MY TURN: Save NIC from FUD

Why do we read in this paper on Sept. 16 that representatives of the majority of the county, the Republican Party (63,755 voters, 63% of registered county voters), are supposedly working to do away with NIC? Are we to believe “My Turn” author, Donna Harvey, that the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, composed of elected Precinct Committeemen representing their precincts, are actively working against the county constituents to “get rid of NIC” and to “get rid of public education” as claimed by the author?

This is like claiming the hundreds of parents across the county, objecting at school board meetings to bad administrative decisions and policies sexualizing their young children, are trying to shut their schools down and ruin their own children’s education. No, they just want to remove the cancers from within their schools and protect their children!

As a former candidate for the NIC Zone 5 Trustee position who worked with the KCRCC, I can assure you that all of the KCRCC committeemen want only the best for NIC. They, along with most of the Kootenai Republicans, want NIC to thrive and produce successful students. Harvey is spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) over KCRCC by claiming its desire to shut down NIC, and is thus casting FUD on KCRCC supported candidates.

North Idaho College is the gem of Kootenai County, a tremendous asset and the hope of the next generation of our local population. It is our community college, paid for by the taxpayers, and serves five counties. NIC enables our college degree aspiring students to live at home and complete the first half of their four-year degree at a fraction of the usual cost. NIC provides the certifications and two year preparation for those who choose to work in any of the trade programs offered. Community leaders, NIC staff, and taxpayers have contributed and worked for decades to build the asset that North Idaho College has become. The community wants to make NIC better, and KCRCC is supporting candidates who will best enable that.

The progressives in control have badly hurt NIC by falsely broadcasting that its accreditation is in jeopardy, causing a 10% drop in enrollment this fall. This was precipitated by students leaving to seek accreditation stability at schools such as Spokane Community College. In order to fix these and other problems caused by the current progressive board, KCRCC supports candidates who will work to:

• Return control of NIC to the community tax payers instead of progressives and the State Board of Education

• Solidify the NIC accreditation status so students come back

• Clean up liberal NIC courses that drove students away to on-line college programs

• Bring the administrative costs under control, e.g., fewer VPs who were just given a 60% raise by a new president who was brought in at a much higher salary than his predecessor

• Restore competitive bidding for services such as the insurance contracts and the purchase of property based on the cover sheet of a single appraisal instead of multiple appraisals

• Operate NIC in a fiscally responsible manner

Following Harvey’s voting advice will aggravate the current problems — anyone can make a meaningless pledge “to protect and preserve” NIC. However, voting for the true conservative candidates promoted by KCRCC will be a big step toward fixing NIC and returning it to community control.