Perey says Ron Corbin to find 8-10 industry leaders to assist with process

Ron Corbin

Cottonwood City Manager Ron Corbin has been asked by Yavapai Community College to coordinate an effort to convene a group of 8-10 industry leaders who can assist with giving input to potential Career and Technical Education (CTE) areas and programs.  Once the group is selected, the College will meet with them during the fall 2019 semester. 

Perey is quoted in the Verde Independent of August 1, 2019 as stating that he expects “by the end of the fall semester, we will have a solid plan and more specifics to the Skilled Trades Center.”

Source:  Verde Independent, August 1, 2019, p. 7.

Not yet ready to forecast the number of students who will be needed to fill the seats once the facility is constructed 

Dr. Perey addressing the Sedona City Council.

When they addressed the Sedona City Council on July 23, Verde Valley Campus Executive Dean Dr. James Perey and Yavapai Community College President Dr. Lisa Rhine emphasized that the new Career and Technical Education Center must be flexible. President Rhine said that “we want to make sure that we build the space so it is flexible so that if we need to change course; if we saturate a market, we can change course and offer different programming in career and technology so we can support whatever is emerging at that time. We are trying to be smarter and create and develop the facility so that we can be responsive to student needs.”

Perey emphasized that the College must make sure it meets current needs in building the new facility but is always looking into the future.  “What will the workforce potentially look like in ten years,” he asked.  The facility needs to be one that we can “ramp up and down fast depending on what that exact need is.”

Neither Dr. Rhine nor Executive Dean Perey were ready to estimate the number of students that would be needed for the new facility once it is completed and in operation.

Subset of Committee visits existing facilities in Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley on July 24, 2019

Yavapai Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine has created a Verde Valley Planning Committee to help with the first phase of developing a Career and Technical Education facility on the east side of Yavapai County on the Verde Valley Campus.   A subset of the total Committee members visited various College facilities on the west side of the County Wednesday, July 24, 2019.

Among those Committee members touring west side facilities on Wednesday were:  Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Council Chairwoman Jane Russell-Winiecki, Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski, and Camp Verde Town Manager Russ Martin. The purpose of the tour was to give the Committee members a  sense of how the Community College delivers its programs on the west side of the County and  help better inform Committee discussions about an east side CTE facility.  The Community College has not yet furnished the public with a complete list of the membership of the Committee.

Here is what Dr. Rhine told the Sedona Council about the Planning Committee:

Dr. Lisa Rhine

“At a board meeting in the early spring I heard a message loud and clear from this side of the mountain. That was a need for a skills trade center in this region.

“I followed up that meeting with a convening of the elected officials on the east side of Yavapai County to announce that we would begin the planning phase of a skills training center on the Verde Valley campus. The participants at that meeting agreed to come together and identify community people that the college could begin to work with to plan that facility. The planning committee that we will convene will work with us to design the academic programming  that will take place in that facility and will guide our design process.

“Tomorrow, Yavapai College is hosting a subset of those participants, elected officials from the East side and they asked to tour West side facilities. Our Chino Valley facility, our Prescott Valley facility, and the Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport. So that they have a sense of how we deliver our programs on the west side and that will help to inform the discussions when we discuss what we will do here on the east side.”

[Blog transcription.  The transcription may be checked for accuracy by viewing Dr. Rhine’s statement to the Sedona City County by clicking here.]

Tells Sedona City Council Building “L” renovation should be completed by 2020 and new CTE facility built by 2021; seeks strong open, honest ongoing relationship with Council

Yavapai Community College President Dr. Lisa Rhine appeared before the Sedona City Council Tuesday, July 23 to update the members on expectations about Building “L” and a future Career and Technical Education Center on the Verde Valley Campus.  She was accompanied by Verde Valley Campus Executive Dean Dr. James Perey and  Richard Hernandez, who is the Director of the Regional Economic Development Center (REDC).

Dr. Rhine said the renovation of Building “L” should be completed by the fall of 2020. She also said that the new Career and Technical Education Facility should be open by the fall of 2021.

She told the Council that her “intentions are pure and I have the best interests of our community at heart. I’d like to build the strongest working relationship possible with you. … I hope that we can continue to have an open and honest conversation and communication with one another in the future.”

The Council was very supportive.

You can view Dr. Rhine’s presentation by clicking here.  (Approximately 13 minutes in length.) You can view the entire city Council meeting including Dr. Rhine’s presentation by clicking here.   

Program accepts 16 middle school students entering grades 7 to 9

The Community College Summer Robotic Camp is set to run from June 24 through the 27th at the Career and Technical Education Center campus at the Prescott airport.  The program is free and runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The camp admits 16 students to attend the camp from the applications it received earlier this year .

Working in teams, students will build ROVs. Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are underwater robots that are piloted from the surface. Each team will design and build a ROV to complete an assigned underwater mission. All campers will also have the opportunity to operate one of the college’s six FANUC LR-Mate industrial robots.

