Whenever anti-government conspiracy theory advocates attempt to take over well-run public institutions, I get a bit nervous over the possibility that they might succeed. I was therefore relieved to see that voters of Flathead, as well as its local newspaper, had the good sense to not support the recent attempt by one [...]]]> Eric Grimsrud of Climate Clash fame, wrote the following opinion letter to The Daily Inter Lake:

Congratulations to voters for wise choice at FVCC – June 7, 2011 (202 words)

Whenever anti-government conspiracy theory advocates attempt to take over well-run public institutions, I get a bit nervous over the possibility that they might succeed. I was therefore relieved to see that voters of Flathead, as well as its local newspaper, had the good sense to not support the recent attempt by one such person to take over the Board of Trustees for FVCC.

In his letter of May 24, Dr. Ed Berry tried to convince us that his effort to do this was not politically motivated, but was instead driven by his interest in “improving the quality of basic scientific education” at FVCC. Can you imagine this coming from a man who on his various web sites (see edberry.com) has repeatedly claimed that the very large excess of carbon dioxide that we have in the atmosphere today occurred naturally and did not come from the activities of mankind?

Dr. Berry’s own works clearly show that he is politically driven by various political conspiracy theories and certainly not by any superior knowledge of or interest in modern science. The citizens of the Flathead dodged a bullet in turning down Dr. Berry’s “expert assistance” in running FVCC and I congratulate them for doing so. – Eric Grimsrud

———————————————————————

Ed Berry submitted the following reply, published on July 3, to Grimsrud:

A wake-up call to local parents (198 words)

Dr. Eric Grimsrud’s letter of June 7, 2011, should be a wake-up call to parents of school age children as to what is wrong with our public schools. On the same page as his rambling diatribe is an article by Thomas Sowell who emphatically explains how our schools are so focused on indoctrinating students in political correctness that they fail to teach competency in reading, writing, math and science.

The evidence to support this claim is that during Grimsrud’s teaching career, America’s student performance in physics plummeted from near top to dead last among 21 industrialized countries with similar records of failure in math and science.

Grimsrud’s myopic belief in the global warming fallacy distracts him from seeing the much more important goal of restoring quality education in Montana. My goal was to offer my educational perspective to the FVCC, which is completely lacking among the Trustees and which our students so desperately need.

While Grimsrud gloats over the success of the FVCC incumbent Trustees in maintaining their insider control of the FVCC, the real losers are the 45,000 who did not vote and the students who will continue to be indoctrinated rather than taught how to think.

- Dr. Ed Berry, Physicist

Here are the vote counts as reported by The Missoulian, with our analysis:

Nystuen:          3608 = 95%

Lund:               2529    = 66% Baldwin:            759    = 20% Hebert:              525    [...]]]> We congratulate the incumbents on a well-run political battle. We hold no personal hard feelings. Each side did its best to win within their financial and political constraints. Each side made claims that may have extended the truth. Overall, this election brought much needed public attention to the nomination and election of FVCC trustees.

Here are the vote counts as reported by The Missoulian, with our analysis:

Nystuen:          3608 = 95%

Lund:               2529    = 66%
Baldwin:            759    = 20%
Hebert:              525    = 14%
Total:               3813 ballots

Harding:          2046 = 72%
Phelps:             2028    = 71%
Berry:                708    = 24%
Horst:                475    = 17%
Wehe:                449    = 16%
Total:               5706 / 2 = 2853 ballots

Comparisons

Lund                            = 2529 = 66%
Baldwin + Hebert        = 1248 = 34%

Harding + Phelps         = 4074 = 71%
Berry + Horst + Wehe = 1632 = 29%

Conclusions

It was best that all challengers stayed in the race. Nothing would have been gained had any of us dropped out to avoid splitting votes, and by all staying in we were able to get our messages to the public.

Most of the incumbents’ advantage came from the absentee ballots. Their showing had a lot to do with their advertising and union support. The Daily Inter Lake articles helping the challengers came after most absentee ballots were filed.

We do not claim we would have won if there had been no absentee ballots but evidence indicates the results would have been much closer had everyone voted on election day.

