Local News in Brief : College Official Ousted

Virginia Mulrooney has been forced out of her post as the vice chancellor for human resources of the Los Angeles Community College District with an $87,000 settlement, officials said. The move is viewed as the biggest shake-up in the nine-campus district since the forced retirement of Chancellor Leslie Koltai in October.

Before becoming one of three vice chancellors in 1984, Mulrooney was head of the district’s American Federation of Teachers local and was the number two official in the statewide union. Her switch to the administration produced some resentment and her subsequent identification as a Koltai ally during teacher layoffs two years ago contributed to union pressure on district trustees for her removal, board sources said.

According to details of a settlement announced Tuesday, Mulrooney immediately begins a paid leave of absence through the end of the school year and is guaranteed a job as a history teacher at either West Los Angeles College or Los Angeles Valley College next year. She will also receive a $75,000 cash settlement, plus $12,000 for accrued vacation.

Mulrooney angrily called her departure the result of “a corrupt bargain” between the majority of the trustees and the union. She said she would make a further statement at today’s board of trustees meeting.