By Taylor Boyd
Some officials, partners, and business residents of New College Institute (NCI) said they were unaware of a resolution asking the Henry County Board of Supervisors to support Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) overseeing NCI’s operations.
At its Sept. 23 meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution endorsing P&HCC to convert NCI into the Patrick & Henry Workforce Economic Development Building. County Administrator Dale Wagoner said the request came from NCI Board of Directors member Dr. Mark Crabtree and was supported by two other board members.
The decision has raised questions among NCI officials, board members, and partners who say the proposal bypassed the usual processes and left some stakeholders uncertain about the future of programs and partnerships housed at the institute.
Henry County School Board Chairman Teddy Martin III, said Longwood University, which offers a teaching program at NCI, is a significant partner for the school division.
“Quite a few of our administrators have gone through programs at NCI, whether that be through Longwood, JMU (James Madison University), or others that have partnerships there. That Longwood program has graduated quite a few of our teachers,” he said.
He said future teachers take in-person classes through Longwood at NCI, and estimated 30-35 students are currently doing this.
“We’re actually somewhat paying for them, too. Henry County Schools is paying Longwood for these folks to graduate and work for us,” he said.
Martin believes stopping this program would be a detriment to the area, given the current nationwide teacher shortage.
In addition to Longwood basically having exclusive access to NCI’s second floor throughout the year, Martin, who is employed by Genedge — the former A.L Philpott Advanced Manufacturing Center, which is among NCI’s tenants, said the building also serves as a space for student, community, and business events.
“There’s all sorts of little tie-ins that we’ve had through that building, especially over the last few years,” he said.
He is currently debating whether to raise the issue at a future school board meeting and/or a meeting of the Henry County Board of Supervisors. He said the supervisors failed to discuss the resolution with the local school divisions or even NCI, before approving it.
“The Henry County Board of Supervisors also had no contact with Joe Sumner,” executive director at NCI, “or any of them,” Martin said. The board also did not discuss the issue with NCI’s tenants.
The supervisor’s action was in response to a letter from Dr. Mark Crabtree, a member of NCI’s board. The letter was also signed by two other community leaders — Jay Dickens and Lee Prillaman.
The board approves a legislative agenda, which has been described as a ‘wish list’ of sorts, annually.
“The agenda is a list of legislative priorities that the board would like the General Assembly to take action on,” Brandon Martin, the county’s Public Information Officer, said.
Wagoner said “the board’s position is that for two General Assembly sessions, the governor did not include money for NCI, and we don’t want to see the building set there unused. The board thought it was in the best interest of the community to transition oversight to P&HCC so it can continue to be an educational institution.”
Funding context
NCI’s primary funding comes from approximately $3.1 million a year in state appropriations, Sumner said.
Over the last two General Assembly budgets, funding for NCI was stricken from the Governor’s budget. However, the funding was restored by the General Assembly.
NCI Chief Advancement Officer Olivia Garrett said the funding issues have certainly created some confusion over the past two years.
“Then on the flipside, it’s been encouraging that the General Assembly has supported and reinstated funding over the past two years. I think it sometimes gets lost in the other noise that the original House of Delegates budget last year gave us an additional million dollars in funding, which would have been very helpful in specific to supporting students, hiring a student success coordinator, to developing new programs and partnerships,” she said.
That additional million was whittled down to $500,000 in the final House of Delegates and State Senate budget before it was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Sumner said the ongoing public discourse has been that NCI is struggling and is not performing well.
“I just cannot comprehend what else we can do to get the message out that the numbers have shown that our programs have grown exponentially, that our new programs have been successful, and we’re operating on a sustainable model. I’m just unsure of what it will take to convince the general population to ask NCI how the programs are going, because they’re going well. Everything is projecting in a positive manner,” Sumner said.
NCI leadership says board process bypassed
Like Martin, Sumner said he was not informed that the resolution would be presented to the board of supervisors.
“This has not been presented to our board. There was scheduled to be a board meeting on September 11, and that board meeting was canceled due to a very horrific cyber incident. Our virtual Zoom call was bombarded with pornographic images, hateful, racist messaging, vulgar displays,” Sumner said.