The power of the incumbents’ big-money advertising is apparent in the showing by Lund. We believe had Lund run as a regular contender without being pre-anointed by the Board of Trustees, she would not have won her election. Of course, the trustees know that and that is why they brought Lund into their fold just before the election.

Incumbents were supported by the unions, the Democrats and about half the Republicans. Many “Republicans” supported the incumbents as shown in the list on their ads, even though the political ideology of the incumbents is more liberal than that espoused by Republicans.

Election Recommendation

We recommend all school elections be run by the County Election Department, not by the college, and all school elections be held at the same time as normal elections in November. Not only is the college in a conflict of interest in holding its own elections but it is a waste of college resources that should be focused on providing a better education for students.

An opinion in The Daily Inter Lake argued “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to suggest a new direction is not needed for Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC). This begs the question …

Are you sure it’s not broken?

At stake is America’s future. China is now on course to end the Age of America in 2016. This would not be happening if FVCC and other American colleges were properly educating their students.

Let’s compare where I would lead [...]]]> by Ed Berry

An opinion in The Daily Inter Lake argued “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to suggest a new direction is not needed for Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC). This begs the question …

Are you sure it’s not broken?

At stake is America’s future. China is now on course to end the Age of America in 2016. This would not be happening if FVCC and other American colleges were properly educating their students.

Let’s compare where I would lead FVCC to where the incumbent trustees have led it. Here is what I would promote:

1. Individual Responsibility rather than collective irresponsibility
2. Accountability rather than non-accountability
3. Quality Education rather than dumb-down indoctrination
4. Teaching students How to think rather than What to think
5. True diversity rather than the embracing the radical left-wing socialist agenda

Individual Responsibility rather than collective irresponsibility

Voters need no more reason to vote out the incumbents than to look at their full-page color advertisements. First, it shows they are not running as individuals but as a collective. Shannon Lund, wife of Rocky Mountain Bank Branch President Tom Lund, was introduced to the Board by Tom McElwain in March and anointed by the Board in a vote where they dispensed with more highly qualified candidates. This method of appointing a successor of a retiring trustee just before the election is fraud. The trustees made their insider appointment to assure they would get one of their own rather than an outsider on the board. Now they are faced with an open election they did not expect or want, and they are promoting themselves as a collective, which they truly are.

Lund’s presentations reveal she will be “part of the group.” She emphasizes her ability to “get along with a group.”

Voters, that is not what you want for a trustee. She is putting the interests of the Board above the interests of the college and students, which is a violation of the rules for a trustee. Lund is thereby admitting she will not be an independent trustee to guard your money. Instead, she will be there to make sure the banks do not get audited and reveal who is getting your money.

In summary, the incumbent’s ad proves they promote collective irresponsibility rather than individual responsibility.

Accountability rather than non-accountability

The incumbents’ ad also shows they have no accountability. They have stolen college property to use as their photos in their personal ad. They have violated the most fundamental principal of being a trustee, which is to keep one’s personal assets completely separate from FVCC assets. If they cannot obey this principal in their campaign, how can you trust them with your money?

Incumbent trustees brag about their “pristine” audit. The problem is, it is a softball audit to fool you the taxpayer. The audit is of the banks, by the banks, and for the banks. There is no way they are going to show you how much money the banks are making on FVCC construction and other loans. Banks have an obvious conflict of interest under MCA 20-15-104 and no banker should sit on the Board of Trustees.

Why did the Board choose Lund over more highly qualified applicants in March 2011? I suspect it is because she will not blow the whistle on the banks … because she “owns” one.

How much interest are taxpayers paying to the banks for loans to FVCC? Why is FVCC overbuilt with many empty classrooms? If the taxpayers default on an FVCC loan, who will own the building? Something does not add up. And if you think this is bad …

Why are the incumbents spending an estimated $70,000 on advertising to get themselves elected to a job that pays virtually NOTHING? … unless you have a scam going on.

If voters elect just one new trustee to the Board, this will blow the Board’s cover. That may be the reason they are spending big money to keep new trustees out. I am a special threat if they are milking the FVCC for money because I can put all financial board discussions from a trustee meeting on this website.

