Must pay restitution of $7,500 (jointly with co-conspirator),  fined $2,000, and must complete 100 hours of community service, for misusing grant funds

Lois Lamer in happier days.

In an announcement Monday, November 28 by the Arizona Attorney General’s office, the former superintendent of the Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education (VACTE), which is located in Cottonwood, was sentenced after pleading guilty to Class 6 felony charges related to  the misuse of public funds. Dennis Fiscus, who was involved in the scheme with Lamer,  received an identical sentence.

Dennis Fiscus is the former programs of study director for the Department of Career and Technical Education. Lamer and Fiscus were accused of submitting falsified documents related to certain purchase orders as well as misusing funds in September 2021.

The Attorney General’s Office reported that the pair will have to pay restitution of $7,500 together, were each fined $2,000 and will each have to complete 100 hours of community service.

The case was investigated by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office and prosecuted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Fraud and Special Prosecution’s Section. The investigation determined that Lamer  and Fiscus  had allegedly conspired to divert for personal use thousands of dollars in federal Carl D. Perkins grant money that had been awarded to VACTE.

BLOG STORIES ON THIS CASE: 

See Blog posting of November 15, 2019 “AUDITORS FIND QUESTIONABLE COSTS AT VACTE TOTALING $638,716.” https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/vacte/auditors-find-questionable-costs-at-vacte-totaling-638716/

See Blog posting of September 30, 2021 “FORMER VACTE SUPERINTENDENT INDICTED ON VARIETY OF FRAUD CHARGES INVOLVING MISUSE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDS. Follows former business manager Celestia Ziemkowski’s guilty pleas to felonies  in  2020 involving embezzling VACTE money for personal use.”  https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/yavapai-community-college/former-vacte-superintendent-indicted-on-variety-of-fraud-charges-involving-misuse-of-school-district-funds/

Since 2018, the Arizona Department of Education has repaid more than $400,000 in federal grant money to the U.S. Department of Education because of alleged misspending (that may involve $638,716); unclear whether VACTE will be required to reimburse state

In a story written by Bill Helm, which appeared in the November 14, 2019 Verde Independent, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) auditors have discovered questionable costs at the Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education located in Cottonwood totaling $638,716 for fiscal years 2011-2016. According to the story, “ADE Public Information Officer Stefan Swiat . . . is not certain whether the Valley Academy will be asked to repay the $426,451” the State has already paid back to the Federal Government.

Former Valley Academy Business Manager Celeste Ziemkowski was indicted on 19 felony counts of theft and misuse of public monies in September 2018.  A  report released by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office alleged that she “embezzled $30,597 and falsified information in Valley Academy’s records and accounting software.”

The ADE audit findings are based on fiscal years 2011-2016, when Marv Lamer, and his then wife, Lois, served as Valley Academy superintendent. Marv Lamer resigned in 2011 to take a job with the Arizona Department of Education. Lois Lamer retired in March 2016 due to undisclosed health issues.

VACTE is now run by Superintendent Bob Weir, who has cooperated with the State Auditor General in the investigation.  Mr. Weir was hired when Lois Lamer left as superintendent.

Source:  Article by Bill Helm, Verde Independent, November 14, 2019.

Following an investigation performed by the Office of the Auditor General, it is alleged that Celestia Ziemkowski was involved in a number of fraudulent schemes and practices while employed at VACTE

The Sedona Red Rock News, in a story authored by Christoper Fox Graham October 1, reported that the Arizona Attorney General had indicted the former Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education business manager on a number of criminal charges.  It is alleged that she made $10,746 in fraudulent charges on the VACTE charge card and presented forged statements to conceal the charges.

It is also alleged that she used five unauthorized checks totaling $19,851 for personal purposes between July and December 2015. The indictment also alleges that she presented the VACTE Board with fraudulent vouchers to secure the approval of the checks and modified the accounting software to conceal the true payees.

Ziemkowski resigned in May 2016 after a VACTE employee questioned her about certain credit card purchases.

VACTE works closely with Yavapai Community College in its Career and Technical Education programs. The College was not involved.

For the full story, you may click here. 

Source:  Christopher Fox Graham, Sedona Red Rock News.

No one knows impact Mingus Union High School consolidation may have on CTE at Valley Academy; College may be forced to halt major centralized CTE development until questions about V’ACTE’s future are answered 

“When the county attorney tells me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,’ that worries me.”

The same training opportunities offered by the College in Career and Technical Education to 120,000 residents of Yavapai County on the west side of the County is badly needed by the 73,000 residents on the east side.  The west side already has a ten-year jump on CTE development and is operating one of the most advanced training facilities in Arizona, if not the nation, at the Career and Technical Education Campus at the Prescott airport. The College has dragged its feet on east side CTE development for years and a consolidation issue raised this month involving Mingus Union high school may unexpectedly sound the death knell for major future centralized College driven CTE development on the east side of the County.

Consolidation would apparently result in a new school district and it is not clear that it would encompass VACTE  because of complex election issues.

In an article published July 12 in the Verde Independent and written by Bill Helm, County superintendent of Education Tim Carter said that “ Nobody anticipated that a JTED could be affected by the termination of a district.”  He added that he had  ““no idea” how the community’s voter-approved Joint Technical Education District would look should Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union end up merging into one district.

