative College should provide greater focus and consideration of “left out” pockets of the population in the East Region such as Cornville, Village of Oak Creek, Beaver Creek, Rimrock and others.
Better data gathering and reporting
An Administrative College should result in more accurate gathering of data regarding costs associated with operating Verde Campus and Sedona Center.
Less unnecessary public relations spin in the future
An Administrative College should result in less College spin. To illustrate historically: Dan Engler, editor, Verde Independent, wrote on May 11, 2016, of his chagrin over the inability of Yavapai College to provide the answers to the following two questions: “How many graduates this year at the Verde Valley Campus of Yavapai College? And how does that number compare with recent years?” The Administration was not able to provide those numbers. Instead, it responded: “We do not assign students a primary campus in Banner (internal data tracking etc. app), so when we report graduates they are Yavapai College grads. That said, we could breakout Verde students, but we would need to define a methodology.” Engler commented that “the college is clueless about how to serve the Verde Valley. Our campus does not have local administrators and getting an answer to questions specific about the Verde Campus will not get answered until the college routes it through a research department to find the best possible spin.”
Reduce distrust of “other side”
An Administrative College may help to reduce the historic distrust the two regions seem to hold of each other.
Greater respect for East Region views
An Administrative College should result in the citizen voices of the East Region being heard and better respected. The best example, historically, of how little the East Region perception that their views are not respected is the record of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. Repeatedly over a two-year period (2014-2016) recommendations were made to the Governing Board by the Verde Valley Board Advisory Board. Repeatedly those recommendations were ignored by the West-County Voting Bloc controlling majority.
Historic example
May. At the District Governing Board’s May 19, 2015, meeting, four recommendations came from the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. They included: (1) Delay approval of the capital improvement portion of the 2015-2016 budget until the District Governing Board has the recommendations of the Verde Valley strategic plan currently being developed. (2) Increase the marketing and recruitment efforts in the Verde Valley by implementing a program of continuous and direct interaction with students and their parents to seek students’ wants and aptitudes. (3) Amend the Campus Master Plan to remove all language about divesting of the Sedona Campus. (4) Do not raise property taxes this year. Three of the four motions were rejected by the Board on a 3-2 vote with the West Region representative voting together to oppose them. Only the request to formally remove the Sedona Center from the 10-year-plan was approved.
Historic example
For example, at the August 5, 2015, Board meeting the question of the future of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee came up during discussion. When East Region Board representative Al Filardo moved to continue the Committee for two years, the motion was met with strong opposition from the West Region majority voting block and if facial expressions are any indication, also by then College President Penelope Wills. It was sidelined.
Historic example
For example, Mr. Paul Chevalier, speaking for the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee (VVBAC), suggested at the November 9, 2015, Governing Board meeting that the Governing Board, College administrators, and the VVBAC hold a series of joint meetings to work out solutions to the VVBAC’s recommendations for improving post-secondary education in the East Region. Mr. Chevalier stated that to resolve the post-secondary educational issues raised by the VVBAC, it would take cooperation among everyone to solve them–the Board, the administration, and the VVBAC. The Administration and the Governing Board rejected the recommendation.
Historic example
March. On March 1, 2016, the three-member West Region Voting Bloc voted to increase student tuition. The two members of the Board from the East Region opposed the increase. Previously, in 2015, the Board had increased tuition by a 3-2 vote. The dissenters were the East Region representatives.
Historic example
The Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee strongly recommended that the Community College not charge a per credit fee for high school students enrolled in the dual enrollment program. That recommendation was rejected in March 2016 and a $10 per credit per student fee was adopted by the District Governing Board on a 3-2 vote. The West Region majority once again voted as a block in support of the Administration’s request.
Historic example
September. On September 11, 2016, during its almost secret retreat, the West County Voting Bloc voted to shutter the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee with both East Region representatives opposing the motion. This was perceived by many as a direct insult to the 74,000 plus residents of the Verde Valley.
Driving economic engine in East Region
An Administrative College should result in an improved chance that it will become a local driving economic engine. Recall that a Community with a strong Community College economic engine benefits because of the following: (a) Employee payroll, (b) increased demand for housing caused by employees, (c) having programs that stimulate a local economy, (d) attracting new residents thus bringing new revenue to a community, (e) attracting new employers with a well-educated work pool, (f) helping sell an area as a welcome tourist destination.
Many new programs in the East Region
An Administrative College means potentially returning dozens of programs removed from the East Region of the County and developing others. Development of music, theater and the arts have been almost exclusively focused on the West Region. With an Administrative College in the East Region of the County, those programs and many others can be returned and fully developed.
Bob Oliphant
Cottonwood, Arizona