Long Beach City College faces a $10 million claim filed by former superintendent-president Reagan Romali, who was fired in 2020 amid both allegations of misconduct done during her presidency at LBCC, and her own allegations of misconduct levied against members of the board of trustees.
The $10 million claim alleges that Romali’s firing was retaliatory in response to her filing a whistleblower claim against specific members of the LBCC board of trustees and a damage to her reputation that has caused her to be unable to find work at the same level that she had been.
Board President Uduak-Joe Ntuk, who represents Area 1, made a statement regarding the claim.
“There is no justification for the arbitration claims against LBCCD, ​Trustee Malauulu or myself; they were independently investigated two years ago and found to have no merit,” Ntuk said.
The investigation referred to by Ntuk references a whistleblower claim made against the college by Romali, listing Trustees Ntuk and Vivian Malauulu in specific; with claims of defamation, retaliation and gender discrimination.
In the statement, Trustee Ntuk said that the claim would be handled in the same way as the lawsuit against Trustee Sunny Zia, with the cost having no monetary impact to the school’s general funds or student services.
Louis J. Cohen, an attorney representing Romali, called Ntuk’s statement a “Typical Ntuk misdirection.”
“It’s a plain and simple whistleblower retaliatory case” Cohen said, referring to Romali’s termination as “vindictive” and that they believe that the investigation against her had come up with nothing.
Cohen claims that the timeline of her termination is suspicious as well, with Long Beach Post’s reporter Jason Ruiz publishing a story on the whistleblower claim on March 2, Trustee Ntuk requesting the whistleblower ledger from Romali on March 3 (which was provided) and Romali being terminated from her position on March 4.
“If you look at the timeline, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is relatitory,” Cohen said.
The LBCC board of trustees does have its share of allegations against Romali as well, including multiple claims of misconduct and inappropriate use of a staff member.
An investigation performed by the board of trustees alleges to have uncovered the following allegations against Romali; including derogatory comments regarding an employee’s sexuality, saying she is unable to fire a gay Black man because he was protected by two identity classifications, allegedly managing other staff’s styling choices as not to compete with her own and calling a dean in her employ “hot.”
Romali is also alleged to have used a staff member for personal errands including babysitting, automotive service, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, and adoption assistance, which the board believes is inappropriate.
On the other side, Romali’s whistleblower claim alleges Brown Act violations, misuse of public funds and concerns over pay-for-play, done by Trustees Ntuk and Malauulu, which Romali had reported to the police in August of 2019, according to Cohen.
Both sides believe the other side’s investigation findings have no merit.
Stacey Toda, Associate Director of Public Relations and Marketing for LBCC, stated that the college gives no comment on pending litigation.
Trustee Sunny Zia, representing Area 3, gave no comment on the situation, but differed to the spokesperson of the board for comment.
Trustee Vivian Malauulu, representing Area 2, gave no comment on the situation at this time.
Trustee Virginia Baxter, representing Area 5, gave no comment on the situation at this time.