(September 13) VICTORVILLE—In a unanimous vote this week, the Victor Valley College Board of Trustees appointed former Apple Valley Mayor Peter Allen to serve as the interim superintendent/president of the community college.
With an October 15 accreditation report deadline looming, Allan emerged as a compromise candidate four months after the board came to a collective agreement not to renew Dr. Christian O’Hearn’s contract as superintendent earlier this year.
Allan is more than conversant with the college’s accreditation challenges. A retired faculty member and administrator at Victor Valley College, he has been the acting president/superintendent since shortly after O’Hearn’s departure in May.
Allan has indicated that he is willing to remain in the capacity of interim superintendent, but does not want to commit to holding the position permanently.
The motion to nominate Allan was made by Brandon Wood, who was brought in to succeed Michael Krause on the college board in August. Krause resigned in May and the board was unable to come to a consensus for two months with regard to his replacement, with board members Dennis Henderson and John Pinkerton amenable to allowing former board member Joe Range to fill Krause’s spot and board members Joe Brady and Lorrie Denson wanting a more exhaustive search.
Wood, the president of the High Desert Bar Association Board, appears to have had a calming and stabilizing impact upon the board.
The board and Allan must now turn their focus to the accreditation issue, which has lain unresolved since 2011. At that time the Commission for Community and Junior Colleges placed Victor Valley College on probation for failing to comply with several standards. The college  exceeded the two years provided it to come into compliance and commission officials have expressed impatience with the college for its lack of progress. If the school loses accreditation, it will no longer be able to confer upon its graduates degrees and class credits at the college will not be transferable to other universities