He said the meeting was rescheduled, but the proposal had not yet gone before the full NCI board.
“This was a proposal from a small group of three individuals that were making this proposal to the (NCI) board, and have since taken it public,” he said.
Garrett said the board has a committee process for considering proposals. “That will be where we get to hear from the board members about their thoughts and opinions on the proposal,” she said.
Crabtree and P&HCC outline proposal rationale
By Taylor Boyd
Dr. Mark Crabtree addressed questions about the ‘Proposed New College Institute Resolution Establishing the Patrick & Henry Community College (PHCC) Center for Workforce and Economic Development at the Baldwin Building’ resolution.
The Henry County Board of Supervisors approved adding the resolution to the county’s annual legislative agenda.
Before submitting the resolution to the supervisors, Crabtree said he assessed community needs and determined the higher education environment had changed significantly since NCI’s founding. “The communities’ efforts must evolve to improve the lives of our citizens,” he wrote in an email.
Crabtree said individual discussions were held with local leaders Jay Dickens, Lee Prillaman and Del. Eric Phillips, R-Martinsville.
“We eventually had a discussion with P&HCC President Greg Hodges, who envisioned a transformation of the NCI building and its programming as a part of P&HCC,” Crabtree said.
“Dr. Hodges and I were actually talking about what he envisioned as a good path forward and what he wanted to do. He needs the space, and he could use it,” he said. He noted P&HCC was the top partner considered.
Crabtree said many community members expressed support after the information became public. “At that point in time, I said, ‘Hey, can you give us a letter of support. Let us know if you feel that way,’” he said.
Regarding communication with NCI board members, Crabtree said the law limits discussions to one-on-one interactions. “I’ve talked to all of them. Nobody’s been left out completely. The majority of the board members from Henry County and Martinsville are strongly in favor of his proposal,” he said.
Dickens, Prillaman, and Crabtree were “the three that really were the nidus of figuring out what do we need to do and what makes good sense. Some people may have gotten a little upset that I didn’t get to them first. Some people may want to make things political, which is unfortunate, but that happens, it’s because you got politicians on the board, but the thing is, you have to ask each individual how they feel about it.”
In an Oct. 6 email, Crabtree described the plan as a way to accelerate regional economic development while maintaining NCI programs and encouraging the NCI Foundation to support the P&HCC Foundation.
Crabtree noted that since NCI is a state agency, moving ahead with his proposal requires legislative action and continuing NCI’s budget in the VCCS budget as described in the resolution.
“Our intent is that all the great programs and initiatives at NCI will continue in the community college system, and we need to keep the pedal to the medal on these programs as this settles out,” he wrote.
P&HCC supports proposal
P&HCC President Greg Hodges said that if the proposal moves forward, keeping NCI locally managed benefits the community.
“We believe we are best positioned to offer programming that serves the members of our community because of our ongoing collaborative partnership with local businesses and regional economic development organizations. Patrick & Henry is honored to be the community’s college and we will continue to be the educational catalyst that provides access to economic prosperity for our community,” he said.
If the proposal is approved, P&HCC’s leadership “would create a unique opportunity to accelerate the economic development of the region while aligning several regional workforce development programs and initiatives as well as advanced learning and community development, including bringing advanced education opportunities to the area, according to the resolution.
In 2006, NCI was officially established by state charter as an educational institution, with its primary mission to expand educational opportunities, develop a skilled workforce, and diversify the region’s economy, which had historically relied on tobacco, furniture and textiles. NCI sought to achieve these goals by partnering with other higher education institutions and engaging with both public and private sector organizations in the region and in the Commonwealth. It aimed to be a catalyst for economic and community transformation by leveraging resources and facilitating the development of technology and a trained workforce needed for new economic enterprises.
NCI collaborated with state universities in its early years, bringing in faculty and paying universities for partnerships. Enrollment grew from 118 students in 2006-2007 to 329 students in 2017-2018. NCI helped 403 students obtain bachelor’s and master’s degrees during that time. Outreach efforts were conducted, making at least 5,000 contacts annually with students and families. NCI partnered with Virginia colleges to offer degrees in fields important to the Southern Virginia region, according to the resolution.
