North Idaho College board punts again on president's contract vote - Inside Higher Ed

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In a scenic corner of Idaho, a battle over power, freedom and safety is playing out between a college president and the board he answers to.

For several months, the North Idaho College Board of Trustees has delayed voting on the president’s contract, despite repeatedly scheduling meetings to do so. The delays leave Rick MacLennan, president of the community college in Coeur d’Alene, uncertain about whether he’ll still have a job later this fall. While failing to act on the president’s employment, the five-member board -- which is currently under investigation by the college’s accrediting agency -- has expanded its own powers and struck down a mask mandate at recent special meetings.

On Tuesday, the board voted to table its entire meeting agenda, including action on the president’s employment. Any discussion or vote on the matter was postponed until a previously scheduled meeting on Sept. 22; the board is precluded from holding any special sessions before then.

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Tuesday marked at least the third time the board decided to delay a vote to renew MacLennan’s contract. MacLennan became president in 2016, and the board has renewed his three-year contract every other year since.

MacLennan said he has not been told why the board continues to postpone action on his employment. He also said he has no sense of how the board will vote when it does decide to take up the matter. During Tuesday’s meeting, the president asked Todd Banducci, chair of the board, for an explanation of the delay.

“I just want the board to understand that this is continuing to be very disruptive to this institution on many levels,” MacLennan said. “As your CEO, I am respectfully asking you to explain what is going on this evening.”

Banducci first ignored the question, but after additional prompting from MacLennan, said, “I’m not sure that your question is appropriate to be addressed at this time. I’m not even sure I understand the answer that you’re seeking with that question.”

During a special session last Thursday, the board voted 3 to 2 to amend college policy and give itself control over the college’s preventative measures for communicable diseases. After doing so, the board again voted 3 to 2 to repeal a two-week mask mandate MacLennan announced the preceding week, which had been in place for four days.

“My decision for this should in no way be construed as I oppose anybody else wearing masks,” trustee Michael Barnes said during the meeting. “What I oppose is any government-funded entity dictating to people what they can and cannot do.”

MacLennan has since asked the board to reconsider its decision.

“In light of increasing COVID-19 positive cases within our college community and a direct and public request to our board of trustees by 140 physicians and health professionals from Kootenai Health (our local community hospital) to restore the mask mandate and other safety measures, I have requested a board response,” MacLennan wrote in an email. “I have also requested that they reverse their decision to rescind my mask mandate.”

The president referred to a recent open letter signed by dozens of county health providers, which asked the board to implement “simple, science-based, evidence-based, tested methods we know slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”