MOBILE Ala.
Former Bishop State Community College President Yvonne Kennedy did not fire a convicted felon in the administration as instructed and will not receive post-retirement office space at the campus as planned, the state’s two-year chancellor Bradley Byrne said.
Byrne sent Kennedy a strongly worded letter expressing his great disappointment in her “insubordination in failing to terminate” David Thomas, an administrator who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident in which a girl was injured.
“This causes me to have concerns about your cooperation with the College after your retirement,” the chancellor wrote.
Kennedy had requested the office as part of a deal negotiated for her retirement as president of the 3,600-student college. Her last day in that position was Tuesday, the day Byrne’s letter was dated.
Kennedy had five weeks to fire Thomas, who was impeached from the Mobile County school board last year for using school funds to buy Mardi Gras throws, but Kennedy left without taking that action. Thomas has served as director of adult education and economic development at Bishop State.
Bishop State spokesman Herb Jordan told the Press-Register in a story Thursday that interim president James Lowe sent Thomas a letter Wednesday announcing the college’s intent to fire him.