NCI also offered K-12 programming and experiential learning opportunities. Facilities grew into the classroom building on Franklin Street, the lab on Fayette Street and the Jefferson Plaza; and Longwood University provides two remaining degree programs at NCI serving a total of twenty-seven students in the spring semester of 2024.
The Workforce and Academic Committee is tentatively scheduled to discuss the proposal on Oct. 15. If approved, it would then go to the Executive Committee in November. If the proposal makes it through those two committees, it would then be considered by the full 15-member board, which includes five legislative members and 10 nonlegislative or citizen members. The full board is scheduled to meet in January in Richmond.
Other partners and tenants express concern
In addition to Genedge, several organizations and businesses rent office space from NCI, including Martinsville’s Adult Education, the National Alliance of Mental Illness, and the National Society of Black Engineers.
Garrett said tenants’ initial response to the resolution was confusion about the future “because some of them hadn’t been talked to, and the way some of the initial reports were framed, it seemed like it was a done deal versus our committee process through the board. I think it’s mostly been seeking clarification of what’s really going on,” Garrett said.
“We also provide space for various Divine Nine organizations, and partner with them on scholarships and different things of that nature,” Sumner said. “There are those that have a permanent daily space in our building and then those that have their offices elsewhere, but they use us on a daily or weekly basis for some of their operations through our partnerships, where we may have trainings or different community events.”
Sumner said NCI’s programs have grown and are operating sustainably despite public discourse suggesting otherwise. He noted the EdgeUTech library, which includes robots, laptops, and programmable controllers, has served over 800 Henry County students in elementary computer science programs.
“We look to offer that to any schools that are interested,” he added.
Garrett noted NCI was named the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) state-wide champion last year because of its work with clients in both work-based internship learning and employment opportunities.
Board chairman emphasizes governance
NCI Chairman Eric Jones said the General Assembly ultimately decides the institute’s governance because NCI was established by law.
“We do have some authorities, but to unilaterally actively dictate a merger is something that we are not chartered to do. My goal was to hear the idea at the Sept. 11 meeting, cause there’s nothing wrong with ideas, and let it go through our processes to get back to the executive committee. We don’t make the decisions on these things. We could at most provide a recommendation to the General Assembly,” he said.
With that meeting disrupted, Jones said Dr. Crabtree’s idea wasn’t heard by the board before it went public. “It kind of got ahead of the board a little bit. We have a proper way to weigh in and give the full body enough time to take in the information and make decisions,” he said.
Jones thinks many are wondering what the board’s decision and vote will be.
“I’ve heard many people talk about, ‘what is your vote going to be?’ I’m just reminding people that we have to respect the democratic process that the Commonwealth of Virginia sets up and establishes for these types of things. The fact that NCI is established by a code section, I don’t want to mislead anyone in the region that our board carries a decision authority to change the law. We don’t,” he said.
Crabtree’s idea is independent of the board, Jones said.
“Dr. Crabtree has been very, very adamant that this is his idea. He was going to make his case to the board, and I think independently, he’s making his case to the community. Our board hasn’t heard it yet. Our board is trying to establish the time and place to hear it,” he said, adding even after that, the proposal must go through the legislative process of getting a sponsor and being presented on the floor of the General Assembly.
Jones said NCI’s Board of Directors has been consistent in its stance that it’s still going to hear Crabtree’s idea during a formal meeting.
“No one… is making public remarks about whether it’s a good idea or whether it’s a bad idea. Multiple members of the board, especially the legislative members of the board, have stressed, ‘Hey, we’ve got to hear this out through the process.’ We want to ask the questions on the platform that our board is established,” he said.
Jones said every board member will get the chance to express their opinions on their thoughts about Crabtree’s actions when the board meets.
“I just want to make sure that the people of Martinsville and Henry County look” at the NCI board and don’t have “a misconception of our authorities and our power,” he said.
