After a decade main Pima Group School — and a number of other unsuccessful efforts to depart for different colleges — Chancellor Lee Lambert is resigning to take up the reins of a neighborhood faculty in Silicon Valley.
Lambert, who was tapped to be PCC’s high administrator in Might 2013 after his predecessor left in shame and a search course of was bungled, will grow to be the chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Group School District, which serves Palo Alto, Cupertino, Mountain View and different communities within the south Bay Space.
Lambert, who has been paid greater than $438,000 in wage and advantages (corresponding to $60,000 in deferred pay) by Pima School, will go away for his new job — with a base wage of $448,000, plus a advantages package deal that hasn’t but been publicly detailed — originally of August. Lambert’s contract with PCC had assured him a place by means of 2026; his preliminary contract with the brand new faculty will run by means of June 2024.
PCC Board Chair Theresa Riel congratulated Lambert, saying the board “acknowledges there are a restricted variety of faculty directors who’ve the expertise that Lee Lambert has. During the last 10 years, working carefully with PCC workers, he has used his imaginative and prescient to help within the creation of PCC’s Facilities of Excellence.”
PCC’s Governing Board will meet “through the subsequent few weeks” to plan the right way to deal with the seek for a alternative, she stated in a information launch.
Lambert has utilized to be the chancellor of different West Coast colleges in recent times, together with being thought-about by San Diego Group School and Evergreen State School (his alma mater).
Because the final election for the Governing Board, the steadiness of energy shifted away from those that have backed Lambert in his function. Boardmember Demion Clinco decisively misplaced his bid for re-election in November, after which Boardmember Catherine Ripley resigned from the five-member physique simply days later.
“It has been an unbelievable honor working with the PCC neighborhood, in addition to town of Tucson, Pima County and enterprise leaders to remodel the faculty into an award-winning cutting-edge academic establishment that’s nicely positioned to tackle the problem of constructing a extremely expert twenty first century workforce,” Lambert stated in Tuesday’s launch.
“I go away PCC with fond recollections and deep friendships with those that share our collective goal of remodeling the lives of our learners and bettering the financial well being of our communities,” he wrote.
Officers on the California faculty known as him a “visionary” and “transformative chief with a formidable file of accomplishments.”
“We’re assured that he’s the precise particular person to construct on Foothill-De Anza’s legacy of academic excellence and excited to have him lead our distinctive staff into a brand new period of fairness and innovation,” stated Board of Trustees President Patrick Ahrens in a information launch.
The present head of the Silicon Valley college is retiring after 35 years with that district, representatives stated.
Earlier than coming to Pima, Lambert was president of Shoreline Group School in Washington.
Lambert took on a university in administrative turmoil. Not solely
had the college lacked a everlasting chief for over a 12 months earlier than he was employed, PCC was positioned
on probation by accreditors only a month earlier than he was employed by the Governing Board.
A
earlier seek for a everlasting chief was scrapped when the one
finalist withdrew her title after she was linked to an overbilling
scandal. Dr. Maria C. Sheehan, president of Truckee Meadows Group
School in Reno, dropped out in February 2013 after PCC officers discovered of fudged enrollment and $5.2 million in overbilling throughout her tenure at School of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif.
The college was positioned on probation
by a nationwide accrediting physique, the Greater Studying Fee. The HLC stated it “took this motion due to issues associated to
integrity,
monetary administration, personnel insurance policies and procedures, shared
governance, Board oversight of the establishment, and systemic and
built-in planning.”
Citing shortfalls in administrative oversight of funds, unreviewed
insurance policies and pointing to uninvestigated allegations of sexual
harassment, the HLC undertook a scientific overview of the college. The fee had investigated complaints in regards to the college’s
administration earlier that 12 months, and launched a report discovering that PCC
“had “a tradition of worry and retribution.”
It took years for Pima to resolve its points with the HLC. What was speculated to be a two-year means of overview then stretched to 4 years, earlier than the accreditors lifted the probationary standing however saved the faculty “on discover” that extra enhancements have been wanted in administration. Lack of accreditation would have meant Pima college students would now not
qualify for federal monetary assist, and that credit earned on the
faculty wouldn’t be transferable to different accredited colleges.
Earlier than Lambert PCC had lacked a everlasting chancellor since Roy Flores left, mired in scandals, in February 2012. He had been on medical go away
since October 2011.
Along with questioning whether or not a change in admission requirements
was an abandonment of its neighborhood mission, an HLC report pointed to
allegations that former faculty chief Roy Flores sexually harassed eight
girls, questioned Pima’s awarding of high-dollar no-bid contracts, and
described a tradition of “worry and retribution” amongst campus school and
workers.
In a response to the 2013 report, Pima acknowledged “severe
breaches of integrity” and outlined a plan to enhance the college’s
administration in an try to stave off a vote to sanction PCC.
From Pima officers on Tuesday:
Below Chancellor Lambert’s management, PCC has been named a high 50
neighborhood faculty for Hispanic enrollment and primary in Arizona. PCC
earned a prestigious Bellwether Award for developmental schooling
applications and was chosen for recognition by Harvard College for
modern workforce coaching applications and partnerships with Tucson’s
largest employers, together with Raytheon, IBM, Caterpillar, TuSimple and
space hospitals. The school additionally rebuilt its growing older bodily and IT
infrastructure and opened new amenities, together with a brand new Automotive
Expertise and Innovation Heart, an expanded Aviation Heart and the
not too long ago opened $35 million Superior Manufacturing Constructing.***
Just lately, Chancellor Lambert led the event of the faculty’s Facilities of Excellence in utilized know-how, well being care, hospitality, info know-how & cybersecurity, public security, and the humanities. He additionally established micropathways applications to coach learners for in-demand jobs, invested closely in Pima On-line and embedded strong range, fairness and inclusion initiatives all through PCC’s campuses and facilities. He additionally helped safe a $5 million reward, the only largest donation within the faculty’s historical past.