Brandon Krampert
In Motion Staff Writer
During Daytona State College’s Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 15 a resolution was passed that transferred Carol Eaton from DSC president to serving an advisory role until her contract ends in August.
The board then appointed former DSC Chief Operations Officer Thomas LoBasso as interim president, which will be temporary until the executive position can be filled.
Photos By: Michelle Cretella/In Motion
With these changes in management made, LoBasso said that it was a natural fit so things will continue to run smoothly.
“I have a heightened focus on student retention and some of the success points that we would like to do better on, which is tied to performance with the state funding that’s been out,” he said.
“We have a plan and a strategy and we’re going to continue to update the community on how we’re doing with that. I also want to focus on communication of the plan and to monitor on how well we’re doing. To me, the biggest thing is to focus on our retention and success operationally at the college and do better,” said LoBasso.
He also listed some of the initiatives that DSC is working on in its efforts to increase student graduation rates and success in courses. “We started a new required developmental course in English and we’ve tried new things with our add and drop period. We’ve shortened it a little bit so students aren’t adding courses really late in the semester. A lot of data shows the correlation between registering early and success. We created a new math pathway this year for students that are non-STEM majors,” he explained.
The relationship between Eaton and the board changed abruptly when the board decided not to renew her contract last November. The vote was 8-1. The board’s concerns were that DSC was last on a list of ranking out of the 28 colleges in Florida for performance-driven state funding that will be implemented later this year. Another concern was that the College is not a member of a program called Direct Connect that would make it easier for DSC students to transfer to the University of Central Florida. During the January meeting, Eaton defended her position that she relentlessly made efforts to become a member of the program but failed due not to negligence on her part, but to foot-dragging by UCF administrators.
After the denial of Eaton’s new contract, the former president negotiated with the board to add an addendum to her contract that creates an advisory role for her to allow a smoother transition, instead of serving her presidency until August. During the remainder of her employment, Eaton will still be paid her salary, which amounts to $364,009 plus benefits.
Bidding farewell as president, she said, “I do want to thank the board the opportunity to serve Daytona State College and this institution’s dedicated employees have a passion to help student’s success. I’m confident now that the faculty and all of the employees will continue to focus on student’s success. Daytona State College is here for our students and their completion reaching their goals helping fulfill their dreams.”
Vice chair of the board, Forough Hosseini nominated LoBasso as interim president and the other members agreed unanimously. Hosseini then conducted a presentation on how they will choose a permanent president.
The search committee will be made up of 14 to 17 members. It will include current students, graduates, representatives from faculty, other DSC employees, the Foundation and local businesses. The full list of members will be named at the board meeting on February 19. Hosseini made the estimate that a president could be hired between nine and a half to 10 months.
In other board business, trustees voted unanimously to hire a lobbyist to approach Tallahassee legislators to obtain more funding for College projects and discussed sites for the new $24 million student center.