Dr. Rhine told group that the College is ready to “begin the process” of providing CTE in the east region

Dr. Lisa Rhine

Dr. Lisa Rhine and her staff met with elected Verde Valley officials in Sedona Tuesday, June 4 where they discussed construction of a new skilled trades center in the east region of the County.  Dr. Lisa Rhine is quoted as saying:

“I’ve heard your requests for the need of skilled trades programming in the Verde Valley. Yavapai College is here and we are ready to begin the process in satisfying this need to provide the educational opportunities and infuse the workforce on the east side of Yavapai County.”

The College news release about the meeting from Community College Senior Public Information Officer Tim Diesch, said that  “preliminary discussions were led by Yavapai College President Dr. Lisa Rhine and her executive leadership team.” Elected officials from Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Sedona, and Yavapai Apache Nation were in attendance.

The Community College is calling the possible new facility the “Skilled Trades Center at Yavapai College.”  According to the news release, it would provide a number of career and technical education programs in the Verde Valley in a building that has a similar look, feel, and flexibility to the College’s CTE Center near the Prescott Airport, the college news release stated.

The plan is for the CTE center to be built on the Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus as a completely new structure, according to the news release.

“Programming will be developed based off of input from a core group of elected officials, industry employers, and education leaders from the east side of Yavapai County.”

The initial timeline for the center will start in August with program planning. Construction is planned to begin in the summer of 2020 with the goal to have the center open for classes for the fall 2021 semester pending District Governing Board approval.

Sources: Yavapai Community College Public Information Officer Tim Diesch; Verde Independent, Friday June 7, 2019.

Has no information about funding or direction for additional CTE building

In an interview with Bill Helm in the June 2, 2019 Verde Independent, Verde Campus Executive Dean James Perey said that the final budget for renovating Building “L” is $4.9 million dollars.  He also said that much of the Builiding is devoted to the health  care industry.

On the second CTE building centered on trades such as construction, plumbing, HVAC, Perey said that he did not “have specifics” on the cost, size, and projects for the facility.

The full interview is found on page 14, June 2 Verde Independent.

In addition to Building “L” renovation,  a more traditional  Career and Technical Education facility now being planned to train students in construction, and other trades

Dr. Clint Ewell, Vice President Finance & Administrative Services at Yavapai Community College, surprised the College Governing Board with an announcement at the May meeting that a Career and Technical Education (CTE) facility, in addition to Building “L” was now being planned for the Verde Valley Campus.  He noted that the feedback from the Verde Valley during the last few months has been a major factor in the decision.

Ewell said that Building “L” will be dedicated wholly to CTE.  It is, however, programed so that  85% of the facility will be used for Allied Health programs.

The additional CTE facility will house programs like construction, carpentry, pipe fitting, welding and things of that nature. The programming will begin in June of this year.

Ewell said the plan is for the building to be on the Verde Campus.  He said that the Campus is centrally located, locating there will help develop needed synergy on the Campus, the Campus has major resources such as a large power plant that is ready to support a new building.

A video clip of his presentation to the Governing Board follows below.   

Most important that CTE create “destination programs” as much as possible; Don’t repeat earlier mistakes

Former Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee member Bill Regner, a member of the Clarkdale Town Council speaking as an individual, cautioned the Governing Board and President Lisa Rhine at the April meeting against repeating earlier mistakes made in the East Region when Career and Technical Education (CTE) training was first attempted (2004-06). He said that he learned when on the Committee from College staff “that the challenge to the Verde Valley was sustaining programs over the long-term.  Programs would be started, go for a couple years, and begin to run out of local students, [and when the College] couldn’t fill the classes,  the programs began to be terminated.”

Regner said that it is important that with every new CTE program an attempt be made to make it a destination program.  In this way the program fills the classroom seats and becomes sustainable.

Regner said that the 70,000 residents in the East Region need CTE opportunities but may not have enough students to satisfy the minimum classroom enrollment requirements of the Community College.  The “answer” to sustainability, he said, is creation of destination programs. He noted that viticulture and enology programs are doing exactly that.  He said that time will tell when the culinary and hospitality programs will likewise attract students from outside the local area to supplement the number of local students in the classes.

You may view Mr. Regner’s speech to the Governing Board below.  

Says program offers “special opportunity” for residents in Verde Valley if College can collaborate with the town of Camp Verde and Camp Verde High School in the project

Joe Butner

Camp Verde Councilmember Joe Butner spoke to the Yavapai Community College Governing Board at its April meeting about the potential of developing an equine program in the East region. Specifically, he asked that the College consider collaborating with the town of Camp Verde and the Camp Verde high school in creating such a program at the new rodeo grounds.

Butner said ground had been broken for the new rodeo grounds just a week or so earlier. He anticipated having the first rodeo there in the next six months. The new rodeo grounds are located on the east side of Camp Verde adjacent Highway 260 on the way to Payson, Arizona.

Butner also said that creation of an equine program provided a “special opportunity” for the people of the Verde Valley to “acquire education and skills in equine and agricultural areas” through this collaboration.

The Community College currently offers an Equine Care and Management certificate at the Chino Valley Center.  It describes the program as preparing “students for entrepreneurship, employment, or advancement in a variety of equine fields including business/barn management, training, husbandry, grooming, sales, marketing and nutrition.”

You may view Councilman Butner’s speech to the Governing Board below.