Providence Superintendent Peters Paid $169K in Settlement
GoLocalProv News Team
Providence Superintendent Peters Paid $169K in Settlement
He was the man selected to run the turnaround of the Providence Public School Department -- a system tagged as among the worst in America.
As GoLocal first reported, on Tuesday night, Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green at the instruction of Governor Dan McKee told Peters he was out of a job for his hiring and shielding of Dr. Olayinka Alege, who was arrested nearly two weeks ago.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPeters previously worked in Florida with Alege.
And, Peters mishandled a separate issue in Florida related to the sexual behavior of a teacher.
Peters was widely criticized for his "cover-up" of an incident of a substitute teacher allegedly masturbating in a middle school classroom while teaching. Florida reports are that the teacher was removed, but parents were not notified until a local TV station broke the story months after the incident.
Angry parents said Hillsborough School officials never notified them when a possible sex offense happened inside the classroom. And now parents are raising serious questions about how school administrators handled the investigation.
Peters' Settlement
The departure and settlement ends a failed episode on the effort to improve Providence Public Schools
Peters earned $225,000 a year and signed a three-year contract in January of 2020. And, by contract the state made an additional 15% annual contribution to Peters' state retirement account — it computes to another $33,750 per year.
The settlement provides for mutual indemnification, the lumpsum payment from the State of Rhode Island to Peters includes salary, auto payments and retirement payments.
The contract provided other financial incentives. Peters was just about 15 months through the 36-month agreement.