Election Gives JUCO Football “Seat at the Table”
The 2018 midterm election helped determine more than who would represent the state of Arizona in the Senate or be the next governor. Four seats on the seven-member Maricopa County Community College District Board were decided by voters Nov. 6 as well.
Roc Arnett and Kathleen Ann Winn were the candidates running for the at-large seat; Sherman Elliott, Marie Sullivan and Debi Vandenboom were all running for the seat in district 3, which covers the Phoenix and Pleasant Valley area; Stan Arterberry was challenging incumbent board member Jean McGrath for district 4; And Tom Nerini ran unopposed in district 5.
Four of the candidates — Nerini, Arterberry, Sullivan and Arnett — all expressed support in trying to re-open the discussion surrounding junior college football being cut while they were running. Nerini and Sullivan were elected to the board.
At Large
District 3
District 4
District 5
election results via Maricopa County Recorder’s Office
Phoenix College head coach Mark Mejia said the coaches of the schools and people involved in the #SaveJUCOfootball movement are hoping the two new board members who have said they support football will re-open the conversation on football being cut.
Sullivan, in particular, brings to the table years of experience as a CEO of a large nonprofit and eight previous years being a member of a school board.
Sullivan said one of the main reasons she wanted to run for the MCCCD board was to bring transparency back the the board’s decision-making.
About the football decision and other community college district moves, she said: “It’s important to engage public stakeholders in the decision-making when it impacts them not only as participants, but as taxpayers. I felt that the current board was not doing either of those things.”
There should have been more conversations about the football program, which had such impact over so many students, families and the budget, Sullivan said.
Sullivan said she would like to know what documents and budget data went into the decision-making process to cut football first. “I want more information,” Sullivan said. “I’d like data and I want to see as much of it as I can. I think analysis of data is critically important in good decision-making.”
Mejia said the coaches “want a seat at the table” on the football discussions, “to show what the truth is.”
Hasson explained that the decision to cut football was an administrative decision — as the board can only make decisions based on policy. So the community college chancellor will have the final say about the fate of JUCO football.