Therefore, voters, if you want to know how FVCC’s approximate $100 million per year is really being used, you need to elect me as trustee. Don’t fall for their big money ads. Their ads have nothing to do with their personal qualifications and everything to do with hiding something.

Quality Education rather than dumb-down

Thanks to the incumbent trustees, FVCC is following the same plan as every other community college in America to dumb down Americans. That’s why American students have fallen to 19th in math, 16th in science, and dead last in physics among 21 countries.Trustees like those now running FVCC are responsible for the dumbing down of American students, which will result in America becoming a second rate economy and second rate military in the future. This is how you bring down a nation. You start by dumbing down the core talent that made America great.

College administrators learn how to implement the diabolical plan at special conferences. With the exception of some quality teachers, instruction is mostly indoctrination. Two years of far-left, liberal indoctrination leaves a student worse off than having never attended the college. All colleges and universities now brainwash students with “permanent brain damage.” The text’s are dumbed down. The instruction is dumbed down. They are not training future leaders.

I know personally how bad the new math instruction and texts are. I taught (for free) special classes to members of the track team at American River College in Sacramento. These poor students were completely confused about their math classes. I was able to show students getting “F” grades how to properly understand math and move to “B”grades in a few weeks. You need at least one trustee who understands what constitutes quality in math, engineering and science.

Incumbent trustees have built in all the causes of education failure into FVCC. They brag the college has expanded while they have been in control. But that is the wrong measuring stick. Read American Education Fails Because It Isn’t Education. This article describes the reasons for the failures of our education system and every one of the reasons for failure predominates in FVCC, thanks to the present  trustees.  The incumbent trustees have rubber-stamped a college curriculum at FVCC that is dumbing down American students.

Voters, it is critical you act now to stop this purposeful dumbing down education. Vote for me and the other new trustees and clean out the old trustees. These old trustees simply do not understand what quality education is or how to accomplish it. I do.

Teaching students How to Think rather than What to Think

None of the present trustees has experienced the education I received. Therefore, they cannot lead the college into territory where they have never been and do not understand.  I know personally what made Caltech and Dartmouth quality undergraduate schools. The incumbents have no clue.  They are like non-pilots attempting to teach top-gun pilots how to fly. Look at their trustee resumes. None of them have the background to lead an educational institution.

Here are clues to a poor instructor:

1. Tests are based upon memorization rather than on problem solving.
2. You must agree with the instructor in order to get a good grade.
3. Mixing science with preaching, like predictions of doom in an atmospheric science class.
4. Assuming human carbon dioxide is bad for the planet and then drawing conclusions.
5. Making you repeat back like you are a parrot.

If you get an instructor like this, cancel the class because you will learn nothing. Hopefully, you can find a few good instructors.

If you elect me trustee, I will actually sit in on classes and make my own evaluation of the class quality. Then I may make my suggestions public on this website. You really need me to be a trustee.

True diversity rather than the embracing the radical left socialist agenda

The FVCC trustees have “embraced” false ideologies and these false ideologies are readily found on the campus and on the college website. It is not bad that the college makes these false ideologies available for students to study so long as they are countered by an equal and opposite view.

The bad part is the trustees have allowed FVCC to embrace these false ideologies and to force-feed them to the students. The FVCC offers no counter to the false ideologies it promotes. Thus, under the present trustees … all of them … the FVCC has become a church promoting its own religion … and you pay for it.

Yet, all incumbent trustee candidates firmly deny these things exist on the FVCC campus. Politically blind trustees are a threat to FVCC and to Montana.

The present trustees have forced their own liberal ideology on FVCC Students:

• Embrace anti-Christian, Earth Worship religion
• Embrace anti-science, Global Warming religion
• Embrace anti-economic, Carbon Footprint brainwashing.

The present trustees accuse me of being extreme right wing. I support our Constitution which I view as being in the middle. Present trustees, therefore, think our Constitution is an extreme right wing document. This proves they are extreme left-wing liberals.

(Maybe some trustees who are conservatives. If so, they should make a statement showing how they disagree with the majority. Lacking a statement, I conclude all trustees are far-left, liberal, socialists.)

