By Bob Smietana
The Tennessean
March 7, 2009
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090307/NEWS03/903070347
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| Ronald Anderson was arrested on Friday. |
The principal of a Nashville middle school was arrested Friday afternoon, charged with sexually abusing two teenage boys from his church years ago.
Ronald B. