Charter School Dean in RI Alleges Reverse Discrimination

Charter School Dean in RI Alleges Reverse Discrimination

A former Times2 Academy employee who was terminated in April is alleging he was denied due process — and is the victim of reverse discrimination along with other colleagues at the public charter school in Providence.

Former Dean of Students John Reis said on Monday that he has retained attorney Sonja Deyoe and is filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights. 

“I’ve been retired from law enforcement since 1996, I’ve spent the last twenty years working with young people. I have a strong reputation. And they walked me out with a cardboard box along with two other deans,” said Reis, who had been at Times2 since 2012, before being dismissed along with two other Times2 employees this past February. “The new head of school had an agenda, he had wanted to open up his own charter school. And he’s bringing in his own people and because I’m white, I don’t fit that mold.” 

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Timeline of Events

Reis, who is a retired Lt. Commanding Officer in the Providence Police Department Youth Services Bureau and founder of Partnership to Address Violence Through Education, said the issues began when he had a meeting with board members last August, about what he said was the pressure he felt he was under at the school to suspend more students — which Reis said he would not do. 

“I was coming under pressure from faculty, the PTO, that I wasn’t disciplining students hard enough,” said Reis. “Every kid’s got the right to a fair shot.  So I sent a letter to some of the parents letting them know that their child was in danger of not meeting the expectations of the school.  Mind you, the school used to send letters out saying that kids wouldn’t be allowed back unless they met certain standards.” 

“Meanwhile, they’d already let go the Executive Director who’d hired me, Jerry Kowalczyk.  Prior to me was Bryan Evans, who they also let go,” said Reis. “They’ve let go a lot of administrators at Time2, and [the school] has paid out accordingly.”

“So school starts last fall, and on September 21, I had an accident where I tore my meniscus, and sustained a concussion,” said Reis. “During that time, they name Dr. Rudolph Moseley the new Executive Director.  And one of the things I learned is that Dr. Moseley wanted to actually start his own charter school, which was denied by RIDE.  I knew that he came from the Paul Cuffee School.”

“So I contact him to meet with him before I come back [in January], to let him know my concerns about teachers and faculty who want kids out.  He refuses to meet with me.  I came back in full December 28. He was on vacation. School opens on January 4, and I meet him for the first time that date,” said Reis. “I’m let go along with two other deans on February 23 — meanwhile this is right after I let them I know I scheduled my knee surgery for March.  The initial letter they gave me was that they were investigating charges of “misfeasance and malfeasance.” 

Dr. Moseley did not respond to an inquiry asking why three deans were let go on the same day.

“What happens from there is the [Times2] attorney says we can’t bring attorneys to meet with them in March, at their law offices,” said Reis. “Then they have a board meeting scheduled for when they know I’m going to be away, at which time they tell me that the charge I was brought up on involved improperly suspending students, which they know is not true. And that I failed to obtain my Masters’ degree, which had been waived as a requirement when I was first hired.”

“Then following that board meeting in April, which they say I ‘declined to attend’ despite letting them know I was not it town, they told me that Dr. Moseley said he believed there were 'better administrators' for my job,” said Reis. “I found out my replacement was already at the school during the ‘investigatory’ phase, and then lo and behold they give him the position when I leave. It was like I was already arrested on a crime before any evidence.”

Examining Hiring

Reis said he had documentation that he said shows that the school was placing preference on hiring candidates of color.

“Someone at the school shared with me an email that circulated before I was hired, from the board, that said that a candidate for the Dean of Students position was preferable because he was a ‘black male,” said Reis. “This was 2011.”

“Then, when I was placed on leave, I have an email that circulated one week later from Moseley’s Executive Assistant — Dinka Carreras, who used to be at Cuffee — stating that Terry Celeste-Lo, who had just been put on leave at Cuffee, would be the interim Dean of Students,” said Reis. “Then I learn that another Cuffee employee, a black woman, is slated to replace one of the outgoing deans here. Remember, three white deans were let go on the same day, and suddenly a number of former Cuffee employees are coming over to Times2.”

“I’m the most open guy in the world.  I’ve probably worked with more minorities than most people out there,” said Reis. "But when the way I was let go - the way were let go -- I had to say something. And I had to do something."