Correction: An initial version of this story contained a misspelling of the name of Suzanne Engelhardt. It has since been corrected.
Former LBCC counselor, who was fired after an incident at the 2022 graduation ceremony, choked up as she revealed she finally found full-time employment at Saddleback College after being fired from LBCC in Sept. 2022.
“I applied all across the state. A whole year without income, completing applications, and receiving rejection notifications. Three interviews. The first two were ‘nos.’ The third one was finally ‘yes’,” Kashara Moore said.
Moore mispronounced a graduate’s name at the 2022 graduation ceremony and then nudged her elbow in the direction of the graduate.
The investigative report summary deemed that Moore did mispronounce Carmina Barraza’s name, the nudging motion likely caused contact and the elbow was intentional due to the unnatural position of Moore’s elbow.
This resulted in her termination with the Board of Trustees voting 3-2.
Faculty put together a petition that received over 1000 votes supporting Moore.
Moore took the chance to thank some of the people who helped her get a position at an institution again.
“I’m so grateful to Dr. (Eliott) Stern (president at Saddleback College) for giving me a chance in the community college system again,” said Moore. “I still love LBCC. My heart is in Long Beach. I have a full time job now, but still want to come back.”
Moore showed up to LBCC in support of her former coworkers protesting at the latest Board of Trustee meeting over the lack of a new contract for faculty.
“There was a conflict. Some people have their names said wrong every day. (Moore) didn’t see her. There was nobody on that stage to help both of them,” said Suzanne Engelhardt, LBCC Faculty Association and leader of the protest.
Moore summed up the incident as a misunderstanding and having no hard feelings over the decision.
“If they can do it again, I hope they can make it different. I hold no ill will,” said Moore.