Editorials criticize refusal to consider independent consultant to assess whether an administrative college or other scheme will benefit the Verde Valley
Both managing editors of the local Verde Valley newspapers have expressed their strong disapproval of the College Governing Board’s 3-2 vote at its March meeting rejecting the request of the Verde Valley Board representatives to hire a consultant to look into the possibility of a different Community College administrative structure. The creation of a separate administrative college was one of many possible configurations the expert could examine. The President and the three-member West County representatives rejected the request saying it was impossible to find an objective expert to do the assessment and anyway, it might cost $50,000.
The Sedona Redrock News managing editor, Christoper Fox Graham, penned a searing editorial that appeared in the March 23, 2016 edition of his newpaper about the decision by the West County representatives on the Board to reject the request. He wrote, in part, that: “The Yavapai College District Governing Board has again declined to serve taxpayers in the Verde Valley and Sedona. . . . A consultant would likely tell the board the awful truth it refuses to hear: College leaders are poorly serving nearly a third of the taxpayers who pay its bills.”
He continued with his editorial asserting that: “An administrative college would placate those most vocal about secession and yet the college chose not to even look at means to keep taxpayers from revolting.”
His complete editorial (online) can be found by clicking here.
A commentary by Editor Dan Engler that appeared in the Verde Independent March 4 questioned whether “the process [would] have been better served if the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee been allowed to do its job. At the end of their February meeting, committee members made it perfectly clear that an exploration of a separate administrative college for the Verde Valley was foremost on their minds. But before the VVBAC could take up the issue at its March meeting, Filardo had pushed the question forward to the governing board and came up on the short end of a 3-2 vote.”
Engler mused that: “It’s one thing to reject the findings of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. . . . But it sure would have been nice to at least let them ask before you say no.” The commentary by Mr. Engler can be found online by clicking here.
The article made the following points:
“Efficiency is not, and should not be, the mission of a community college. The mission should be to serve its communities,” wrote Gary LaMaster, the Chair of the Verde Valley Community College Citizen Advocates, in a letter to the Verde Independent of August 20. He stated that “In 2009-2010, the college cut classes and staff on the Verde campus at the very time community college enrollment should have been increasing as workers displaced by the Great Recession looked to re-educate themselves to find new employment. To make matters worse, the college suspended virtually all outreach and communications in the Verde Valley. This further reduced enrollment.”
Yavapai Community College student Deborah Wilson stated in a letter to the editor of the Verde Independent that Students on the Clarkdale campus want “nothing more than the same education opportunities available in Prescott.” She also stated that “students attending Yavapai College in Clarkdale feel nothing but frustration trying to set up a degree program here, and move on to explore educational opportunities elsewhere. If the administration at Yavapai College in Prescott, really cared about young people living on this side of the mountain, they would make changes at the Clarkdale campus. Students here want nothing more than the same opportunities available in Prescott.” Ms. Wilson’s complete letter to the editor may be accessed by