GOVERNING BOARD SETS NO GOALS FOR WILLS IN NEW CONTRACT

Board out-of-step with most College’s and Universities

The District Governing Board extended Community College president Penelope Wills contract by one-year at the May 9, 2017 Board meeting and gave her a $5,000 wage increase.  However, the Board set no goals for her to achieve during the coming year.

This is in sharp contrast to contracts given to most college and university presidents.  For example, at Northern Arizona University the Arizona Board of Regents set out eight multi-year performance incentives (goals) for President Rita Cheng  to accomplish by 2017  in her 2014 contract. They included retaining at least 75 percent of NAU’s freshmen class in 2016-17, spending at least $39.2 million on research, awarding at least 4,625 bachelor’s degrees and having at least 3,200 community college transfer students enroll at NAU. Dr. Chenge was eligible for a  $10,000 bonus  if more than 43.2 percent of graduating seniors rate their entire educational experience at NAU as “excellent” on their senior surveys.  The statewide ABOR and university audit structure will measure Cheng’s progress on all those goals on June 30, 2017.

Penelope Wills is pretty much free to do as she pleases.  The absence of goal setting is the result of the archaic use of what is called the Carver Governance process promoted by the majority West County voting bloc.  Because it sets no specific goals for the College president, it easily makes that person minimally accountable to the citizens who pay the estimated $278,000 annual salary.