Thursday 4/16 Union Tribune article: Gandara's letter requesting removal of SWC employee

Read this article in the Our Region section of SD UNION TRIBUNE.


http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/16/1m16college231241-five-southwestern-may-lose-jobs/?uniontrib/

Five at Southwestern may lose jobs
College is retaliating against him, one says
By Tanya Sierra (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. April 16, 2009

CHULA VISTA — Five Southwestern College employees were on the verge of losing their jobs late last night, and a number of other positions were to be reclassified under a proposed reorganization that would save $1.5 million.

The college's board of directors was being asked to eliminate 16 positions, six of which are vacant. Five others would be reassigned. The positions being eliminated include a secretary, a performing arts coordinator, a Web technologist and the directors of outreach, of community and media relations, and of grants and development.

Several faculty and staff members were not able to provide input on the proposed reorganization, the details of which were released to them on Monday.

One administrator slated to lose his job, Fernando Poveda, who is the director of outreach, said he was the target of retaliation for exposing two of his colleagues in a sexual-harassment scandal that shook up the campus last summer.

Martha Jiminez, an office worker, had said in a complaint that she had sex with an administrator to keep her job and that two other administrators sexually harassed her.

Two high-ranking officials, Arthur Lopez and Greg Sandoval, lost their jobs as a result of the allegations, and the college was later named in lawsuits.

Sandoval is a board member with the Sweetwater Union High School District.

Last night, Poveda, who has been at the college for 18 years, passed out copies of a June 12, 2008, letter calling for him to be removed from his position. The letter was written by Jesus Gandara, superintendent of the Sweetwater school district.

In the letter that Gandara wrote to Southwestern College Superintendent Raj Chopra, Gandara said Poveda was causing trouble.

“As you know, Mr. Poveda and his allegations against Mr. Sandoval are now at the center of a great deal of public controversy, all to the detriment of both of our institutions,” the letter reads. “I must insist that you assign another staff person to take the place of Mr. Poveda. In addition, I ask that Mr. Poveda's replacement be someone who has not been, is not, and not likely to be, supervised by him.”