Northland Pioneer College Vice President of Learning and Student Services Mark Vest updated members of the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board Aug. 15 on how the college is addressing some of the barriers that may be preventing people from attending NPC.
Last year the college received input that transportation and childcare were key concerns. Vest told the board that study groups had been organized to address the lack of childcare and the difficulties of available transportation for students, and that college officials are taking steps to address those concerns.
He explained that the college will be implementing a pilot transportation program in the spring to address one aspect of transportation. “We have offered a housing scholarship for a number of years to assist students who need to relocate to, for example, Holbrook if they want to be in the welding or mechatronics program,” said Vest. He explained that the scholarship is need based and that a transportation scholarship would have the same criteria.
Students would be able to apply for the scholarship in order to attend required courses such as labs that are generally only offered at one campus each semester, either in Show Low, Holbrook or Winslow. “We will try it this spring and if it looks like it’s working, we will apply more scholarship funds toward it,” he said.
Vest noted that there are two groups of students with transportation needs. The first group may have access to a carpool or vehicle, but no funds to pay their share of the carpool or gas, which he said has the easy solution. The second group Vest termed “a little thornier.” Members of this group do not have access to a vehicle. The college is looking at a process to provide a vehicle for students in need, but only after they meet certain qualifications. “We would make certain they had a clean driving record. It would also involve a short prep course on how to change a tire and maybe a ride along to make sure the student is a good driver,” said Vest. He noted that they would rely on the center managers and advisors to identify groups of students who don’t have their own transportation and live in a remote location, and assign a fleet vehicle to that location for the semester to allow those students to go back and forth.
“I’ve already gotten the question of if we would install a GPS, and we can certainly do that. We just need to identify the process that we think will work, and then pilot it with a specific group of classes and a specific set of locations with a couple of vehicles, but that may not be in place this spring,” said Vest.
In other business, the board approved an attendance policy for board members to reflect state law regarding the matter. The policy states that if a member has three or more consecutive absences, or has missed 50 percent or more of the meetings, the board has the obligation to declare the seat vacant. The superintendent of schools would then be notified to fill that vacancy.
The board also had a telephonic discussion with Jessie Thompson and John Hutchinson of R.H. Perry & Associates, the organization hired by the college to assist with the hiring of a new president, as Dr. Jeanne Swarthout will be retiring in July 2018.
Board members used the visit as an opportunity to state those things that they felt would be important in hiring a president. Issues presented by the board included the potential closure of the Cholla Power Plant and its impact to tax revenues, as well as unstable state funding. Other considerations would be expansion of the college overall, including course offerings, and an understanding of the diverse cultures served by the college and the physical distances between the campuses.
Prior to presenting these matters, a public meeting was held, but no one from the public was in attendance.
Representatives from R.H. Perry & Associates will be here this week to tour the Painted Desert and White Mountain campuses, and to visit with faculty and staff at those locations regarding what they would like to see in a president of the college.