FVCC trustees have fallen for the communist plan to control our schools. The plan is described in We’re all Communists Now:

Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

Stalin famously said of education, “Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Public education in America began in the 1830s expressing egalitarian ideas, but in less than 30 years was utterly corrupted by socialists under education unions like the National Education Association, or NEA, and the American Federation of Teachers, or AFT.

Progressive education was purposely centralized to dumb down society through state-controlled education atheism, anti-American propaganda and a de-emphasis on history, philosophy, religion and objective “truth,” which communists define as “anything that will promote communism.” Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, recently said that up to 80 percent of all public schools will fail within a year. Textbooks have been absolutely compromised and perverted.

These are the forces that are subtly controlling the ideology of FVCC, thanks to the present trustees.

Yes, the system is broken and it urgently needs fixing. I will vote to stop these ideologies from being forced on the students. With these diversions out of the way, we can work to improve the quality of education at FVCC. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do.

This trustee election is not about which candidates win or lose. This trustee election is about whether the voters in Flathead County, Montana, will rally to take back their schools and colleges from communist control in 2011.

At stake is the minds and hearts of future Americans.

At stake is the America we used to know.

FVCC needs new trustees to enhance and further develop a college experiences for students.  Accomplishment number one has been achieved in Flathead County with the evaporation of apathy during the sort term campaigning for the May 3 election of FVCC board of trustees.  It just may be a record turnout for this year’s school elections.

However, in all the flurry let’s keep our eye on the ball.  Our goal and objective should be updating and expanding the scope [...]]]> by Clarice Ryan

FVCC needs new trustees to enhance and further develop a college experiences for students.  Accomplishment number one has been achieved in Flathead County with the evaporation of apathy during the sort term campaigning for the May 3 election of FVCC board of trustees.  It just may be a record turnout for this year’s school elections.

However, in all the flurry let’s keep our eye on the ball.  Our goal and objective should be updating and expanding the scope of educational opportunity to meet the demands of the job market.  It is the prospective employers as well as the entrepreneur investor who are the ultimate consumers of the product of the education system.  Education must provide the curriculum that equips students with these skills and technologies needed in a very competitive world-wide market place.

Once in office trustees must avoid becoming so focused on human and political complexities of managing and financing overall operation that they lose sight of the interests of the students.  Students invest in college courses for a variety of reasons.  There are some who simply seek enrichment of their lives through broadening their interests, insight and skills.  More critical are those seeking expertise to better themselves by qualifying for higher income levels.  A balance of both would be ideal.

It is unfortunate here in Montana that we find ourselves at the bottom economically nationwide in per capita income.  Especially in science and math, about 50% of our students entering universities require remedial courses at personal expense and time which should have been provided in tax-supported K through 12 levels. Our country unfortunately rates very low academically with other developed countries.

Dr. Ed Berry revealed there are currently six position openings in advanced technological fields in Bozeman with salary range of $80,000 to $120,000 per year for which there appear to be no qualified applicants available in the state of Montana.  He indicated that a 2-year college could have provided the needed training.  For over 25 years we have been hearing and reading in such publications as the Wall Street Journal about the tremendous shortage of qualified people to fill high paying management and technical positions in America.  A Professor once told me that we have young people who are very smart, but uneducated.  Qualified people are being brought in from other countries to meet the industry needs.

Unfortunately in Montana there is a shortage of businesses offering this type of opportunity.   Here again it gets back to education as well as policies providing a healthy business environment.  Voters may be electing to office people who themselves might have benefited from more extensive business background and philosophy.  As we allow increasing federal intrusions through land acquisition, and close down of energy and natural resources the economy and business opportunities in our state declines.  Ever changing and more intrusive federal policies discourage job-creating capital investment.

Our elected officials have failed in assuring a more secure and healthy environment for new business and industry.

Our education system supports the primary philosophy of ever more federal government funding with increasing control and involvement.  As long as our universities produce graduates indoctrinated with socialistic philosophies it is a deterrent to our free enterprise system.  Profit motivated business and industry has been stymied.

To save our state from further decline we must take steps toward greater emphasis on business administration, management and marketing.  Socialism will continue to creep in as long as colleges idealize governments as the ultimate provider while private enterprise, essentially being in competition, is suppressed.  Taxpayers will become the servants of the government as opposed to government serving the people as intended by our Constitution.

