Bates board continues paid leave for president, mentions possibility he’ll be reinstated

The board of Bates Technical College voted Tuesday to keep President Ron Langrell on paid administrative leave until the two parties can reach an agreement on his “possible reinstatement,” the board said.

The board met in executive session for more than four hours to discuss an inquiry into Langrell. Last week, it voted to place him on administrative leave for a week. A decision on Langrell’s future with the institution was expected at this Tuesday’s meeting.

Board members would not comment on the investigation. The News Tribune discovered through a public records request that a formal complaint was lodged against Langrell in November. The college hasn’t released records about the complaint yet, saying it is still under investigation. The newspaper has requested records connected to that investigation and is awaiting their disclosure as required by the state Public Records Act.

After extending the length of its executive session several times on Tuesday, the board reconvened at about 5:20 p.m. Board member Anthony Anderson made a motion to keep Langrell on paid leave until an agreement could be reached, through respective counsel, on the “possible reinstatement” of his position as president of the college.

The board would not comment further.

“We do take these discussions seriously,” board chair Layne Bladow said after the vote. “The debate and discussion was long — it is 5:30 and we got to start deliberations at 1:05, so thank you.”

Lin Zhou, the college’s the vice president of institutional effectiveness and student success, will continue to serve as interim president in the meantime.

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This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Bates board continues paid leave for president, mentions possibility he’ll be reinstated."