Non-Technical Classes Moving Out Of Hedlund If Remaining Students Develop Ailments, State Aid Will Be Sought

All non-technical classes will be moved out of the Hedlund Building next year in the first step to solve the ongoing sick building mystery.

The North Idaho College Board of Trustees approved a plan Wednesday for the building, which has been plagued with complaints over the last few years.

“If nothing works, we’ll either abandon it or tear it down and build something in its place,” said Steve Schenk, NIC’s dean of college relations.

Four classrooms on the second floor of the building have been closed since problems resurfaced in November.

As a short-term solution then, administrators moved the welding classes to the Workforce Training Center in Post Falls.

But test results showed that welding wasn’t the problem. Nor did the results pinpoint what the problem is.

The welding classes will move back in next fall, and all non-technical classes will move out.

The building originally was designed only for technical classes.

So far, no one in the technical programs has had health complaints, Schenk said. The college will not reoccupy the extra offices or classrooms unless a definite cause or cure for the sick building problem is found, according to the plan.

If students or staff in the applied technology program start having problems, then the college will ask the state to provide emergency funding to move out all classes and laboratories.

Programs will then move back in on an experimental basis and be carefully monitored, Schenk said.