Gillette looks at separating college from NWCCD

Campbell County Commissioner Rusty Bell expects a “very large contingent from Gillette” to be at Wednesday night’s college board meeting in Sheridan on the heels of a proposal to separate Gillette College from the Northern Wyoming Community College District.

Campbell County commissioners in a meeting Monday asked county staff to start investigating the procedure to withdraw Gillette College from the Northern Wyoming district. The action came in the wake of an announcement that athletic activities would be cut from Sheridan and Gillette colleges in the coming year to help balance the college district’s budget.

Bell predicted the meeting Wednesday will be emotional.

Bell and a representative of the Gillette College Foundation are both on the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting, and he said he thinks the Foundation will bring a really good plan on how to keep the college programs this year.

He said he thinks the fear is that the college district trustees won’t accept the proposal that the Foundation will offer.

Bell said around 100 to 150 people packed the Campbell County commissioners’ meeting Monday, and there was a very united voice calling for solutions this year.

He said the commissioners, and others, were disappointed in the lack of communication in the district’s decision to cut the athletic programs. He said he didn’t see any similar cuts at colleges elsewhere in the state.