Seven years after a domestic assault charge took Rodney Peterson out of the running to lead a Memphis middle school, he is set to become the principal of that same school this fall as it enters a new chapter run by a charter network in Tennessee’s state-run turnaround district.
Peterson officially takes the helm of Westside Achievement Middle School next year, according to leaders of Frayser Community Schools, which will take over operations of the school.
Bobby White, the CEO and founder of the charter organization, introduced Peterson on Thursday during a meeting of the Frayser Exchange Club.
“(Peterson) is the best candidate we had available to lead and operate this school,” White told Chalkbeat. “He has been in this city for six years now in different capacity and leadership roles, and is highly recommended.”
White said that a panel of eight Frayser community members selected Peterson as principal over three other finalists. White added that they had discussed Peterson’s past and determined he was ready to take lead as principal.
“He has had three leadership positions in the last six years since he left Boston,” White said. “No one has surfaced or talked about any of those things. This needed to be something [Peterson and community members] talked about. After their conversations, we were confident that this wasn’t something that would impact the role of leading this school.”
Peterson was offered the Westside job in 2012 but he withdrew his candidacy after the charges became public.
In 2011, Peterson was arrested and charged in Boston for assaulting his then-wife, Dee Griffin, a former Memphis news anchor. Peterson was then a school leader under Boston Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson, a former Memphis City Schools superintendent. He resigned in 2012 from his Boston leadership position and served a one-year probation.
Johnson was criticized for not disciplining Peterson following the assault and later apologized. According to the Boston Globe, Johnson wrote a letter to the judge who sentenced Peterson, describing him as “among our most outstanding school leaders.” She gave him a reference when he first applied for principal of Westside in 2012. Johnson later launched an investigation into whether Peterson abused sick time policy while in Boston and revamped how the district handled criminal background checks.
“I’ve dealt with the situation and moved on from it, and to respect everyone involved, that’s all that I’d like to say about it,” Peterson told Chalkbeat. “My biggest priority now is ensuring all of the families that I serve trust that I am committed to their child’s education and success. I’m excited to return back to Westside.”
He said he returned to Memphis to run his own business after leaving Boston. Peterson later was a dean at Westside Middle before becoming assistant principal at Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering, a charter school. He was most recently an assistant principal at the high school run by Frayser Community Schools.
Now, Peterson will take the helm at Westside as the school is once again in transition. The school has been run since 2012 directly by the Achievement School District, but will be operated by Frayser Community Schools beginning next school year. After the handoff, the school will remain under the oversight of the state-run district.
Bobby White, chief of external affairs for the turnaround district (no relation to Bobby White of Frayser Community Schools), said he was aware of the appointment and attended the Thursday meeting.
Sara Gast, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education, could not confirm if district officials were aware of Peterson’s past charge. Charter operators are now required to notify the ASD if any employees had flags on their background checks after discovering last year that a Memphis interim principal at a different charter school had a federal felony conviction.
“Charter schools have discretion in who they hire, but we would expect that Achievement School District leadership would be involved if the charter operator was promoting an educator who had something of interest on a prior background check,” Gast said. “In this case, since this individual is a current school leader, we are checking with Frayser Community Schools to determine what process occurred.”
Frayser Community Schools was founded in 2014 by White, a former Memphis principal who started with one high school: Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High School. Last fall, the homegrown charter network took control of Humes Middle School when Gestalt Community Schools, another Memphis-based network, exited the state-run district.
Since Westside was taken over by the state in 2013, the school has struggled with lagging enrollment, low test scores, and high teacher and principal turnover. Enrollment has fallen by half since 2012, and the school lost 18 percent of students just this school year.
The state-run district is looking to Frayser Community Schools to turn around the school in terms of safety, enrollment, and academics. White — who was the principal of Westside nine years ago — said he believed Peterson was right for the job.
“The community is 100 percent behind this decision,” White said. “I believe he can lead the school back to the prominence we once experienced.”
Peterson said he has built “extensive relationships” while at MLK Prep and is looking forward to bringing his experience to Westside.
“I am so thankful and excited to be able to continue to serve the kids and families in the community from which I grew up,” he said. “I have built some great relationships with many students and their families in the community, and I look forward to continuing that as we strive to help all the students of Westside Middle School achieve success.”
The post New leader at Memphis state-run school ‘best candidate’ despite domestic assault conviction appeared first on Chalkbeat.
