Interested residents can gather in room M-137 on the Clarkdale Campus to address planning team; no open forum scheduled for Sedona Center
Yavapai Community College has announced that the Strategic Master Plan team it has hired will spend one hour on Monday, December 6 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to hear the “thoughts” and “concerns” of local residents about the future of the community college on this side of the Mountain. The meeting will be held on the Verde Campus in room M-137. The Verde Campus is located at 601 W Black Hills Drive, Clarkdale, Arizona 8632. It has also planned other avenues of possible input (see announcement below).
Recall that about ten years ago the College executives based in Prescott hired a planning team to create a Community College Master Plan. That resulted in a $103.5 development plan coming from the planners being adopted by the College Governing Board with more than 95% of development aimed at the Prescott (west side) of the County along with the possible closing of the Sedona Center. Verde Valley residents also spoke to that planning group years ago but apparently made no dent in their decision to allocate virtually all major development to the West side of the County and to shutter programs and support staff on the east side of the County.
Sedona/Verde Valley residents have been politically fighting that $103.5 development plan ever since with occasional but grudging success. It is hoped that with a new administration there will be a serious effort to begin diverting millions on the east side to seriously develop educational opportunities. The history of the College is that for 50 years development and funding has been poured into the west side where the result is a heavily financed small college or university-like institution.
