MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — When the State Board of Education named James Lowe on Thursday to head Bishop State Community College — in a system still struggling to emerge from multiple scandals — the board members immediately faced a new challenge.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do when we need something cleaned up now,” member Ethel Hall of Fairfield said in jest. “Dr. Lowe has been the clean up man.”
Lowe previously served as Bishop’s interim president, leading a four-member “Project Phoenix” team in straightening out the Mobile school after it was rocked by a financial aid scandal.
The board also appointed Robert Glenn to lead Athens State University.
The two unanimous presidential votes came during a wide-ranging meeting that included updates on a disputed adult education software contract and news of a lawsuit from Attorney General Troy King to recoup money the system lost in a corruption scheme.
Glenn replaces Jerry Bartlett, whose retirement is effective Aug. 1, and Lowe takes over for Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, who retired last year amid the upheaval at Bishop State. More than 25 employees and relatives of employees were charged with theft on suspicion of getting federal financial aid fraudulently, prompting Lowe to make major changes in the college’s business operations.
Five presidential vacancies remain in the system, with a sixth post opening when Enterprise-Ozark Community College becomes two schools next year, Postsecondary Chancellor Bradley Byrne said. The system has 28 colleges.
The attorney general told the board he had met with Byrne and will file a civil lawsuit against former employees and businesses who participated in a yearslong corruption scheme from which the system is still recovering.
Former Chancellor Roy Johnson pleaded guilty in March to receiving thousands of dollars in services, furniture and work on his homes in exchange for awarding contracts for work in the two-year system. Other lower-level employees, including a former state representative and a former interim college president, have also pleaded guilty. Two current legislators await trial, but say they are not guilty.
King said his lawsuit will be filed in Montgomery and allege six counts involving fraud, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.
Board members said they hope to recover some of the millions the system lost in the scheme, but learned they wouldn’t fare as well in their fight against paying the remaining balance of a dubious software contract.
Byrne said he expects the Alabama Board of Adjustments to rule that the system must pay the $430,000 balance for Aztec Adult Education software, plus at least $35,000 in interest.
Board members had balked at paying the full contract because they had only approved spending $450,000 for the software and had been led to believe that was the full purchase price. They learned months later that the actual cost was $862,500.
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