Location: Verde Campus, Clarkdale
Archive for Yavapai Community College – Page 7
Steve Irwin wins by a nose
Governing Board Director Steve Irwin won the Blog’s Pinocchio of the Year award, although the voting was close. When Mr. Irwin ran his 2014 campaign for the District Governing Board seat, he made what most people believed was a clear and specific promise to not raise property taxes on Yavapai County taxpayers. When the Blog looked at his Facebook page in 2014 that promise seemed clear.
Here are the postings on his 2014 Facebook page:
October 31, 2014: “You have a choice—get out and vote for Steve Irwin #YavapaiCollegeGoverning Board as a member of Yavapai College Governing Board I promise to help guide the College in Financial Responsibility and be a strong supporter of not raising your property taxes while requiring a higher quality of education.”
October 19, 2014: * * * “A vote for me equals NO NEW TAXES.”
However, Mr. Irwin earned this year’s award when at the June, 2015 Governing Board meeting he had the chance to abide by his pre-election promise. Instead, he was the swing vote on the five member board that resulted in a property tax increase for County residents. He also voted to increase student tuition; the 10th year tuition in some form has been increased.
The final vote was 3-2 with Deb McCasland and Al Filardo dissenting.
About 5,000 fewer students than eight years ago
According to Community College data, the current administration is presiding over the continued decline in student enrollment at Yavapai College. In fact, in the last eight years the Community College enrollment has fallen by 4,794 students.
The headcount report for the fall, 2015 showed a decline continuing with a drop from fall 2014 of 416 students. The decline is troubling in view of reports from Northern Arizona University and other colleges of major increases in first-year enrollment. NAU, for example, reported it was breaking enrollment records. NAU’s overall student population is 29,035, up from 27,639, and the university welcomed 5,141 first-time freshman compared to 4,765 last fall. You may view the NAU report by clicking here.
Enrollment at the Flagstaff campus is 20,839, a nearly 5 percent increase from 19,913 last year. “Our commitment to Arizona is represented in this outstanding incoming freshman class,” said NAU President Rita Cheng. “Its diversity and distinctiveness evidence the important and changing nature of our state and the communities we serve. I’m delighted to see that NAU continues to be a university of choice for so many new and returning students.”
On Campus this coming Thursday and Friday from noon to 6 p.m. each day
Great gifts for the holidays at ridiculously low prices.
Helping to support Yavapai College students in the art department.
601 Black Hills Drive, Clarkdale, Arizona
Building “M” (or follow signs)
Wills blames block scheduling, full-time students, and absence of dual enrollment for closing Film School; absolves herself of any blame as though Film School was under control of an alien power rather than her administration
Sometimes listening to Dr. Penelope Wills and her associates explanations about their decisions causes one to wonder if someone is not in Alice in Wonderland. That was surely the case when Wills appeared before the Sedona City Council October 27 and the issue of closing the Sedona Film School came up.
For example, Wills’teamed with Executive Dean James Perey to explain the closing of the nationally recognized Sedona Film School and its claimed resurrection on the Verde Campus. Perey claimed that “the film school is back, it’s on the Verde Valley Campus.” Perey was apparently hoping that no one listening knew how a real film school curriculum looked when compared to the Fall offerings on the Verde Campus.
For those folks from Missouri who say “show me,” the Blog has set out below the fall Scottsdale Film School curriculum, which can be compared with the fall “Film School” curriculum on the Verde Campus. The difference is so stark that Dean Perey’s remarks fall into the category of administrative prattle.
Only 12 credits of face-to-face training are offered on the Verde Campus while about 80 credits are offered at the Scottsdale Community College.
Dean Perey also said that one “of the real issues with the Film School program was that it was full-time. “Unless you were a full-time student you could not enroll in that program,” he said. He was joined by Wills’ who criticized the Film School program she was running at the time as a failure because of block scheduling, having full-time students, and not allowing dual enrollment. It’s a though Wills’ saw the Sedona Film School as in the control of some alien power rather than in control of her administration. Odd, very odd, to say the least. You may view the video of Dean Perey’s remarks on this issue by clicking here.
Both Wills’ and Perey ignore the College rosy press releases issued just 9 months before the announced closing of the Film School—hoping, no doubt, that memories in Sedona are extremely short.
For example, Yavapai College Director of Marketing and Communications Mike Lange, was quoted on August 9, 2012 in the Sedona RedRock News as stating:
“The Yavapai College film program is continuing and is being enhanced. It is not being dissolved.”
