[img]1769|right|Dr. Mark Rocha||no_popup[/img]Dr. Mark Rocha, no stranger to skulking out of a town one step ahead of education vigilantes, is skulking out of town again, one step in front of educational vigilantes.
The other day, Pasadena City College announced its fiercely unpopular president was “retiring.” The Easter Bunny was on the announcer’s left. Santa, being the token conservative, was on the right.
All of the PCC people who believe that Doc Rocha is “retiring,” and of his own accord yet, climbed into a VW rumble seat. They were accompanied by their four favorite elephants.
Earlier this afternoon, Dr. Anthony Fellow, chair of the Board of Trustees, which backed Doc Rocha until they were at the ledge of the cliff, issued a 227-word statement “in response to press inquiries” that should get the doc hired at a small community college where no one reads the newspapers.
Reportedly, 27,000 students and hundreds of faculty members volunteered to drive Doc Rocha to the train station on his last day, Monday, Aug, 25.
Fittingly, that is the day the fall term starts. Doc Rocha, to the relief of many, will be going in an opposite direction.
Mr. Fellow said:
“The Board of Trustees of the Pasadena Area Community College District announced a week ago that Dr. Mark Rocha, Superintendent-President of the District and Pasadena City College, would retire from his position effective August 31, 2014. Dr. Anthony R. Fellow, President of the PACCD Board of Trustees, had the following comment regarding the terms of agreement between Dr. Rocha and the Board of Trustees:
“The terms of the severance package are in the best interests of all parties. The financial and other components are consistent with severance terms for U.S. chief executive officers overseeing organizations with budgets of over a hundred million dollars.
“Dr. Rocha was hired at a time when strong leadership was needed for the District. The college had had three presidents in as many years, infrastructure progress had stalled, and the state was suffering a severe financial crisis.
“Dr. Rocha completed long-stalled construction projects, saw reaffirmation of the college’s accreditation and won agreement on an educational master plan through shared governance. Despite challenges and concerns that Dr. Rocha faced from various college constituent groups, with the support of the Board, he continued in his mission to improve the college.
“After four years of dedicated service, the Board and Dr. Rocha agreed that his leadership had brought PCC to a place where the reins could be turned over and in order to maintain the momentum his leadership created, it is in the best interests of both the college and Dr. Rocha for him to retire from PCC to pursue teaching and writing.
“In the spirit of this mutual decision and in recognition of his service to the college, he and the Board reached agreement on terms for his retirement.
“The Board of Trustees congratulates Dr. Rocha on his achievements.”
