Bennett Aide Questions Nic Board’s Integrity Confidence In Trustees ‘Shattered,’ Teater Says In Resigning

A longtime North Idaho College employee says her questions about the integrity of the board of trustees fueled her resignation in the wake of President Bob Bennett’s firing.

“Until recently my employment with the college was the best of my career,” Jo Teater wrote in her one-paragraph letter of resignation. “However, your recent action to dismiss Dr. Bennett has shattered my confidence in your ability to govern this college.

“I can no longer work for a board that lacks the simple integrity needed to treat its employees with courtesy and respect.”

Teater was secretary to Bennett for seven years as well as NIC’s liaison to the board. She delivered her letter to board members along with materials for next week’s meeting of the board of trustees. Her last day was Thursday.

Trustee Sue Thilo resigned Wednesday and trustee Steve Widmyer resigned Thursday, both citing the Bennett controversy.

Trustee Jeanne Givens was out of town and unavailable for comment. Trustee Bob Ely did not return telephone calls.

Barbara Chamberlain, the remaining trustee, said Friday that Teater’s departure is sad. “In Jo, we’re sorry to lose someone so integral to the college community,” Chamberlain said.

Teater, meanwhile, said no trustees have responded to her letter. But she is firm in her position.

“I know Dr. Bennett is an honorable man,” Teater said. “I worked seven years alone with him in an office, and I know of no reason they could fire him.”

Teater said she is most upset by the way Bennett was forced to resign and the board’s subsequent silence on the issue. “CEOs and boards part ways all of the time,” she said. “My problem is with the process. It didn’t have to be this way.

“I think the controversy has touched everyone at the college. Dr. Bennett was well-liked on campus, and I think everybody at the college was as mystified by the quick action of the board as the community was.”

Teater eventually plans to join her husband, Dave, in opening an educational consulting firm after he finishes working for the Coeur d’Alene School District. In the interim, she plans to try to relax.

NIC, she said is a good institution and it will recover, albeit slowly, under the care of the four deans.

Still, Chamberlain maintains that the continued silence is the best course of action for the board. “I do think that those who have not yet worked much in employee relationships or as managers may not understand the ramifications of personnel law and the good reasons for not laying everything on the table,” she said.

“I think they are frustrated by that.”

The Associated Students of NIC, meanwhile, says the string of departures - especially Teater’s - is sad. The departure of two board members won’t derail an effort to recall the remaining board members, said Renee Scott, president of the student group.

“The damage has been done,” Scott said.

“The college is in turmoil, the best thing is for the rest of them to resign” to save themselves from facing voters in a recall election, she said.

No way, Chamberlain said. “The board and the students need to work together for the good of the college and the good of the students,” Chamberlain said. “I would hope we can get past this and work together.”

The board of trustees is soliciting letters from people interested in being appointed to the two vacant positions. The students say they will follow that process carefully.

“I would hope they would use their best judgment,” Scott said. “We haven’t really seen what that is.”

, DataTimes