Community College executives have repeatedly snuffed out promising Sedona and Verde Valley programs—programs that were once heralded as transformative—only to redirect resources and opportunities to Prescott

Commentary by Robert E. Oliphant

Opinion: With a simple flick of the wrist, Yavapai Community College executives have repeatedly snuffed out promising Sedona and Verde Valley programs—programs that were once heralded as transformative—only to redirect resources and opportunities to Prescott. The result? Millions poured into Prescott’s coffers while Sedona and the Verde Valley watched their dreams of robust local education wither.

1. Regional Career and Technical Education Center: A Promised Future Cut Short

  In 2000, hope surged across Sedona and the Verde Valley as citizens approved a $69.5 million bond for Yavapai Community College, envisioning that a tiny part of those millions would be spent on creating a Regional Career and Technology Education Center (CTEC) on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale. A federal grant of over $1 million further fueled excitement. College officials promised transformative workforce development:

“[The CTEC] will provide much-needed educational space and resources to further develop job training programs… This is an exciting and unique opportunity for northern Arizona residents to gain work-related skills that will allow citizens to seek immediate employment or increase their level of income.”

But while the Center promised to upskill workers for both existing and emerging industries, it needed care and cultivation—neither of which came from the Prescott-centric leadership.

Just as the fledgling center was attempting to take root, Yavapai College abruptly undercut the effort. This occurred in April 2007, when College leadership authorized purchasing a massive 108,000-square-foot building in Prescott for its Career and Technical Education campus (CTEC). The Verde Valley center was then shuttered before it could mature, while the future of technical education was diverted over Mingus Mountain. The excuse for abandoning the Verde Valley? Alleged low Verde Valley student interest—a claim all too familiar to this region. 

This instance signals the start of an ongoing pattern of aggressive and opportunistic decision-making that has defined Prescott Community College leadership ever since.

2. The Sedona Film Institute: National Recognition, Local Neglect

Next on the chopping block: the nationally renowned Zaki Gordon Film Institute, opened in 2000 in Sedona in partnership with Yavapai Community College. Demand was immediate and overwhelming—500 students clamored to enroll in a program designed for 100. Plans were made to acquire up to 80 acres from the Coconino National Forest to accommodate the surge.

Keith Harwood, a Yavapai official, acknowledged the crisis:

“We’re bursting at the seams… We expected 100 students, and we have 500.”

Yet, the expansion never materialized. While the Film Institute thrived, gaining international recognition, its success was short-lived. A public dispute between Yavapai College leadership and the Institute’s founder, Dan Gordon, over management and curriculum changes led to the Institute’s 2011 exit for Liberty University in Virginia. Prescott based Yavapai Community College leaders claimed the program would continue—promising enhancements and expansions—but failed to deliver.

By 2013, neglect and broken promises resulted in the near-total collapse of film education at the College’s Sedona Center. Then, in a stunning move, the College unveiled a $103 million, decade-long capital plan allocating over 95% of funds for Prescott projects. The Sedona Center was to be shuttered and was getting readied for sale, with a vague promise of leasing other facilities for limited community programs.

Public outrage across Sedona and the Verde Valley forced the Board and administration to back down. Yet, by 2015, the Sedona Center had dwindled to a shadow of its former self, offering only a handful of courses. It was then closed by Prescott leadership while talks with the community about its future were held.

The last traces of the Film Institute now find themselves woven into the expanding film program on the Prescott campus. Sound familiar?

3. Culinary School: History Repeats Itself

Under mounting community pressure, the College repurposed the Sedona Center from a film school into a culinary institute. It opened in 2017 after extensive renovations costing from $3 to $5 million, promising a fresh start. Initial enrollment was strong. However, the program suffered from the same fatal flaws as its predecessors: minimal marketing, no investment in housing for students, and little support for development from Prescott leadership.

Predictably, the culinary program followed the path of the CTEC and Film Institute—starved of resources and attention, destined to falter.  In April 2025, the College made the closely guarded decision to close the Culinary Institute, a move that appeared calculated to avoid the intense public criticism it encountered during the Film School’s closure. In the fall 2025 students are  to enroll in the newly constructed culinary training facility built on the Prescott Campus.  Sound familiar?

Lessons for the Verde Valley

The pattern is unmistakable. Yavapai Community College’s leaders excel at promising big, nurturing programs just enough to attract attention and funding, and then—with a quiet “poof”—cutting them off at the knees while building almost identical facilities and funneling additional resources to Prescott. Sedona and the Verde Valley are left to pick up the pieces.

Residents deserve more than hollow promises and token gestures. They deserve a real commitment from Yavapai Community College’s leadership to build and sustain educational opportunities that genuinely serve and empower their communities. But after half a century of neglect, it’s clear that Prescott’s leaders don’t see Sedona and the Verde Valley as partners in education—they see them as cash cows. The only reason they cling to these communities is for the 28 to 30 percent of property tax revenue siphoned across the mountain, funding Prescott’s grand plans while leaving Sedona and the Verde Valley with little more than broken promises and abandoned dreams.

Chair and attorney block Kiel from responding to the unwarranted behavior. Was the December appointment of Kuykendall a major mistake? 

OPINION: Fourth District Yavapai Community College District Governing Board member Patrick Kuykendall launched a vicious personal attack on First District Representative William Kiel during the February 18 Governing Board meeting. The outburst occurred amid a discussion on the authority and accountability of Yavapai’s president, Dr. Lisa Rhine, and the adoption of a resolution that vested virtually all power in her.

In his carefully controlled but angry tirade Kuykendall declared that he “wanted it on the record” that, in his view, Mr. Kiel had “made threats and been . . . disrespectful.” He further claimed, “I’ve sat on a lot of boards, and I’ve never been on a board with somebody with so much hate and discontent.” He provided no examples.

