Official Will Resign College District Post : Education: The vice chancellor, sentenced recently for beating his wife, will take a teaching job.

The vice chancellor of the Ventura County Community College District, sentenced to 60 days in jail recently for beating his wife, will resign his post to take a teaching job with the district, officials said Thursday.

Tom Kimberling will vacate his $88,698-a-year job June 30 when his administrative contract expires, Chancellor Barbara Derryberry said. At that time, he will begin teaching at Ventura Community College, she said.

Derryberry declined to elaborate on the details of Kimberling’s decision to resign or to disclose what subject he will teach, saying that he will make a formal announcement at the board of trustees meeting Tuesday.

Kimberling, 44, is entitled to a teaching position--for which he will be paid about half of his current salary--under the terms of his contract, Derryberry said. Moreover, any administrator is entitled to a teaching job under the bylaws of the college district, she said.

Kimberling has served as vice chancellor of administrative services since 1987. He previously was employed as an administrator at Saddleback Community College in Orange County.

Kimberling could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Last week, the district’s board of trustees voted in closed session to ask Kimberling to resign because of its concern over his management of district funds during the past year.

“The board just felt it was time for new leadership,” board President Timothy Hirschberg said Thursday of the board’s action.

The board’s decision had nothing to do with Kimberling’s personal problems, Hirschberg said.

Hirschberg and Trustee Greg Kampf said they had not talked with Kimberling about his plans to resign. They said, however, that they would not be opposed to him taking a teaching job with the district.

“If he resigns, he has a legal right to a teaching position,” Kampf said. “He certainly would be granted that opportunity.”

“Tom has a lot of good qualities that would be of some value in the classroom,” Hirschberg said.

The trustees said an acting vice chancellor will probably be appointed in the interim while the district searches for a permanent replacement.

Kimberling’s troubles began last year when his office came under fire from some college officials for approving district travel expenses for Trustee Tom Ely, who is scheduled to be tried in Superior Court next week for allegedly filing more than $15,000 in false travel claims.

In December, college officials learned that the district might have to pay the Internal Revenue Service $65,000 in penalties and interest because of a bookkeeping error made by a payroll employee under Kimberling’s supervision.

More recently, questions have emerged over whether Moorpark College and its private foundation improperly juggled funds to pay $25,000 to two employees. District officials said they are trying to determine if the money was funneled from the college through the foundation to circumvent union contract restrictions.

Kimberling’s problems were compounded last month when he was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of spousal battery. His wife, Ann Kimberling, said her husband punched her in the nose and mouth and tried to force a stuffed animal into her mouth in an attempt to suffocate her.

Kimberling was sentenced Friday to the two-month jail sentence, which he is scheduled to begin serving June 17.

Kimberling has applied for a work furlough that would allow him to continue working on the condition that he spend nights and weekends in jail.