On December 11, 2012 the College issued a press release praising the Sedona Film School. This was just nine months before announcing it was being closed. In that College press release one source was quoted as saying
“The Sedona Film School . . . contributes so much to this community and to Yavapai College. Sedona can be proud to have a world-class film school with personalized one-on-one attention to its students by a staff that is dedicated to giving the next generation of filmmakers’ unparalleled education and training.”
In the December, 2012 College press release the College stated that the Film School was
“expanding [its] relationship with the renowned Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) and .planning for a special series of technical workshops during the 2013 Festival.” It also stated that it had “launched a significant recruiting campaign and doubled its enrollment this year! In these tough economic times, that is a significant achievement. . . . The community truly banded together this past year to show support for the Film School and make a unanimous statement that ‘We love our film school’ and want to keep it in Sedona.’”
It turns out that all those press releases were Community College twaddle, if not outright deceptive.
“Imagine what could be possible after we secede from college”
Christoper Fox Graham
In the October 21 editorial in the Redrock News, (Also in the Cottonwood Journal Extra) Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham, outlines the future possibilities for Sedona and the Verde Valley if the residents could secede from Yavapai Community College and create their own East County community college. Mr. Graham points out that secession “would be a costly and litigious process for Yavapai College, but if President Penny Wills, and the Governing Board that is supposed to direct her actions, doesn’t listen to the needs of the Verde Valley — and understand the value of our tax money — a proposal by state legislators could make secession an alternative for taxpayers to have a return on our investment.”
This is an interesting and informative editorial and Blog readers can access it by clicking here. You are urged to read it.
Wines and fine food on the menu for $125 per person donation
The Southwest Wine and Dine in the Vines” event is set for October 24. This fall event was originally created by the former Greater Verde Valley Chapter of the Yavapai Foundation. The College put the Chapter out of business in 2013 but kept the annual event. Tickets are $125 per person with a portion tax deductible.
According to the College, this year’s event “features Arizona wines and fine foods with a total of over 30 winemakers, restaurant owners and chefs providing tastings of their favorite edibles and drinkables.”
The College says that tickets may be obtained from volunteers or by calling Janice Soutee at 928-776-2015. The College website says for more information contact Abby Biro at (928) 776-2359 or email [email protected]. Click here to go to the website.
Tuesday Workshop was intended to persuade a majority of Board to increase property taxes
College president Dr. Penelope Wills and her vice presidents were hard at work during Tuesday’s workshop in Prescott with one goal: get at least three members of the District Governing Board to approve the 2 percent tax increase she is demanding.
She already has two of the Board members in her pocket on this issue: Present Chair Pat McCarver, who never saw a tax increase for the College she couldn’t support, and former Chair, Ray Sigafoos, who has supported both tuition and tax increases during his long tenure on the Board, have lined up solidly behind Penelope. Both are well aware that filling the Community College coffers with tax revenue is a boon to the economy on the West side of the County–the areas they represent.
Deb McCasland is most outspoken in opposition to the tax increase; Al Filardo seems to be sitting on the fence, and Steve Irwin is quiet about his intentions. The Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee has unanimous said it opposes a tax increase at this time.
Citizens are invited to attend the public hearing on the Penelope Wills tax increase proposal, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at 11 a.m. in the Rock House. The Rock House is located on the Yavapai College Prescott Campus, 1100 East Sheldon Street in Prescott.
A vote of three members in favor of the increase puts it automatically into the County property tax collection plate. There is no citizen vote or review possible of the decision.
It is estimated that the proposed tax increase will cause Yavapai community college district’s primary property taxes on a $100,000 home to increase from $183.59 (total taxes that would be owed without the proposed tax increase) to $187.21 (total proposed taxes including the tax increase).
This proposed increase is exclusive of increased primary property taxes received from new construction.
Prescott Daily Courier says suspect in Houston shooting played men’s basketball at YCC
The May 5 Prescott Daily Courier is reporting that Elton Simpson, a suspect in the “failed attack on a Texas community center that was hosting an event displaying cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad is believed to have a connection to Prescott’s sports community going back more than a dozen years ago.” 
According to a story written by sports editor Steve Stockman, Simpson, who was identified by the FBI as one of the suspects from Sunday’s shootout in Garland, Texas, played on the Yavapai College men’s basketball team in Prescott during the 2002-03 winter season. You may read the complete story in the Daily Courier by clicking here.