Not satisfied with his initial attack on Kiel, Kuykendall pressed on in anger saying:  “The reason we’re not in live meeting is when somebody mentions firearms and they’re unstable, it is a threat.”  Once again, he provided no examples to support his attack.  (See video clip.)

Mr. Kiel, clearly caught completely off guard by this stunning accusation, attempted to question the source of Kuykendall’s claim regarding “stability.” Yet, he was abruptly prevented from doing to  by the Board’s attorney and Chair Deb McCasland. (See video.)

Such an inflammatory and vicious public attack on a fellow Governing Board member is unwarranted and should immediately call into question Kuykendall’s fitness to serve on the Community College Governing Board. In my judgment, his appointment in December to the open Board seat in District 4 now appears to be a major mistake.  Given his discomfort and anger directed at Mr. Kiel, he  should resign.

A video clip of Mr. Kuykendall’s outburst in context follows below: A complete video of the meeting is available at the Community College’s Governing Board website.

Staff may face discipline even by giving out the date of a retirement party to the media

OPINION: At Yavapai Community College, President Dr. Lisa Rhine’s leadership has fostered a pervasive culture of fear among faculty and staff. Employees risk termination for as little as engaging with a District Governing Board member or responding to media inquiries—a directive Dr. Rhine has enforced with unmistakable clarity.

The chilling effect of President Rhine’s mandate is so profound that even a simple request for the date of a retirement celebration honoring a respected faculty member was denied—staff too fearful of jeopardizing their jobs to share basic information. This unfolded just last week when the Blog contacted the college  to inquire about the retirement of Linda Shook, the Associate Dean for the Sedona Center and Program Director for the Osher Lifelong Learning Program (OLLI). Shook, an exceptional leader and dedicated member of the college since 2019, will be a significant loss to the OLLI program.

The staff member contacted by the Blog was visibly apprehensive, unwilling to respond to the straightforward request for the date and time of Dean Shook’s retirement celebration. Citing institutional restrictions, she stated, “We cannot talk to blogs,” underscoring the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that now permeates the college.

Dr. Rhine has taken extraordinary steps to muzzle employees. She has reinforced her hardline stance through small-group meetings, formal letters to faculty and staff, and repeated warnings about the severe consequences of engaging with outsiders. During District Governing Board meetings, she has doubled down, making it clear that disciplinary action—including termination—awaits those who defy her directive.

With fear now the defining feature of Yavapai College’s work environment, open dialogue and transparency have become casualties of Dr. Rhine’s authoritarian media-Governing  Board mandate.

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. 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.

The District Governing Board serves the public, not the other way around. The decision to eliminate in-person meetings should not be accepted without clear, compelling evidence that it is necessary. If safety is truly at risk, the Chair and Board should provide concrete information and work with local authorities to ensure that in-person public meetings can still take place safely and transparently.

Until that happens, this decision looks less like a measure for public safety and more like a move to shield Board members and the College from accountability. That is unacceptable. The community should demand answers—and insist that public meetings remain in a typical public in-person format, not on zoom.

The only sensible part of the proposed 2025 budget to be considered  at the May 21, 2024, District Governing Board meeting is the 11% increase in salaries and benefits for faculty and staff, which is crucial for retaining and attracting quality personnel

Editor: Robert E. Oliphant

EDITORIAL: On May 21, 2024, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will meet to deliberate on several financial measures aimed at funding costly capital projects on the other side of Mingus Mountain. The proposals include the issuance of a new $16 million revenue bond, the refinancing of two existing revenue bonds, and at least a 3.4 percent increase in the County property tax rate. The Board has already released between one and two million dollars in revenue at its last meeting by modifying its reserves policy at the suggestion of College leadership, thereby allowing additional annual funds to be allocated for these projects.

I contend that approval of   the tax rate increase is misguided and will disproportionately burden taxpayers in Sedona and the Verde Valley, who stand to benefit little, if at all, from these expenditures. Here’s why:

1. The proposed $11 million investment to acquire a 41-acre camp near Prescott, which includes over eighty buildings for programs and housing, lacks a compelling educational justification. While expanding the college’s footprint and providing housing are worthwhile goals, I have not seen data that prioritizes this project over other educational initiatives. Furthermore, the significant shift towards online education and the absence of a major surge in student applications suggest that such an expansion is unnecessary.

2. Constructing a $20 to $40 million Health Science building at the Prescott Valley Center is a nice idea. But it is a project that a university would undertake. It is not a project for a small Community College struggling with enrollment to consider that would, at best, provide service of sorts to only a small portion of the County. It’s way too costly to build and far too costly to maintain!

3. For over fifty years, the Community College has ignored the development needs of Yavapai County’s rural areas. In the past decade, the focus has been on enhancing facilities in and around Prescott, with approximately $150 million invested in capital construction and major renovations. In contrast, Sedona and the Verde Valley have seen scant attention, with only a handful of projects like a $9 million student residence, a $10 million distillery/beer project, and a planned commercial driving program—all of which were abandoned.

4. The District Governing Board approved a 5% tax rate hike just a year ago. I think the new additional 3.4% tax rate hike has not been educationally justified. Where are the compelling education reasons for it?

5. The only sensible part of the proposed budget is the 11% increase in salaries and benefits for faculty and staff, which is crucial for retaining and attracting quality personnel. This increase is sustainable, funded by the substantial student tuition hike already approved and the funds released from the reserve policy adjustment in April 2024.

Given the absence of serious educational justification or a showing of a dire need for the 3.4% tax rate increase, approval of it appears very unwise. Moreover, the use of the additional funds, as explained by the Community College leadership,  fail to adequately serve the broader community’s interests, some of which have been ignored for a half century.