May 17, 2021 2:56 pm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Rhode Island lawmakers met about the vetting and hiring of a former Providence school administrator accused of wrongdoing on Monday.
The Providence delegation to the Senate asked Senate Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight Committee Chairman Louis DiPalma to convene an oversight hearing regarding their vetting process and hiring of former Providence Schools Administrator Olayinka Alege.
Court records show Alege was charged with simple assault and battery by the Warwick Police Department on April 20. The charges were filed May 10.
During the hearing, Providence Public School Superintendent Harrison Peters admitted he knew about Alege’s actions prior to his hiring, but did not tell the hiring committee or anyone in the school community.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON GOLOCAL LIVE ABOVE
“I’m still just upset. I trusted someone that betrayed that trust,” said Peters on GoLocal LIVE. “I brought someone to the community of Providence that betrayed the trust of the community.”
Peters discussed both the recent arrest and what he knew in Florida.
“I got an email from the Warwick Police Department and it simply said they were getting ready to investigate an allegation of Dr. Alege and a situation at the gym, so I immediately called them to get as much information as they had at the time,” he said. “In less than 24 hours we put him on administrative leave.
“What I’m working on like making sure students have access to food, clean clothing, and streetlights may not look like what I’m working on,” Catherine Gilmore told me over a phone call. Gilmore has worked as an educator in Hillsborough County, Florida, for 13 years, and has spent the last six years at Gibsonton Elementary School where […]
Providence Schools Superintendent Harrison Peters.
The Rhode Island Department of Education says that Commissioner Angélica Infante Green was “not aware” of now-former Providence schools official Olayinka Alege’s controversial past in Florida prior to his hiring in Rhode Island.
Alege who was arrested this week for “forcibly rubbing a stranger’s foot” and subsequently resigned was known in Florida for “toe-popping” students as a form of punishment.
Peters had faced serious criticism for his handling of a separate sex incident in Florida, as GoLocal reported.
Alege s Behavior
“Five boys told deputies that King High assistant principal Olayinka Alege asked them on numerous occasions to take off a shoe and sock behind closed doors, and allow him to pop their toes. They said it didn t hurt, but they didn t like it, either,” reported the Florida Sun-Sentinel in July 2009.