By Michael Fortier
By Michael Fortier
Instructors were grading both students and college president Salvatore Rotella in June.
The Riverside Community College Chapter of the California’s Teachers Association sent survey results to the Board of Trustees on June 3 regarding Rotella’s performance as college president.
In a letter to the RCC Board of Trustees, former CTA president Dwight Lomayesva, he states, “We know the trustees did not ask for faculty input, but we believe that the college president’s evaluation should have included faculty input, since his decisions have a direct impact on both working conditions and morale.”
The problem was that only about a third of the faculty responded to the survey.
The total faculty response from the three colleges was 118.
New CTA president Karin Skiba said the survey was a factor in her defeat of Lomayesva during the CTA election in May.
“Most of the faculty was not in favor of the survey,” Skiba said. “Not a very large percentage of the faculty responded.”
The results of the survey were overwhelmingly negative toward Rotella’s performance.
One question had 68 percent of the response voting for RCC to seek a new president.
Other questions on the survey had 68 percent of the faculty rating Rotella below satisfactory and 66 percent voting “no confidence” in the president.
“A large number of faculty has a very different opinion of Rotella,” Skiba said.
“Not that much credence should be given to the survey. We should move forward,” she said.
Director of Marketing Jim Parsons also doubts the survey’s validity.
“I believe only a third of the faculty even responded, and it was done during contract negotiations,” he said.
Parsons also said that Rotella had no comment on the survey, only that he looks forward to working with the new CTA leaders this year.
As CTA president, Skiba said that a lot has been done and more is being planned.
“We just got a new contract, we’re going to be having an election for a new vice president and we’re revising our constitution which was written in 1997,” she said.
“There are so many new people involved in changing the nature of the CTA,” Skiba said. “The CTA is going to be a good, strong voice for the faculty.”
Lomayesva and former CTA vice president John Rosario did not return calls from Viewpoints to comment on the CTA survey.
