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Community college chief put on leave

Procedural, fiscal problems come to light

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 20, 2007 at midnight

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The Community College of Denver will be looking for a new leader after its president, Christine Johnson, was placed on administrative leave Tuesday amid revelations of financial and procedural problems at the campus.

"It's the accountability factor," said Rhonda Bentz, spokeswoman for the Colorado Community College System. "We're a state institution."

Johnson, who has been president of CCD since 2001, said she had been "framed" and rebutted some of the findings of an audit. Johnson said she was being punished for speaking out about a new computer system installed last year that she said was responsible for much of the problems.

"I believe I have been very outspoken about the problems with the IT implementation that has made it very costly and ineffective," she said. "I have raised a lot of questions about the problems that the implementation has created for colleges that do their job."

The audit found that:

• Johnson improperly authorized an adjunct faculty member to teach a math and a physics class.

• Johnson had directed the chief financial officer to under- report the college's reserves.

• Financial reporting at the college was not accurate or timely.

Johnson was informed Tuesday that her contract will not be renewed next year, after meeting with state board Chairwoman Barbara McKellar, Colorado Community College System President Nancy McCallin and a representative from the attorney general's office. Her administrative leave ends June 30.

Last year, the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education directed McCallin to review the administrative and financial controls and practices at all 13 community colleges.

That audit showed a number of financial reporting problems as well as violation of procedures.

A note written by Johnson showed that she had personally authorized adjunct faculty member Kourash Tavalti to teach a calculus and a physics course during the interim session from Jan. 1 to Jan. 24, 2006. Records showed that Tavalti was paid $3,818.88 for teaching those classes, according to Bentz.

The audit also found that there was no record that the courses were approved by the respective departments and that they were held in an Aurora location that was not approved as a classroom site.

But Johnson said that she had asked Tavalti to work with the department head and the dean to have the courses approved and that the location of the class was approved as a Colorado higher-education facility.

Johnson also was accused of directing the chief financial officer, Barbara Casey, to under-report CCD's reserves at 3 percent to 4 percent even though calculations showed that they were at 10 percent.

Investigators found a series of e-mails between Johnson and Casey that discussed what figures should be submitted. Johnson said she did not tell Casey what to do and that Casey had suggested submitting the lower figure.

Investigators said that employees in the financial and accounting departments were not familiar with a new financial reporting system but Johnson had "strongly discouraged college personnel from asking the system office for assistance."

Johnson disagreed, saying that four administrators had spent "months" in training on the new system.