Prior to the regular monthly Navajo County Community College Governing Board meeting on Dec. 19, the board met to perform a self-review. All members were surveyed and scored different areas of their performance as a board. They then discussed areas of concern.
One area of concern was the board’s knowledge of policy and policy direction as related to community needs. Board member James Matteson said, ”We meet for a couple hours once a month and that is not a lot of time. I think we need to have a board that has more involvement with the community and more time spent in work, by the board, to understand what the communities want and need and try to be more responsive to what they are asking us to do.”
Chairman Frank Lucero added, “What I have seen is that we do not get the agenda soon enough to go out and talk to people.” Board member George Joe expressed a need for town hall type sessions and feedback from the community as a proposed solution. Northland Pioneer College President Dr. Jeanne Swarthout indicated they would look at finding ways to get the agenda out sooner but that last minute items may still require agenda revisions.
The board felt they were overall knowledgeable of educational programs and services but need to know more. Board member Derrick Leslie had concerns he was not as knowledgeable as other board members because he is still in his first year.
Swarthout shared that they are working on standing agenda items to keep the board more informed. Those may include briefings on program reviews and assessments of student learning.
The board also shared concerns that they were not as up to date on state or national educational laws and policies as they should be. This is an area difficult to keep up on in the constantly changing political environment. Joe complimented the president and staff saying, “This is where I think you guys do a really good job. Every time some of these issues come up you give us the state and national implications and trends.”
The board felt some of their strengths included their relationship with the president, having a diverse board, and being supportive of Native American issues and needs. The board expressed a great deal of pride in the NPC nursing program. Moving ahead the board hopes to address growth or lack of growth in programs, IT issues that the college struggles with and continuing to monitor the finances. The search for a new president is also on the forefront for the board in the near future.
