Houlton students feel cheated

We are students attending Houlton Adult Education. We are taking the Certified Nurses Aide Course. This course is an accelerated course designed to put people to work rapidly in the health-care profession. We the students of this class assume that the school, the health-care professionals in Houlton, as well as the community in which we will seek work, would want as highly qualified, motivated, and dynamic a person to teach this course as they could get. However, this is not the case.

Houlton Regional Hospital has a contract with Houlton Adult Education to provide the hospital for the hands-on portion of the Certified Nurses Aide Course. During our second week of the course, roughly halfway through our textbook, the school fired our instructor. They didn’t fire her for incompetence, absenteeism, insubordination, striking a student, or any type of failure to perform her duties.

Her credentials are impeccable, which can be proven anywhere in the health-care profession. She was fired because the administration of Houlton Regional Hospital demanded it. They gave an ultimatum to Houlton Adult Education that if Bonnie taught this class, none of her students would be allowed to perform the clinical portion of the course at the hospital. Furthermore, that none of us would be considered for hire by this institution.

This action is due to a problem between our instructor, a former employee of the hospital, and the administration of the hospital. She has already had them in court and won once. The administration at that time admitted the excellent qualifications that our instructor possesses.

We feel that we are being cheated out of top-quality training. This lady’s manner of teaching is unique. She makes it a pleasure to be learning and her vast experience qualifies her opinions and gives her credibility. We also feel that things are getting out of hand when the administration of Houlton Hospital can decide, when they don’t like a person, whether that person can teach, work, and live in this community or county.

We, as students, feel that we have been personally interfered with morally, mentally, ethically, and financially. The health-care profession, which should have the highest ethical standards of any profession in this community, should not tolerate actions such as these. Bradley Bean Wilfred Ruliffison The Class of 1990 Certified Nurses Aide Course Houlton