Wills to remain with College only until December 2018 

The Blog has confirmed with Governing Board representative Deb McCasland that Penelope Wills has informed the Yavapai Community College Governing Board members that she is stepping down as president of Yavapai Community College effective December 2018.  The Governing Board was informed via email yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) of Wills decision.  A formal announcement is expected.

The exact reasons for Will departure are unknown.  It is known that only a few hours before the announcement that Wills was in a discussion with a Governing Board member about rumors of drug use among Community College athletes and the claimed existence of a videotape allegedly showing drug use.  This may be a coincidence or it may have played some role in her decision. At this time, the Blog can only speculate.

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Statement by Connie Harris at March Board meeting saying forum meeting participants were speaking in a “safe” and “anonymous” environment not explained; that statement plus Board calendars making no mention of the two meetings support McCasland (where is the truth?)

Yavapai Community College Board chair, Ray Sigafoos, told the Board members at the April meeting that information from “another venue” that the two community forums scheduled for April 12 and 13 (canceled) were private affairs was not correct.  He had no doubt read about this issue on the Blog.

Representative Deb McCasland explained to Sigafoos that she was told by President Penelope Wills that the two meetings were not open to the public.  Wills said McCasland was wrong.  According to Wills, her office had said that the public could observe but not participate.  McCasland challenged that statement saying she was specifically told that there was no room for the public at the meetings. (see video below)

A significant piece of evidence indicating that McCasland was telling the truth is the statement made by representative Connie Harris  a month earlier during the March 2018 Board meeting (see video below).  During that brief discussion, Harris indicated relief that the forum participants would be speaking in a “safe” and “anonymous” setting.  Such a statement can only be understood if the two forums were in fact private.

In addition, a check of the Governing board calendars for March 2018 do not indicate that the Board was attending any of the two meetings.  (Those calendars are set forth below.)

Recall that the invitation only forums were limited to various mayors and others handpicked by the College.  The purpose of the meetings was to discuss the future of the Community College in Yavapai County.  The Chair of the Governing Board indicated it was necessary to cancel the meetings because of anticipated sparse attendance.