Former PCC Superintendent President Dr. Rocha Gets New Settlement Deal — Identical to the Penny — of the Original

Former Pasadena City College Superintendent President Dr. Mark Rocha will be paid the exact same $419,836 as he was in his original severance deal as the result of  a new settlement agreement with the College’s Board of Trustees.

In April, a Los Angeles Superior court judge nixed Rocha’s original severance payout ruling that Rocha and the Board of Trustees had violated the Brown Act when they did not list his severance package negotiations in closed sessions agenda records.

The court’s ruling came in a case a lawsuit brought against the Board of Trustees and Rocha by the non-profit group Californians Aware, which accused Board of violating state open-meeting laws and demanded the severance payout be nullified.

A judge agreed and in May nullified the original agreement.

The financial terms of the latest agreement are exactly the same as the original agreement, according to documents. The new settlement agreement allows Rocha to keep  a sum equal to 18 months of his salary plus $16,000 in legal expenses.

Rocha will also receive  a letter of recommendation from the board.

The settlement agreement stipulates “neither party will make any further statements to the press about Dr. Rocha’s employment,” and that Rocha, the district and the board shall refrain from making any public statements to the public about the agreement.

Contacted by the Pasadena City College Courier student newspaper, Board President Berlinda Brown said in an email that the new agreement with Dr. Rocha “speaks for itself concerning what the parties agreed to do.”

“Beyond the foregoing, the district has no further comment regarding the agreement or the litigation,” Brown told the Courier.