On Friday, July 28 the Gila County Provisional Community College District (also known as Gila Community College) announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with Eastern Arizona College regarding the termination of the parties’ educational services contract. This development followed a frequently heated town hall meeting that GCC held last Tuesday in Miami High School’s auditorium, to clarify for the community the reasons for their original decision to end that contract as of June 30, 2024.

The announced agreement in principle adds another year to GCC’s originally stated date, extending the contract to June 30, 2025. EAC had previously moved the termination date up to Sept. 10, 2023 – which is now only weeks away – and said they would not enroll new students in Gila County. During the town hall, GCC Interim President Dr. Janice Lawhorn said this change “seemed to be unreasonable and spiteful.”

Things have now turned. In announcing the agreement, GCC quoted a letter from EAC President Todd Haynie: “EAC will offer courses and programs in Gila County at the Gila campuses for a final two-year period through Spring 2025.”

The upshot, after weeks of community angst, is that students can start two-year courses at the Gila Pueblo and Payson campuses this fall – including cosmetology, nursing, CTED programs and dual enrollment programs (EAC had previously agreed to continue with CTED and dual enrollment programs for one year, through 2023-2024). EAC will also admit students for one-year programs until fall 2024; in spring 2025, only semester-length credentials and classes that allow students to complete their degree or certificate will be available. One-semester courses, including personal interest courses, will still be offered through spring 2025.

A GCC press release stated that the agreement followed a Tuesday, July 25 meeting between both sides and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), whom GCC had asked to step in. According to that night’s town hall presentation, Petersen “made it abundantly clear that if these issues are not solved by the colleges soon,” he would “seek a political solution at the Legislature.”

Petersen did not reply to a Silver Belt email seeking comment.

“We are elated that EAC has agreed to do what’s right for the students of Gila County,” GCC Governing Board President Dr. Jan Brocker said in the press release. “This takes the pressure off our students and staff, which has been our top priority since Day One.”

At press time, EAC had not released any statements on the agreement in principle.

Before the agreement was reached, the dispute’s effects were felt by the Cobre Valley Institute of Technology (CVIT), leaving them unable to start two-year programs like medical assistant and dental assistant this school year. CVIT Superintendent Mike O’Neal told the Silver Belt that students interested in the medical assistant program were given the opportunity to enroll in the one-year nursing assistant program instead, doubling the latter program’s enrollment. Now, with an accord between the colleges, O’Neal said some of those students could opt to return to the medical assistant program.

“I’m extremely happy that the two colleges came to terms, and that we will be able to continue to offer the programs we have worked so hard to create for the students of the Copper Corridor,” said O’Neal. He added that, since CVIT does not start until August 21, they still have time to connect with students interested in two-year programs.

Before this apparent calm came the storm of Tuesday’s town hall, where Brocker and Lawhorn presented the District’s case for ending the contract and finding a new educational services provider. The auditorium was packed with community members and students ready to air their concerns and grievances with GCC’s decision; a number of speakers were applauded by fellow attendees. Items brought up included the public having no prior chance to comment, concern over college employees’ futures after the termination date, and how long GCC has been pursuing accreditation (the District was incorporated 20 years ago).

The District’s main goal, specified in its incorporation, is to become an independent, accredited community college district – and, Lawhorn said, EAC “demonstrated a lack of support” for this.

One issue was that EAC has been providing not only educational services, but also fiscal, personnel and IT services, and, the District argued, had either not replaced retiring employees or not replaced them to GCC’s satisfaction. This was a situation GCC leadership wishes to avoid in the future as they pursue independence. “We’re looking at creating our own systems, moving employees over and only using our partner for educational services,” Brocker said. As far as employees’ status after the original termination date, Lawhorn assured the audience that a partner would be in place by then and GCC did not anticipate losing any employees.

Another was the matter of FTSE (Full Time Student Equivalents). The presenters said local campuses lost an estimated 40-50 of these in 2023, as EAC reported all online FTSE, including local residents, as EAC, not GCC, students. The issue was raised in the GCC Governing Board’s February and March meetings, with Brocker concerned about its effect on expenditure limitations and State appropriations.

Haynie and Special Assistant to the President Keith Alexander were present for the start of the meeting, but were not asked to speak – “This is our meeting,” Brocker said, referring to the local community – though two audience members suggested the EAC representatives should have the chance.

There were also questions over the District’s vision; one audience member said that GCC, in ending the contract, “made a decision that affects entire communities, without a plan.”

“We have a plan,” Brocker countered. “We just can’t put it on a PowerPoint slide. We have to be very cautious with what we disclose.” Another audience member then suggested that submitting a formal plan, even a redacted one, would “soothe the community’s nerves.”

“We gained some insightful information – what they could share with the public,” said O’Neal in a next-day interview with the Silver Belt.

There was more than one inquiry over what would happen to the nursing program. Gila Pueblo Associate Professor of Nursing Megan Martinez, saying she felt caught in the middle, observed that EAC has the state’s top program. “How will you get that from any other college?” Brocker replied that it was faculty and students who made a program.

In one of the less heated moments, when his turn came to speak Globe Unified School District Superintendent Jerry Jennex encapsulated the situation pre-agreement. “Everybody in the room looks bad. We’re in a bad spot. Both sides need to find an immediate solution; we don’t need winners and losers. The losers are our kids.”

“Students feel absolutely let down by this process. What we need is a timeline,” said one attendee, to which Lawhorn replied this depended on approval by a new partner’s governing board.

One thing GCC did not do Tuesday evening was announce such a partner, though Brocker did say it would be another community college district, not a university – reiterating that any action would have to be approved by that district’s governing board, not an easy thing to achieve in summer.