Flathead Valley Community College would benefit from having new college trustees bringing to the classroom fresh new ideas, perspectives and philosophies to compliment and enhance the education program already in place.  It would provide students with additional choices and opportunities to broaden their perspectives as well as equipping them to better provide for their own needs and destinies.

My Qualifications

I will bring to FVCC an emphasis on self reliance, pursuit of [...]]]> by Ed Berry

My Qualifications

• BS, Engineering, Caltech
• MA, Physics, Dartmouth
• PhD, Physics, U of Nevada, Reno
• Certified Consulting Meteorologist
• Taught university physics, grad and undergrad
• Managed government weather research projects
• Consulted in top secret DOD projects
• Started and grew high-tech innovative businesses
• Received national software awards
• U of Nevada Professional Achievement Award
• Pilot: glider, single engine, instrument
• National and world champion sailor
• Sigma Delta Psi National Honorary Athletic Society

I will bring to FVCC an emphasis on self reliance, pursuit of excellence, and quality education. I also bring accountability to voters and taxpayers.

Here are some of the areas where the current Board of Trustees has violated Montana Code Annotated (MCA):

MCA 20-15-227 Note: A trustee is guilty until proved innocent.

• Anyone may seek removal of a community college trustee by filing a complaint with the County Commissioners
• If a complaint appears to be a probable cause for removal …
• The County Commissioners shall suspend the trustee until charges can be heard in the appropriate district court.

Count #1: Trustees did not announce trustee nominations.

• Therefore, Nystuen vote is invalid because no opponent.

Count #2: Trustees chose Lund one month before election. Fraud.

• Conflict of interest action. Cause for immediate suspension.

Count #3: Trustees use FVCC photos & property for personal use.

• Cause for immediate suspension.

Count #4: Trustees did not do proper audit of public money.

• Cause for immediate suspension.

Count #5: Trustees have apparent or real conflict of interest.

• Two Banks represented
• Non-diverse, far left, Liberal political representation

Count #6: Trustees did not censure McElwain for 4-month absence.

• McElwain admitted he was absent longer than 60 days.
• McElwain is legally off board.
  
• Trustees must be suspended for violation of Oath.
• Therefore, Bigfork-Whitefish District has 3 openings, not 2.
• Berry, Horst & Wehe are elected automatically.

Count #7: FVCC & Trustees run their own election.

• Set election policy to suit selves.
• Conflict of interest.
  
• Cause for immediate trustee suspension.

Count #8: Kalispell-Glacier District should have only one election.

• MCA suggests 3-year and 2-year terms shall be combined.
• Nystuen, Lund, Hebert, Baldwin must be on same ballot.
• Nystuen, Lund disqualified by suspension.
• Therefore, Hebert & Baldwin are elected automatically.

Count #9: Trustees held secret meeting at FVCC on April 8.

• Used meeting to plan attack on challengers.
• Nystuen claims there was no meeting.
• All trustees must be suspended.
  

Required Action:

1. County Commissioners and Sheriff must do their job.
2. All incumbent trustees must be suspended immediately.
3. Berry, Horst & Wehe automatically elected in B-W District.
4. Baldwin & Hebert automatically elected in K-G District.

Trustees have caused the following problems:

• Approved construction outside budget, favoring bankers.
• Expanded enrollment at the expense of quality education.
• Implemented policies that dumb-down American students:
  • 19th of 21 nations in math
  • 16th in science
  • Dead last in physics!

• They forced their own liberal ideology on FVCC Students:
  • Embrace anti-Christian, Earth Worship religion
  • Embrace anti-science, Global Warming religion
  • Embrace anti-economic, Carbon Footprint brainwashing.
  • Trustees do not understand they have a liberal bias.

Comments

Resident: I have lived in the Flathead continuously since 1979, and this is the first public election that I can remember for FVCC Trustees.

Challengers done more for FVCC in bringing public attention to the Trustee nominations than trustees have done for FVCC in 10 years.

Reasons to Elect Ed Berry:

• I am the only trustee nominee who can bring needed perspective in math, science, engineering, physics & high-tech business.
• I look forward to helping FVCC grow in academic excellence and to benefit Flathead Valley and Montana.

