Yavapai College alone among colleges at program dominated by credit unions, hospitals, and nonprofits; Blog argues attending was a waste of taxpayer money
Community College president Penelope Wills and Governing Board members Pat McCarver, Ray Sigafoos, and Steve Irwin are avid supporters of the Carver™ model of operating the District Governing Board under what is called “policy governance.” It is a process that both former members of the Governing Board from Yavapai County’s Third District considered a process that stifled open communication and shielded the administration from total accountability to Yavapai taxpayers. Despite their protests, Wills’ and the West County representatives have shipped in Carver™ consultants to address the model at a number of Board retreats.
This year all five Governing Board members plus Wills and Karen Jones were sent to the June 22-24 policy governance convention in San Diego. The Blog has learned there were 160 attendees at the Conference but only one college—that was Yavapai. There were an additional 12 persons from six K-12 and private schools. The attendance was dominated by credit unions, nonprofits, city and state governments and hospitals.
One of the attendees at the Conference told the Blog that some meetings were “cult like.”
It is not clear how much it cost taxpayers to send the seven to the Conference. The individual fees alone as announced by the Conference ranged from $600 to over $700. It was reported to the Blog that Dr. Wills stayed around about 24 hours. It was also reported that Representative Irwin appeared sometimes missing as a participant at some Conference sessions. Hopefully, a detailed report from the President and each Board member regarding their attendance at the Conference will be made at the August Governing Board meeting.
All in all, from the Blog’s perspective, if the information it received is correct, sending the College seven-person delegation to a conference where some meetings were described as “cult-like” and no other colleges were in attendance was a waste of taxpayer money.
