Where is the evidence of Chair McCasland’s “safety concerns” for holding meetings at the Rock House on the Prescott Community College campus? Or elsewhere?
Editor: Robert Oliphant
OPINION: The Chair of the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board, Deb McCasland, has unilaterally decided that all future board meetings will be held exclusively via Zoom. This apparently includes meetings at the Rock House on the Prescott Community College campus or anywhere else.
Her stated reason? A vague and unsubstantiated email statement received by District Governing Board members sent by the Board Executive Assistant to the President & District Governing Board, which declared in part “that [Chair Deb McCasland] after learning of safety concerns related to our board meetings, . . . has decided that governing board meetings will be held virtually only until further notice.” This raises an obvious question: What safety concerns?
Despite repeated requests for clarification from some Board members, Ms. McCasland has refused to provide any specific details about what threats, incidents, or conditions necessitate such a drastic shift in how the public Governing Board meetings are held. If there were genuine concerns about safety—such as specific threats, past disruptions, or law enforcement recommendations—one would expect some form of documentation or at least a public acknowledgment of the issue. But instead, Ms. McCasland has chosen silence.
The public deserves answers in situations like this for several reasons:
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Public safety is an issue concerning the entire community. If there is a legitimate threat, the community has a right to know. Are there security concerns that affect not just the Governing Board, but also students, faculty, or the broader public? Keeping people in the dark about potential dangers does not enhance safety—it undermines it.
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There are potential drawbacks to transitioning to Zoom meetings. For example, it tends to limit a spontaneous response between Governing Board members who are engaged in discussion, reduces opportunities for face-to-face accountability, and allows board members to retreat into a digital echo chamber where tough questions can be most easily ignored.
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Avoiding answering hard questions from Board members is not a valid safety concern. In recent months, public frustration with the Board appears to have grown—particularly over issues like free speech of Board members and taxation. Some members of the Board have been raising these uncomfortable issues. Could this shift to Zoom be an attempt to electronically silence criticism from certain Governing Board members by easily preventing their questions by muting them with a simple click rather than a response to an actual threat? Without evidence to the contrary, that suspicion is entirely reasonable.
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Other Public Bodies in the County Continue to Meet in Person. City councils, school boards, and other governing entities across Yavapai County continue to hold public meetings without issue. If they can maintain both safety and accessibility, why can’t the College Board?
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No Governing Board members have publicly reported any safety threats. Neither the first nor third District Governing Board member representatives, when interviewed, could recall any safety concerns that arose during recent Governing Board meetings. Moreover, during the last two January Governing Board hearings, there has been no public disruption of any kind. In fact, public attendance has been almost nonexistent.