Raymond School Board votes to end principal's contract

The Raymond School Board voted not to renew the contract of Raymond School's principal, who has filed a discrimination complaint against the district.

Board members on Dec. 6 voted 4-1 in a roll call vote not to renew Jeff Peterson's contract after a seven-hour hearing in the Racine County school's gym. Audrey Kostuch, Janell Wise, Gwen Keller and Amanda Falaschi voted not to renew Peterson's contract.

Peterson has been on administrative leave since Sept. 28 over allegations of misconduct. Peterson maintains the district is discriminating against him because he is gay.

In voting not to renew Peterson's contract, the four board members said the district needs to move forward.

Falaschi said she was "trying to find the best way for this school and community to heal," saying it was about the district's students, families, staff, community and those at the Dec. 6 meeting.

"There is a huge divide among all of us right now, and it's an emotional time. For me, I believe there is no way for everyone involved to heal and move forward with either Jeff (Peterson) or Mike (Garvey, Raymond School District superintendent) in administrative roles at Raymond. My vote is not against Jeff, but for the entire community and everyone sitting here," Falaschi said. Garvey submitted his resignation in November, effective Dec. 31.

Amy Helvick was the lone board member to vote against the contract nonrenewal.

"As I stated to my fellow board members ... I do not believe Mr. Peterson was given a reasonable expectation to succeed in the performance improvement plan set before him," Helvick said.

The hearing was held mostly in open session at Peterson's request before the board deliberated in closed session. It returned to open session to vote.

Peterson remains on administrative leave while a third-party investigation continues into allegations against Peterson. Shana Lewis, the district's legal counsel, said it is not the same investigator or investigation that was the subject of the Dec. 6 meeting. Peterson's current contract expires in June.

Deck was stacked against his client, Peterson attorney says

While the board deliberated, Peterson's attorney, Wesley Haslam, of Kravit, Hovel & Krawczyk, told reporters things were stacked against his client, but he felt he and Peterson were able to get out what information they needed to during the hearing.

"It was a hearing that I thought went very well. There's far more to come out, but really, this is a nonrenewal hearing. This isn't a discrimination case, but we're letting everyone know discrimination is the underlying factor here," Haslam said.

Peterson said the meeting was an opportunity to provide the public with information they didn't know.

He also said the school did not provide him with appropriate feedback on the performance improvement plan Garvey put him on. He said the expectations laid out in the plan were not clear, and that he was not provided data or examples to help him meet expectations.

"It's very difficult to meet targets when you don't get any feedback to what you're submitting," Peterson said.

An ACLU request, a complaint and a lawsuit

The school board's decision comes about two months after Peterson was placed on administrative leave while the district conducted an investigation into allegations that he engaged in misconduct while performing his job. A letter from Garvey to Peterson did not specify what the alleged misconduct was.

Soon after he was placed on leave Sept. 28, Petersen filed a discrimination complaint against the district with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, claiming the district discriminated against him for being gay and asking for his job back. That complaint has not yet been ruled on. Haslam said it would likely take six months to resolve.

On Nov. 10, before Garvey submitted his resignation, attorney William Sulton filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of residents asking a judge for a declaration terminating Garvey's employment. The lawsuit was filed after school board members refused to fire Garvey following a vote Aug. 23 at the district's annual meeting to "pursue legal proceedings with respect to Dr. Garvey's contract."

On Nov. 17, the ACLU of Wisconsin filed a records request with the school district seeking information about Peterson's leave, and announced concern about whether Peterson had been discriminated against by Garvey or other district officials.

The Raymond School District is a one-school district in Racine County with about 430 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

District says Peterson was recommended for nonrenewal due to job performance

The hearing had a trial-like feel to it, at which each side made opening statements, provided evidence and testimony, cross examination, redirects and closing statements.

Lori Lubinsky, an attorney with Axley Brynelson who represented the district, argued that Peterson did not comply with the performance improvement plan he received in April for not performing up to par with respect to staff accountability, instructional practices, building of professional capacity, reducing staff division and professional ethics. Lubinsky said that not only did Peterson not comply with the plan, but that he thought he did so, which was reason to end his employment.

Lubinsky also noted that there had been additional disciplinary actions taken against Peterson in the past, for a variety of reasons.

Garvey was the district's only witness and was on the stand for about 2½ hours.

During his testimony, he spoke about a report indicating there was a divide between veteran and newer staff members, which Garvey said concerned him.

"In order to meet the mission, we need to all be on the same team. Having a couple different accountability standards really is not achieving that mission because we need to have everyone trusting in our leadership team. When we have a group of staff who don't see that or don't see that their colleagues are held to similar standards, it really erodes that trust in the administration," Garvey said.

Garvey also testified that he did not believe Peterson complied with his performance improvement plan.

"It demonstrates that we're traveling different paths. I evaluate staff members with their job responsibilities. If we're not converging on those ideas and we're either parallel or going different directions, it's just not a good fit," Garvey said.

Garvey said he was aware of Peterson's discrimination complaint and said Peterson's sexual orientation did not play a role in his decision to recommend the board not renew Peterson's contract.

Peterson's attorney says complaints about Peterson's performance was pretext for anti-gay discrimination; fellow teachers praise Peterson's leadership

But Haslam argued that documentation related to the nonrenewal "is just pretext."

"It's pretext for anti-gay discrimination that is palpable. But most importantly of all, we're going to talk about Mr. Peterson and how this community has supported him, how it continued to support him and how he's here right now putting himself in front of all of you and subjecting himself to this because of his love for this community and this school," Haslam said.

Peterson said he wrote a letter to the board Aug. 21 saying he was being discriminated against. Less than a month later, the board notified him he would be put on administrative leave and considered for nonrenewal. Peterson said he saw that action as retaliation for his claim of discrimination.

And, in rebuttal to Garvey's statements, Raymond School teachers Jessica Niermeyer, Diane Voge and Kelly Rasmussen testified that staff were not divided. They praised Peterson's leadership and character.

Voge called Peterson "an exemplary leader."

"He brought incredible things to the school. He started new traditions that brought our staff even more together than we are. He's a great communicator. He created team leaders in which our 'team' chose who was going to be the leader," Voge said.

Since Peterson left, Voge and Rasmussen said, the environment at the school has changed. Both said they feared retaliation for speaking up at the meeting.

Rasmussen said the school was no longer a fun place to work; instead, there's "a culture of paranoia and fear where we are all afraid for our jobs and livelihood."

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Raymond School Board votes to end principal's contract