The dismissal of Regan Romali was voted upon by the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees during a closed session meeting on Wednesday, March 4.
Reporting on the closed session items was diverted to board counsel.
It was announced during agenda item 1.6, which included the subject of “Dismissal: Superintendent-President”, in which three motions were passed.
The motions were all from trustee Doug Otto, one motion was seconded by trustee Udak-Joe Ntuk with a vote of 4-1 and a “nay” vote from trustee Sunny Zia; the second motion was seconded by trustee Ntuk with a vote of 4-1 and a “nay” vote from trustee Zia, the third motion was seconded by trustee Virginia Baxter with a vote of 5-0. No details were released on what exactly was being voted on.
In an email response to the Signal Tribune regarding a statement from LBCC, Associate Director for the Office of Communications Stacey Toda said, “The district is declining the opportunity to comment at this time.”
Though district declined to comment on the matter, Romali’s dismissal occurred the same week a Long Beach Post article reported that the LBCC’s board accused Romali of alleged corruption, retaliation and misuse of public funds.
Romali began her leadership position at LBCC in May 2017 after Eloy Ortiz Oakley left LBCC in December 2016 to become Chancellor of the California Community College System.
Prior to LBCC, Romali was the president of Harry S. Truman College, in Chicago, since July 2011.
The Signal Tribune also reached LBCC board president Vivian Malauulu with questions about the dismissal, but she has not responded as of press time.
There is more to this story. I am an employee at LBCC, and I have witnessed corruption on this campus. They have misused a district option for working “out-of-class,” which was intended for very temporary work changes such as medical leave to allow employees to be promoted without going through the rigorous hiring process. I was abused by an “out-of-class,” manager for two years. This person didn’t even have a BA degree and was paid significantly more in this promotion with taxpayer dollars. This person received many complaints from students, but LBCC has done nothing to address this. The only reason this person was removed after two years was I finally broke down and complained to human resources. And this is only my experience.
Reagan Romali’s termination exposes a dark underbelly to the corruption of this college. It is important to not use her as a scapegoat until all the information has come forward. It is very possible she had witnessed corruption from the Board of Trustees. We need the media to listen and report more to students and staff about this corrupt institution of higher education. This is how your tax dollars are being spent, and the only way corruption will decline is if they know extra eyes are on them.
Hi Amanda,
While I agree that the media should report unbiased news, I disagree with your statement of Reagan Romali witnessing LBCC’s Board of trustees being corrupt.
I think its the other way around, staff/community most likely filed a complaint with the board, and it’s the Board’s duty to investigate-and through the investigation they most likely found misconduct and or misappropriation-which is why she was fired. If she were wrongfully fired, they’d have a huge lawsuit on their hands, in which the public would definitely protest against misuse of tax payer funds, and I don’t think they’d risk their reputaion over a few dimes and favors.. These are elected and trusted officials of the community, not to mention lifetime residents. They’re not career politicians where some politicians are seen as corrupt like your current congress/president. They’re educators, like yourself. Virginia Baxter has been a big part of LBCC, she fund raises for scholarships, takes out seniors on oversea travels, and many other great things. She tag teams w/ Sunny Zia to help students that have food insecurities and homelessness. Doug Otto who’s trade is an attorney does pro bono work for the community and helped mapped out the transit system for LB. Joe Ntuk is new to me, but following him close on his achievements, he gives everyone a fair opportunity. I once had a conversation w/ him at the LB carwash, this man took time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about where LBCC is headed and hoped to create a more diverse, transparent environment. Vivian Malauulu is a mom first, then educator, active in her local union, commissioner for the Y, represents/fights for all ethnic diversities and manages to keep LBCC honest/transparent by leading the firing of Reagan Romali. I trust the process and in time, the truth will prevail. I can’t imagine how hard this decision must of been for them, especially through accreditation, and the start of the semester.
I think you confused corrupt w/ favoritism. It sounds like your old manager was chosen because of favoritism and not because they’re corruption.