Feature Story

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

More than four months after Bernard Johnson was placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly co-mingling school monies with those of his church, Mobile County School Superintendent Roy Nichols says the system is ready to part ways with the former principal.

Nichols told Lagniappe in an interview May 15 in his office that he would now move to have Johnson, the former principal at Booker T. Washington Middle School, terminated because a district attorney’s investigation into the matter had concluded three weeks earlier. Johnson was first put on administrative leave in mid January after an internal audit revealed financial irregularities, including five checks signed by Johnson worth more than $25,000 and made out to his church, Stewart Memorial C.M.E. The checks were made out between Sept. 25 and Oct. 11 of last year, and the full amount was repaid Oct. 16, 2007 from his personal account.

Although he was placed on paid leave at his principal’s salary of $78,875, Johnson was put back to work by the school system sometime in the past few months as a teacher making $47,721. Nichols said he could not remember exactly when Johnson went to work as a teacher, but indicated the move was designed to save the system from having to pay his higher principal’s salary. He drew the principal’s salary for at least “a couple of months,” Nichols said.

As for why the school system did not fire Johnson outright after its internal investigation, Nichols said he was unwilling to jeopardize an investigation by the district attorney’s office.

“The investigation was turned over to the district attorney’s office. The district attorney goes through a process of interviewing all the people involved other than the person suspected of wrongdoing. I didn’t want to do anything hat would interfere with the district attorney’s investigation,” Nichols said. “If I’d brought dismissal charges against Rev. Johnson, then their would have had to have been a hearing where witnesses would testify and he would have been allowed to testify to rebut whatever they said and I couldn’t do that while the DA was still doing his investigation. It is my understanding the district attorney has finished questioning everybody that they care to question about this, so now our hands are free.”

When asked if that means he intends to recommend Johnson’s dismissal, Nichols said, “I plan on making such a recommendation.”

When Johnson was elevated to the Washington Middle School principal’s position last May, school board members were effusive in their excitement about what he would bring to the position.

“I will say those are the most impressive credentials I’ve seen in a long time. It looks like this man is some of everything,” Board Member Hazel Fournier said at the meeting.

“We’re going to watch his career,” Board Member Judy Stout said.

“We’re going to watch his career,” Fournier echoed. “He’s the man.”

Former Mobile County School Board Superintendent Harold Dodge said he remembered Johnson as someone who went through the system’s internship program for prospective principals and was pushed hard for the Washington Middle School position by District 4 Commissioner Fleet Belle, who is also a preacher.

“Johnson really went crazy. He was writing checks to himself and checks to his church. He paid it all back, but we still let him go. The board returned him to some position,” Dodge recalled.

When questioned about Johnson, Stout said she couldn’t remember the timeline regarding the situation, only that there was a great deal of evidence against him. District 5 Commissioner Bill Meredith said he didn’t recall the issue coming up before the board, but that it was handled in the usual fashion. Meredith said having to pay someone’s salary while they’re in the process of being fired is distasteful, but standard for the school system.

But Nichols said there is no absolute policy regarding the firing of an employee involved in alleged criminal activity. The system has fired employees outright for alleged theft. For instance, the system recently fired employee Joe Givan, who they claim was stealing copper from the old Crichton Elementary. The matter is being pursued as a criminal case. Nichols said the differences in the cases are quite large.

“He was caught walking out of the school with the copper in hand by the police. Rev. Johnson was not in that situation. No one ever saw him carry out piles of money from the school. We had to do an investigation and piece together all this stuff,” Nichols said.

Nichols said when he was made aware of the allegations against Johnson, roughly three weeks after taking over as superintendent, he made Board President Fleet Belle and Fournier, in whose district the school lies, aware. He said neither pressured him to keep Johnson on paid leave or to bring him back as a teacher.

“There may have been a question about the status of it or where are we now, but as far as I know there was no pressuring to do anything. They never pressured me to do anything one way or another,” Nichols said.

Nichols said Johnson was brought back as a teacher because it helped reduce the amount he was being paid while waiting for the investigation to conclude.

“I expressed concern that he was drawing a principal’s salary for doing nothing. He, through an emissary, sent a question if it would be helpful if he resigned as principal and reverted back to the previous position that he had tenure in, which was teacher, and I said yes, it would make me feel better,” Nichols said.

Making matters even more awkward, it was Johnson who was selected to offer the invocation when Nichols was installed as superintendent. Nichols said he wasn’t sure why Johnson was selected, or who selected him, but that it did make things a little uncomfortable on a personal level.

“It made it terribly difficult that someone who gave the invocation at my swearing in ceremony, I had to suspend just a few weeks later,” Nichols said.

Nichols said he will move “soon” to have Johnson fired added that he’d been talking with human resources and the board attorney in the previous week about the termination.

“I’m comfortable that even if some of the suspicious checks are explained, there are some activities that would warrant dismissal. And I’ve asked the district attorney if at this point in the proceeding would hurt their case and he said no,” Nichols said.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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