Carter, who is supposed to be the expert in these matters, also is quoted by Kelm saying  that “I’m not giving anybody answers. I have no answers. We’re on unchartered ground. But everyone would be impacted to some degree.” Finally, he told Mr. Helm that “We’re looking for a collective solution statewide.  When the county attorney tells me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,’ that worries me.”

What a mess!

You may read Mr. Helm’s interview with Carter by clicking here.    

However, Sedona and Verde Valley taxpayers continue to pay for centralized CTE campus on west side of County will little or no access and for the lease on this new centralized facility (a kind of unfair double taxation for a CTE building)

The good news in Sedona and the Verde Valley is the grand opening of Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education Campus on January 23.  The grand opening will be held from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the new facility that is located at 3405 East State Route 89A in Cottonwood.

The facility is possible because earlier in the year V’ACTE entered a three-year lease for the 7700-square-foot facility that was the former home to Flip City Gymnastics.  V’ACTE, led by Bob Weir with the help of students and others, has been busily remodeling the facility.

This marks the second time there has been a centralized CTE facility in the Sedona/Verde Valley area.  In 2004 Yavapai Community College opened the Northern Arizona Regional Skills program on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale with great fanfare.  This CTE program, which was financed in part by a large grant from the federal government, was closed when Yavapai College decided to build a Career and Technology Education Center (CTEC) at the Prescott airport. 

Since the CTE program was shuttered on the Verde Campus, CTE training on this side of the Mountain has done the best it could with limited funds and without a centralized facility.  Meanwhile, the College invested about $19 to 20 million into the Prescott facility with a substantial amount of revenue coming from Sedona/Verde Valley taxpayers.  Unfortunately, CTEC in Prescott cannot be accessed by east County high school students; only west County students.  Furthermore, because of the distance that must be traveled and the absence of inter-campus or public bus transportation, it is challenging for others living on the east side of the County to arrange schedules so they can attend classes at CTEC.

The Chair of the Community College Governing Board has suggested that he is ready to urge approval of millions of dollars for a new Community College CTEC on the east side of the County.  However, he also suggests he is waiting for plans to be submitted by the east side for such a facility before any action can take place.

While those plans are hopefully being drawn, CTE on the east side of the County will begin program development at the new leased centralized facility in Cottonwood.

The Verde Independent has reported that VACTE will also continue to offer satellite courses at Mingus Union High School, Camp Verde High School, and Sedona-Red Rock High School.  At Mingus it is intending to offer engineering, agriculture science, automotive technology, welding, film and TV, architectural design/drafting, business office management, sports medicine and theater tech. At Camp Verde High School, it intends to offer graphic and web design, agri-business, auto tech, culinary arts, cabinet making, audio-music recording and sports medicine. At Sedona-Red Rock High School it is hoping to offer digital communication, digital photography, film and TV and theater tech. Sedona also will add a sports medicine program next year

VACTE Superintendent Bob Weir told the Verde Independent in June that there is a possibility that V’ACTE will offer theater tech and business office management next year.  For more information about VACTE and the June 29 story written by Dan Engler in the Verde Independent, please click here.

A possible first step in developing a relationship with College

VACTE Superintendent Bob Weir has set up a Media arts program at Yavapai College for VACTE high school students in the Verde Valley. (VACTE promotes Career and Technical Education training in its district that covers the entire Verde Valley including Sedona.  It is supported by County property taxes.)  

The film program is taught by Yavapai faculty and is held at the Verde Campus.  Students will be bused to the College for the program (at least from Camp Verde so far).  The College charges VACTE full tuition for each student. 

THE DIFFERENCE:  Unlike many programs on the West side of the County, adults in the Verde Valley may not take the media arts training simultaneously with the high school students.  Technically and importantly, only if Yavapai Community College offered the program could high school students and adults be trained simultaneously.  At CTEC on the West side of the County, many programs are offered by Yavapai Community College and they may then be taken by adults and high school students simultaneously.

Some see the new VACTE superintendent Bob Wier’s decision to develop this program as a good first baby-step in creating a relationship with the College.  Let’s give him all the support we can. Let’s also hope that the non-cooperative attitude toward VACTE exhibited by College President Penelope Wills before the Clarkdale Town Council in April, 2016, can be changed.

For the perspective of the editorial staff of the Verde Independent on this film project, please click here.

VACTE to pay college tution for students in program

The just hired Valley Academy Career and Technical Educational (VACTE) superintendent, Bob Weir, has launched a new Career and Technical Education program for high school students to be taught on the Verde Campus. It is described as a “Film and Media Arts program.”  Students will be bused from Camp Verde High School to the Verde Campus to attend the program.

According to Weir, “Students who start the program in their junior year have the chance to graduate high school with their FMA Production certificate become AVID-certified and be well on their way to obtaining their animation certificates in the program,”

The College benefits from this type of program because VACTE pays full College tuition for each student in the program. The College can also count the students as enrolled, which will help stop the enrollment slide it is experiencing.

It is unclear whether adults wanting to enroll in the program will be allowed to do so.  The newspaper announcement of the program in the Verde Independent indicated it was only open to high school students.  Programs similar to this on the West side of the County mingle adults and high school juniors and senior.  The mingling is cost-effective and makes the program sustainable.  However, the program must be offered by the College before “mingling” can occur and it may be that the College is not willing to offer the program.

You may read the article in the Verde Independent written by Bill Helm by clicking here.