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LABELLE, Fla. - An Edison dean might be under investigation but he's still in charge.

Bill Roshon, the former dean of professional and technical studies on the Fort Myers campus, had been on paid suspension for the past six weeks.

The college is currently investigating his role in an illegal course swapping scandal, where students were allowed to swap course classes for electives, in order to boost graduation rates.

On Tuesday, college faculty were notified that Roshon - who is still under investigation - was suddenly being brought back to serve as the interim dean of the Hendry Glades campus.

Even though you pay Roshon's nearly $120,000 salary ($150,000 with benefits), the college will not say why he was brought back, only saying they won't comment on personnel matters.

"We are happy to have Dean Roshon at the Hendry Glades Center," said Edison spokesperson Teresa Morgenstern.

Elaine Young is one of 700 students on the Hendry campus, which operates out of a tan-colored, converted Christian school in Labelle, 40 miles east of the Fort Myers campus.

Young had no idea Roshon is now in charge of the campus - until we told her.

"It's not acceptable," said Young. "He should not be acting as any interim dean or any dean at all."

In addition to his role in the course swapping scandal, Roshon is also accused of misleading bachelor of science nursing students on the Fort Myers campus about their program's accreditation status.

In a letter sent out last November, Roshon said the BSN program was a "few months" away from being accredited - which wasn't true. In fact, the college never even applied for accreditation when Roshon wrote that letter.

The college has since applied for accreditation through the National League of Nursing. The earliest the BSN program could become accredited is next spring - more than a year after Roshon wrote that letter.

"If he misled one group of students how do we know he's not doing that in other areas?," said Young. "He should remain on suspension, unpaid suspension, until the investigation's been complete."

Fox 4 wanted to get Roshon's side of the story but a college spokesperson declined that request, telling us Roshon will not be doing media interviews.

We wanted to know if it was standard procedure to bring an employee back to work from a suspension, if they are still being investigated by the college.

Despite the general nature of the question, a spokesperson for the college again told us they "don't comment on personnel matters."

But it's a move that has former Edison board member Dr. David Klein scratching his head.

"I find it unusual that he would come back to another job when he's still being investigated," said Klein when reached by phone Wednesday. "If he's innocent fine life goes on."

"And if he did something wrong," said Klein, "I'm not saying it has to be a Qaddafi job. But, you know, you gotta do something to retrain the guy so it doesn't happen again."

MATT GRANT, REPORTER
mgrant@fox4now.com