NIC: Banducci, McKenzie should step down

Thank you, Coeur d’Alene Press and Kaye Thornbrugh, for your thorough coverage of the ongoing and disheartening situation at North Idaho College. Thankfully, once again, the college has been provided a temporary delay in its seemingly inevitable path toward losing accreditation. As today’s article succinctly states, “North Idaho College’s accreditation is not in jeopardy due to problems with academics or finances but because of governance issues on the board of trustees that stretch back to 2020.”

Anyone who has been paying attention to this ongoing debacle knows very clearly what needs to happen. Mr. Banducci and Mr. McKenzie must resign from the board of trustees for the good of our college and our community.

As a lifelong resident of Coeur d’Alene (and graduate of NIC) I write this on behalf of four generations of my family: my great-grandmother Eva Beck Marshall, who went door to door over 100 years ago soliciting funds to start a junior college in the growing town; my grandmother Hazel Marshall Cardwell, a Coeur d’Alene native and educator, who lived in the Fort Grounds and was such a staunch supporter of the college that her name was printed on the bleacher seat where she watched every basketball game; my mother Betty Cardwell McLain, who spent the bulk of her teaching career at the college, followed by many years of service as a trustee and board chair. A campus building is named in her honor.

If Todd Banducci and Greg McKenzie have any desire to earn even a modicum of respect in this town, they should step down to allow true leadership to return before it is too late.

SARAH McLAIN

Coeur d’Alene