By The Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – The state school board has removed Roy Johnson as chancellor of Alabama's two-year college system.
The vote in Montgomery Tuesday came amid turmoil over an investigation of Alabama Fire College Foundation finances that led to a legislator's guilty plea.
The board voted eight-to-nothing to put Johnson on paid administrative leave for eight months as it searches for a new chancellor. It voted six-to-two to make Gadsden State Community College president Renee Culverhouse interim chancellor. Johnson was not present at the board's regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday morning.
Gov. Bob Riley is in China on an economic development trip. But he sent word he approved of the board's decision to remove Johnson as head of the two-year college program.
Johnson's removal came amid a state and federal investigation that led to the guilty plea of state Representative Bryant Melton, D-Tuscaloosa, who worked at Shelton State Community College. He admitted funneling state funds through legislative grants to the Alabama Fire College Foundation, then using the money to pay gambling debts.
The foundation has ties to the fire college, which is located at Shelton State. It also has been reported that the state two-year college system sent $300,000 to the private foundation that built a house for W.L. Langston, the Alabama Fire College director who was forced to step down earlier this year. Johnson has said the state funds were sent by mistake.