Christ Academy names principal; Committee picks educator from California
- July 1, 2010
For the past 15 years, educator Steve Peters has tackled a new job every two to three years.
This year he’s moving from California to Wichita Falls to lead Christ Academy as its upper school principal.
The Christ Academy search committee chose Peters unanimously to replace former High School Principal Angela Wetherbee, who resigned in May.
Peters lives in Vacaville, Calif., where he served for two years as principal of Vacaville Christian High School.
Before that, he was principal at Armijo High School in Fairfield, Calif. (two years), principal at John Swett High School in Crockett, Calif. (three years), and assistant principal at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, Calif. (two years). He taught psychology, history and self-contained sixth-grade classes in one- two- and three-year increments before that.
“I never thought life would take me to Texas,” he said in an interview with the Times Record News. “But the way it’s worked out, I’m coming to Texas, and I’m excited. It’s a great time of leaning on God.”
His new job as upper school principal will challenge him with the logistics and planning of adding a 10th grade this year and subsequent grades in future years as Christ Academy gradually expands into a four-year high school.
The school has pre-Advanced Placement coursework, but Peters — who will oversee grades six through 10 and ultimately grades 11 and 12 — wants to introduce AP classes as soon as the school offers the junior and senior grades.
Though he has worked in public schools, he became a proponent of Christian education a couple years ago, he said.
“As the committee interviewed Steve, he shared his heart and passion for Christian high school education in preparing our students for their future success through college prep and standardized testing,” wrote Dana Finch, Christ Academy interim director, in a news release.
Christ Academy, one of a handful of private Christian schools in Wichita Falls, has undergone a major turnover in its administration this spring. It started in March when Christ Academy Board of Directors President Ben Filer asked for resignations from Headmaster Keven Robertson and Elementary School Principal Donna Draper.
Soon afterward, High School Principal Angela Wetherbee resigned.
The private Christian school then hired Dana Finch, a local communications expert, as its interim director, asking her to problem-solve at the school and help cast a vision for the school’s future. That included drafting a strategic plan for the school, which last fall moved into a large, new facility that sits directly south of the Bill Bartley Branch YMCA.
In June, Finch announced the hiring of Tim Callaway away from the Wichita Falls Independent School District to serve as the school’s elementary principal, replacing Draper. Callaway had been a WFISD principal for 21 years, most recently at Washington/Jackson Elementary School.
Still unfilled: the Christ Academy Headmaster position.
Peters helped his most recent Christian school increase its enrollment to more than 300 students, according to the news release, which is about where Christ Academy’s enrollment sits now.
Peters earned a bachelor’s degree in history from California State University Hayward, then a master’s degree in education from Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and a second master’s in religion from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va. He is working on a master’s in divinity.