RIO HONDO : Instructor Agrees to Resign in Settlement
A controversial Rio Hondo Community College instructor accused of slandering an administrator and engaging in other improper activities has agreed to resign, college officials said.
Joe Criscione, 44, a geology instructor for 14 years at the college, said the college agreed to pay him cash as part of the settlement, but he would not reveal details. He said, however, that his resignation did not constitute an admission of guilt.
Tim Wood, the college’s interim president, refused to discuss the agreement, saying employee matters are confidential.
At Criscione’s hearing in April, the college’s board of trustees read the charges, including allegations that Criscione falsely accused a male dean of sexual harassment, forged a California Faculty Assn. officer’s signature and wrote a threatening letter to a fellow instructor. Criscione denied the accusations.
The hearings were conducted in public at his request. Several students who attended said the popular instructor should be allowed to keep his job.
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