PORT ANGELES — Three Peninsula College nursing instructors’ retirements and another’s resignation were related, according to college President Luke Robins, but won’t be explained by the college administration.
Robins told the Peninsula Daily News that concerns for the former faculty members and an undisclosed number of their students prevented his accounting for their actions.
“There are some things we won’t talk about in the media or to the public,” Robins said Wednesday.
“What we’re talking about here has to do with personnel matters and student performance that are protected. We’re constrained in what we can talk about.
“We’re trying to protect the interests of the students and, frankly, of the faculty who were engaged in this.”
Robins declined to say how many students were involved but said at least one of them was represented by an attorney.
The PDN learned July 15 that Kathy Craven, former director of the nursing program, and instructors Bonnie Rathod and Cheryl McCurdy had retired, and instructor Bonnie Bulach had resigned.
None of the instructors, who shared 64 years of experience, made her actions public.
Craven’s letter was dated June 2; Bulach’s and McCurdy’s, June 3; Rathod’s, June 4.
Bulach and Rathod could not be reached for comment, and Craven and McCurdy did not answer the PDN’s requests to explain why they had left the college.
None of the instructors attended the program’s June 20 ceremony when 17 nursing students graduated.
The letters, as a college spokeswoman, Kari Desser, previously had said, did not cite reasons for the actions.
“Are they related? Yeah, they’re related,” Robins told the PDN, but he declined to discuss how they were linked “because those have to do with student records.”
New director
The college has replaced Craven with Barbara Nubile, who will retire July 31 as director of nursing and associate dean for health sciences at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., and serve as interim director of the Peninsula College nursing program.
“We were very fortunate to find someone with her preparation and experience as the interim director,” Robins said.
Peninsula College also has fully staffed the nursing program, he said, and all scheduled nursing classes will be taught.
Eighteen second-year students had been apprised of the changes, Robins said.
As of mid-July, 23 new students had been accepted into the program.
Some of the replacement instructors had been part-time faculty members, he said, while others previously had been candidates for employment.
“Our intent is to move the program forward, and we’re taking the steps to ensure that,” Robins said.
“We’re focused on having a high-quality program and maintaining a high-quality program, and we intend for it to continue in that vein of excellence.
“What happened is in the past, and what we’ve got to have happen is to move forward.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
