Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

Prior to, Lorethie "Loe" Dunn's job loss, she devoted 34 years to the vocational and technical institution/community system, giving her more tenure than any other employee in the history of the Bastrop Campus. Part of Dunn's tenure while at Bastrop was her serving as Campus Director which she held from 2011- 2014. Dunn met the qualifications of having a Minimum of a Master's Degree in Education, Administration, or a related field and three years of experience at a senior level in management administration and supervision. In addition to that, Dunn successfully completed the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) Leadership Program/Institute (LDI) under the tutelage of Dr. Angel Royal and Dr. Walter Bumphus. There were 23 responsibilities in the job description an applicant had to be able to perform, one of which entailed the individual to "develop an external partnership in the community, i.e. Chamber of Commerce, Mayor', Police Juries, School Superintendents/other school-related items, State Legislators, and Business and Industry Representatives. But the last responsibility on the job description was that the applicant must "work toward the resolution of faculty and student complaints, grievances and disciplinary actions according to college policy". It was after student nurses went to the media to voice their travel concerns, that somehow the school appeared to want to blame Dunn for what happened. Shortly after the incident, Dunn was told by the Chancellor at the time, that she was "moving in a different direction" with Dunn's job, and wanted to "include economic development" in the job description. But item 21 of the position's responsibilities stated that the applicant "initiates and coordinates campus community relations and economic development efforts in cooperation with the College's Office of Workforce Development. Dunn had already proven that she could perform those tasks based on her involvement within entities in the city of Bastrop, Morehouse Parish, and the surrounding area.

The new job that Dunn appeared to be already qualified for was called "Director of Campus Services and Economic-Workforce Development" which was described in responsibility 21 under the "Responsibilities" section of Dunn's original job description. Why not just "move" Dunn into the new position, as nothing seemed to change from the original job? If the job was abolished as was stated, why not make a seamless transition into the new position? Was this the way of removing Dunn from her position without having had any charges filed against her? The school appeared to have no grounds to charge Dunn with anything under Responsibility 23 because there also appeared to be no effort to "get to the bottom" done by the Chancellor to resolve the student nurses' complaint. Following Dunn's conversation with the Chancellor on May 16, she said that she "was confused" as to why the Chancellor took an adversarial change toward her. Dunn's record was exemplary outstanding to excellent in all categories. But on that day she was put on notice concerning her future with the school. Dunn's health began to deteriorate to the point where she had to seek medical treatment and she was placed on FMLA. While she was out attending to her health needs not having been cleared by her physician, Dunn alleges that the school asked her to apply for a position which she believed was a violation of state/federal law. Dunn's FMLA end date was Oct. 14, 2014. Her termination date was Oct. 15, 2014. She retired Oct. 1. 2014. Dunn alleges that an individual was hired before she cleared FMLA. The individual who replaced Dunn was not as qualified as she was, which is probably why that individual did not stay in the position long. He was replaced. But perhaps the most hurtful, if not humiliating aspect of Dunn's unceremoniously departure was that she did not receive any congratulatory letters on her "retirement" from the Chancellor at the time. She didn't receive any correspondence of "thank you for a job well done" from the Board of Directors or President of the LTC. To be continued.

Photo Lorethie "Loe" Dunn