In a surprise statement Friday, President-Superintendent John Romo announced he will retire at the close of the spring 2008 semester.

The move to step down “was a difficult one, but it is the right one,” Romo wrote in a campus-wide email. He cited the desire to spend more time with his family as the main motivation behind his decision.

“I lived the college morning, noon and night,” Romo told the Channels. “When you’re college president, it’s not a 9-5 job.”

Romo’s retirement next year will conclude his six-year reign as City College’s first Latino president-an honor Romo says he’s proud of.

His departure will also end a combined 28 years of service to City College as a faculty member, administrator and president.

“I will miss it a lot,” Romo told the Channels. “But I am ready for the next stage of my life.”

While Romo said his next stage holds no new career paths, it does contain more quality time with his family, including his biggest passion: his 18-month-old grandson. He noted in his email he has two grandchildren on the way.

Dr. Kay Alexander, a Board of Trustees member, said in a phone interview that she believes Romo is making the right choice.

“I think he thinks to be a responsible grandpa takes more time than he has available as president of the college,” Alexander said.

Romo also said he and his wife, Mary, plan to travel to historical presidential sites across America. Mary Romo said that she is thrilled about her husband’s decision.

“It will be fun to have more time together and more time to do the things we always wanted to do,” she said in a phone interview. The Romos will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this June.

Romo told the Channels that the idea of retiring had weighed on his mind since summer 2006, but the feeling crystallized over the holidays.

Romo said his one-year notice is “because there are many important issues that the college will be facing in the next few years.”

One of those issues, Romo told the Channels, is the additional funding required for the proposed School of Media Arts building. The Board of Trustees is considering a local bond to fund the project.

“I did not feel it [was] right to engage in our consultation processes and ask the Board to make critically important decisions without full disclosure about my decision to retire,” Romo wrote in the email.

Romo says his decision to retire was not influenced by the ongoing and sometimes heated faculty contract negotiations, but instead says these difficulties come with the territory.

“There are so many aspects that were wonderful, but being the college president has many stressful aspects as well,” he said to the Channels. “If you are going to be a college president, you’ve got to deal with both sides of the job.”

Romo took the job as president of City College in May 2002 when the Board of Trustees offered him the position after their first choice, former Diablo Valley College Mark Edelstein, dropped out of the running due to strong opposition from faculty.

Romo replaced Dr. Peter MacDougall, who was the college president for a legendary 22 years. Typically a college president’s tenure lasts about four years.

Before he was president, Romo had already served 22 years at City College as an instructor and administrator before he embarked to New York in 1999 to become a chief operating officer at the National Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

He returned home to Santa Barbara in 2002 after the Board made him the proposal.

When Romo took office, the state was undergoing a budget crisis, which caused community colleges across California to cut expenses and lay off employees. The situation, some say, was the first real test of his leadership.

Unlike the other California community colleges, Dr. Jack Friedlander, executive vice president of educational programs, said Romo led the college “without laying off employees or reducing resources.”

Academic Senate President and English professor Kathy Molloy felt that this demonstrated his commitment to preserving the college’s condition.

“We got out if it in pretty good shape and I think it had to do with the way he handled it,” Molloy said.

Eric Borlaug, Associated Student Body President, said Romo has consistently respected the college’s governing bodies.

“We are one of the luckiest campuses to have a president who is dedicated to shared governance and consultative processes,” Borlaug said in a phone interview.

“He’s made us feel so much more like a community,” Molloy said. “He’s embraced both students and faculty.”

Although his retirement is just a year away, Romo isn’t prepared to slack on effort. Instead, he anticipates the next school year to be another chance to continue the college’s excellence.

“I’ve given it my all and I will give it my all for the remaining year,” Romo said.

The search for the next president who will replace Romo has not been launched.

Friedlander says the hunt will not be easy.

“He’s going to be a hard president to replace.”