Complaint #1. The FVCC trustees improperly used photos owned by the FVCC for their personal campaign, including a full-page color advertisement in a local newspaper. Mixing college property with personal property is a breach of their trustee duties. Montana Code Annotated 20-15-225 says trustees shall hold in trust all real and personal property of the district for the [...]]]> Kalispell, MT: April 27, 2011. Dr. Ed Berry presented 4 citizen complaints against incumbent FVCC trustees this morning to the Flathead County Commissioners.

Complaint #1. The FVCC trustees improperly used photos owned by the FVCC for their personal campaign, including a full-page color advertisement in a local newspaper. Mixing college property with personal property is a breach of their trustee duties. Montana Code Annotated 20-15-225 says trustees shall hold in trust all real and personal property of the district for the benefit of the college and students. MCA 20-15-226 says trustees are responsible for the proper administration of all FVCC money and failure to do so is grounds for removal from office. The trustees must be removed from office and votes for them on May 3 must not be counted.

Complaint #2. The Board’s financial audit, managed by Glacier Bank President, Trustee Chairman Nystuen is inadequate. A proper audit would show how much money is flowing between the FVCC and Glacier Bank and Rocky Mountain Bank. Trustee Shannon Lund is the wife of the Branch President of Rocky Mountain Bank. Trustees must not have even an apparent conflict of interest. A banker has an apparent conflict of interest.

Complaint #3. Trustee McElwain was not present for trustee meetings in December 2010, January 2011, February 2011, and March 2011. Montana Code Annotated 20-15-228 says being absent from the district 60 consecutive days is grounds for removal. The minutes do not discuss whether McElwain returned to the district during those 4 months, but they should have. Lacking discussion, we must assume McElwain violated MCA 20-15-228 and must be removed from the board. In addition, all trustees should be removed for not policing their members.

Complaint #4. The Trustees did not properly announce openings for trustee nominations according to MCA 20-15-205. They published a notice of the May 3 election on March 13, 2011, but they did not announce openings for trustee nominations. The notice was published only once while trustee nominations must be published for 3 consecutive weeks. This blatant disregard of the law helped trustees to maintain their insider control of the board. It violates our fundamental right to open elections and requires they be removed from the board.

Montana Code Annotated 20-15-227 says any person may seek removal of a community college trustee by filing a complaint with the board of county commissioners, and if a complaint appears to be a probable cause for removal, the county commissioners shall suspend the trustee from the trustee position until charges can be heard in the appropriate district court.

Mark Holston, an incumbent Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) Trustee, is leading a campaign defending all incumbent FVCC Trustees against every non-incumbent candidate in the May 3, 2011 election.  Holston was appointed by “acclamation” of the incumbent Board.  I have lived in the Flathead continuously since 1979, and this is the first public election that I can remember for FVCC Trustees.

Holston charges all non-incumbent trustee candidates with having extreme political agendas, and he claims their “philosophies are so [...]]]> by Fred Hodgeboom

Mark Holston, an incumbent Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) Trustee, is leading a campaign defending all incumbent FVCC Trustees against every non-incumbent candidate in the May 3, 2011 election.  Holston was appointed by “acclamation” of the incumbent Board.  I have lived in the Flathead continuously since 1979, and this is the first public election that I can remember for FVCC Trustees.

Holston charges all non-incumbent trustee candidates with having extreme political agendas, and he claims their “philosophies are so far out of the mainstream” (Missoulian, April 21, 2011, Article by Tristen Scott).   Holston didn’t cite any evidence to support his opinion, but if there is anyone that has “out of the mainstream” political agendas it is Mark Holston.

Holston was soundly defeated when he ran for State Senate in 2008, but he disclosed his core beliefs when he wrote a scathing editorial diatribe in the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake May 1, 2009.    Holston stereotyped Flathead County voters who rejected Obama for President as “hate based”, and that Flathead County has the “regressive character” of “a racist society” comparable to Rhodesia.

Holston’s disclosure of the depth of his biases did not deter his loyal political base who elected (appointed) him Chairman of the Flathead County Democratic Party for 2010.  Under Holston’s self-perceived “mainstream” leadership not a single Democratic candidate was elected in 2010!

