By EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
The former HR director of San Mateo County Community College District, who contacted the DA’s office before it began investigating Chancellor Ron Galatolo, was paid $2.28 million to quietly resign, according to a document obtained by the Post.
Now Eugene Whitlock is running for the college district’s board in November.
The Post filed a California Public Records Act request to obtain a separation agreement between Whitlock and the district that was signed in May. The agreement reveals the $2.28 million payout, which had not previously been disclosed by the college district.
Whitlock first went to the District Attorney’s Office in November 2018, and sat down for an interview with DA investigators on April 17, 2019, according to the agreement.
The agreement doesn’t say what he talked to the DA about.
The college district’s board announced on Aug. 12, 2019 that Galatolo, who had headed the district for 20 years, was stepping down as chancellor. The board gave him a new contract that pays $479,208 a year to serve as chancellor emeritus, but he was not allowed to return to any of the district’s three campuses.
Then, about two weeks later on Aug. 24, the Post reported that the DA had executed search warrants at the college district’s offices in connection with Galatolo. DA Steve Wagstaffe would only say he was investigating allegations of harassment and improper handling of construction contracts.
DA’s decision may come by late November
Wagstaffe said that his investigators are hoping to announce a decision about charges in the case by the end of November.
What connection Whitlock had to the DA’s investigation wasn’t clear yesterday. The DA isn’t commenting and Whitlock wouldn’t say more than repeat a boiler-plate statement that the agreement says he is supposed to give when questioned about his departure.
The agreement, signed by Whitlock, his wife and Galatolo’s successor, Mike Claire, gives three reasons for the hefty payout:
• $336,028 was paid to Whitlock last year as a severance payment;
• $971,986 is for an alleged physical injury;
• and $971,986 is for alleged “emotional distress, reputational harm and other intangible injuries.”
There is no further information in the agreement about Whitlock’s alleged injuries, but it does offer a hint as to why he was paid so much in severance.
Board wanted to offer an ‘olive branch’
About a year earlier, on April 26, 2019, the board sent Whitlock a letter saying it had decided to fire him “without cause,” and were doing so “as an olive branch, and an attempt to avoid a contentious dispute between us.” The letter was signed by then-board president Maurice Goodman, who still serves on the board and is up for re-election in November.
The letter also mentions that both Whitlock and the district will be entering mediation to resolve his “concerns” with the district.
That process ended with the separation agreement a year later in May.
The settlement agreement keeps Whitlock from suing the college district. It said that Whitlock had complained to several agencies about the district:
• The San Mateo County District Attorney’s office;
• The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR);
• California Department of Fair Employment and Housing;
• The California State Personnel Board;
• And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The state personnel board and OCR dismissed Whitlock’s claims. On the other hand, the fair employment and state personnel boards issued Whitlock “right to sue” letters, which allow him to pursue certain types of employment-law claims in Superior Court.
The agreement also says that Whitlock and his wife cannot seek any “relationship” with the district.
Whitlock wants to join board
Still, Whitlock is running for one of three seats up for grabs on the college district’s board. He points out that a California court has ruled that a former school employee in Southern California with a similar separation agreement was allowed to run for that district’s board.
“Every American has a constitutionally protected right to run for office. And voters have a constitutionally protected right to vote for who they want to,” Whitlock said yesterday.
Whitlock, a San Carlos resident, is running against Lisa Petrides of Half Moon Bay for the seat whose territory includes San Carlos and part of Menlo Park.
Whitlock, an attorney, also landed a new job after he was shown the door by the college district. He’s head of HR at UC-Berkeley.