By request, below you'll find the entire sentinel article of Monday, September 10th, 2007:
SCJ (that's how the paper spelled it!) Seeks Operators for Child Care, Gym
Sheldon Jackson College announced today that it will close the Hames PE Center and SJ Child Care Center within 30 days unless new operators can be found to take over management.
"We all know how important these facilities are to Sitka's residents, but we simply cannot afford to keep them open," said SJC Board of Trustees Chair Shirley Holloway in a news release today. "We dearly hope that others in Sitka will step forward so the valuable services both centers provide can be maintained for the community."
The announcement came following the trustees' meeting last week in Sitka. The College in late June decided to suspend operations for the 2007-2008 school year.
The trustees today also announced closure of the college's food service when the contract with the Alaska Public Safety Academy expires in November.
"The cessation of the three enterprises - none of which break even financially - came as part of further cost-cutting at the college," the announcement said.
The College laid off 100 members of its workforce shortly after announcing the suspension of operations.
At their meeting Wednesday and Thursday here, the trustees voted unanimously to cease all operations except the school's fish hatchery and aquarium, and the academic operations needed to complete the college's "teach-out" obligations to students who had not graduated when academic operations were suspended.
The trustees also further reduced the schools' administrative staff from 35 to six as part of an agreement with Alaska Growth Capital - the school's primary creditor - to preserve the school's assets while planning for future activities.
The College has more than $35 million in assets, primarily land and buildings, but has virtually no cash and $11 million in debts, almost half of which is owed to AGC, the college said.
"The fish hatchery is an indispensable part of what Sheldon Jackson will become in the future and is central to the economy of Southeast Alaska," said SJ President David Dobler. "Therefore we will continue operation of the hatchery as the linchpin of our future as an institution."
The school will begin an immediate search for a property management firm to oversee care of the physical plant at the school and will also search for a real estate and marketing sales firm to help manage the sale, lease, and development of the school's extensive holdings in Sitka.
"It's safe to say that Sheldon Jackson College will not reopen as a college in the near future," Holloway said. "But there are far too many needs - in marine biology, in teacher training, in training for the growing hospitality industry and for the training of village leaders - that Sheldon Jackson is uniquely equipped to meet."
"The Board of Trustees will over see the liquidation of as much property as is necessary to give us the time to establish programs here on the campus that meet those needs while being financially sustainable," Holloway said.
Sheldon Jackson College was originally established 129 years ago as a training school for Alaska Natives.
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5 comments:
How on earth did SJ go from six million in debt in june to 11 million in debt now?
Hey Chris so I read your blog today. and feel free to pass this message on to the people who are seeming more and more like pompass shitheads running the show. It does not seem like the board of directors knows what they are doing, oh wait! they dont because if they did SJ would not be shut down right now and my peers and myself would not be struggling to find ourselves in a place where we truly do not want to be. We were all guarented that SJ was in the best shape we have been in for years. We were promised changes for the better. Well, if having to uproot our lives in Sitka and relocated to places where many of us are quickly finding unhappiness is for the better then what would be for the worse. Why were the students not included in the activities of the college? If we were having issues with money, why was there not a layoff of unneeded staff, such as custodians, done sooner. I have spoken with my peers and from the people i have talked to we would have been more than happy to do jobs around campus just to stay open another year. I do not think that the board of trustees or Dobler thought about the students as people in their decisions at all. As a student i am wondering where my money has gone and why the school had employeed more faculty and staff than we had students. That should be a red flag! Hello! I think that had this been more of a team effort rather than a dumbass ignorant coach making the decisions that meant life or death for the college things may have turned out better. The students I have talked to all seem to be on about the same page, we want to go home, we want to go back to Sitka, we want SJ. The students that were there CHOSE to be there and if we didnt like it we had the choice to leave at any morning or afternoon flight. Many of us found our lives there at SJ, we became individuals there and we grew up. I still want my life back and that includes putting up with crappy food everyday, expensive milk prices at the little store, and having limited activities. I think it is about time the board of trustees realizes that SJ was more than a college for some of us, it was a home for us, we were happy (although we didnt always show it), we were comfertable, and we would have been willing to fight for it but the problem was our leader didnt come to us and ask us what we could do. It seems more and more that Dobler and the board wanted SJ to be done. The area has enormous potential and I have faith that under effective, and smarter leadership that SJ could be a successful college again. I dont think that the people in charge asked the right people for help. I feel it is time for a change as well, I want to see leadership at SJ from people who WANT to be there. I want a board of trustees that is active on campus and who the students can talk to, i want a president that doesnt fill the students with lies just to save face. Well Dobler you lost any respect that any students had for you because you were the one in charge, it was in your hands. I understand that Dobler may not have been able to single-handedly save the college but the treatment of students and staff was in his hands and all we read and saw over and over was lies from the man that said he was there to help us. I call bullshit on him. The students want their college back, and to have read that it reopening is unlikely (although we saw it coming) hurts us, especially since most of us would do anything to get back there. I am glad though that someone for once is being honest to the students and staff about the events of the college, I just wish that there was something that we could do. If SJ can reopen within the next year you have my word that i will help in whatever way i can, from re-painting buildings, to recruiting, to grounds maintaince anything. And i feel confident in saying that other students will be right along side me in this, I dont think anyone realizes what SJ meant to us, we are ready to fight for it, you guys do your part and we will do ours when called upon.
KT- Your ROCK! I Stand up and agree with you.
KatyAnn
KT? You have a brain?
It doesn't reduce any of my hatred for you.
A little rantish, but still most of those words needed said.
I'm still convinced that idiot Dr. Holloway ruined my highschool and then decided to follow me to college. She's like Godzilla. Someone has to stop her.
What makes SJ "UNIQUELY EQUIPPED"?
No highly qualified and caring staff, no state licence, no endowment, no accreditiation, no operating capitol, a rapidly detiorating library collection, no loyal student body, no future and a board and president with no clue. Ms hollowethics is unique in this opinion.
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