I talked today to Bob Nelson, president of the Board of Trustees for St. Louis Community College. He put to rest any questions about any possibly wrongdoing related to Morris Johnson III’s departure from the Forest Park campus.

In a previous blog post, I had noted that a college press release said that Johnson, president of the Forest Park campus, was leaving at the end of June to “pursue other opportunities.” The college did not provide any other information, saying it was a personnel matter.

But Nelson told me that the end of June is the end of Johnson’s probation period. Johnson became president of the campus in June 2005. That seems like a long probation period, but Nelson said that the probation period had been extended a year.

“After the probation was over, the determination was made that they were going to go in a different direction,” Nelson said.

It might also be worth mentioning that Johnson had come to the college during the tenure of the previous chancellor, Henry Shannon. Zelema Harris became the interim chancellor in August 2007 after Shannon left to take a job in California. But then the board decided to make it a more permanent appointment and gave Zelema a three-year contract to serve as chancellor.

The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.