Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee submits 16 recommendations to District Governing Board–will the Board seriously consider them?
The Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee has submitted 16 recommendations to the District Governing Board. At the August 31 retreat, however, they were only minimally considered. It is not clear when, if ever, the Board will carefully review each of the 16 recommendations. Both of the Verde Valley representatives, Al Filardo and Deb McCasland, are encouraging the 5 member Board to take the recommendations seriously and to incorporate them into the strategic plan the College is now working on.
Here are the recommendations.
- Allocate a far greater percentage of financial resources generated in the Verde to the Verde.
- Establish effective and efficient local decision-making through a Verde Advocate structure rather than through Prescott.
- Implement an ongoing Verde marketing and recruitment program of continuous and direct interaction with Verde lower and secondary education students and their parents.
- Focus on increasing student numbers in the Verde.
- In the Verde Valley create a CTE building for classes in fields that meet the needs of Verde residents.
- Prioritize building a state of the art delivery system.
- Add sufficient remote learning centers for distance learning opportunities.
- Provide and increase core transfer courses.
- Provide and increase multiple pathways of 2+1, 2+2, Certification, and CTE.
- Increase Verde scholarship and financial assistance and maintain an affordable tuition rate.
- Add focus on working with governments in all Verde communities to increase broadband coverage that can be used by the college.
- Fund all capital projects privately or through bonding rather than taxes, tuition and fees.
- Further incorporate workforce demand analysis in education decision-making. Build stronger local partnerships for business development and job creation.
- Focus on solutions for Verde affordable student housing.
- Encourage the immediate exploration of alternative models or structures to increase Foundation related activities and fund raising in the Verde.
- Recommend revised criteria for evaluating investment needed for new programs as well as criteria for continuing programs. (Note. The red emphasis is put on each recommendation by the Blog.)