Holston’s current stereotyping attack of all non-incumbent candidates and defense of all incumbents is evidence that the current Board of Trustees is not representative of Flathead Valley mainstream.   I think it is about time there was an open contested public election of FVCC Trustees with honest public dialogue concerning FVCC’s future financial stability and quality educational issues, rather than cronyism and propaganda campaigns.

See the 4th and 5th columns, No. 17771 and 17772.

This was the only announcement FVCC placed in the public legal notices before April 4, 2011, according to The Daily Inter Lake.

This announcement fails to satisfy the legal requirement for the FVCC to announce openings [...]]]> Here is a copy of the Legal Notice the FVCC published in The Daily Inter Lake on March 13, 2011. We must show this in 3 pages because of the size of a page in the newspaper:

See the 4th and 5th columns, No. 17771 and 17772.

This was the only announcement FVCC placed in the public legal notices before April 4, 2011, according to The Daily Inter Lake.

This announcement fails to satisfy the legal requirement for the FVCC to announce openings for trustee nominations for two reasons. The relevant law is Montana Code Annotated 20-15-205.

MCA 20-15-205. Call for nominations of trustee candidates and notice.

(1) A call for nominations of trustee candidates for the proposed community college district shall be made by the regents.

This paragraph (1) says the regents must call for nominations of candidates because the college district does not yet exist. This paragraph does not modify the scope or title of MCA 20-15-205 and it is independent of paragraph (2).

Paragraph (2) applies to all calls for nominations, by the regents or by the college:

(2) Notice of the call for nominations shall be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in each county or any portion of a county included in the proposed community college district once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, the last insertion to be no less than 5 weeks prior to the date of the election. Such notice shall describe the geographical composition of the board of trustees membership, nomination procedure, and the proposal for the organization of a community college district.

Paragraph (2) describes the criteria for a legal call for nominations, both for a proposed college and for an existing college. It says the last insertion must be at least 5 weeks before the election and the fist insertion must be 2 weeks before the last insertion, or at least 7 weeks before the election.

The 2011 election is on May 3. Seven weeks before May 3 is March 15. The FVCC placed its notice of the election on May 3 in The Daily Interlake on March 13.

However this FVCC ad does not qualify as a proper call for trustee nominations because

(a) the ad is a notification of election, not a call for trustee nominations and

(b) the ad was not followed by 2 successive ads each week.

Therefore, the FVCC did not call for trustee nominations as required by law in 2011, and most likely did not call for trustee nominations ever since the formation of the college.

Unless the FVCC can prove it did previous calls for trustee nominations in prior years then all the trustee elections are invalid and all present trustees are responsible for not reading and obeying the law regarding announcing openings for trustee nominations. They may be holding their offices illegally.

Therefore, the trustees appointment of Shannon Lund to replace Trustee Englebretson in March 2011 may be invalid and she may be improperly representing herself as one of the incumbents.

(1) The board of trustees of any community college district may:

(a) purchase, lease, build, enlarge, alter, or repair school buildings and dormitories; (b) furnish and equip buildings; (c) purchase sites for buildings; (d) issue, refund, sell, budget, and redeem the bonds of the district in accordance with the provisions of chapter 9, part 4, of this title.

(2) The board of trustees of a community college district may [...]]]> 20-15-301. Sources of financing for and types of capital expenditures.

(1) The board of trustees of any community college district may:

(a) purchase, lease, build, enlarge, alter, or repair school buildings and dormitories;
(b) furnish and equip buildings;
(c) purchase sites for buildings;
(d) issue, refund, sell, budget, and redeem the bonds of the district in accordance with the provisions of chapter 9, part 4, of this title.

(2) The board of trustees of a community college district may borrow money for the purposes of this section and repay the obligations from the various revenues of the college.

A community college trustee may be removed if the trustee:

(1) moves the trustee’s residence from the applicable community college district;

(2) is no longer a registered elector of the community college district under the provisions of 20-20-301;

(3) is absent from the district 60 consecutive days;

(4) fails to attend three consecutive meetings of the trustees without reasonable cause;

(5) fails to perform responsibilities in accordance with 20-15-226; or

(6) ceases to have the capacity to hold office.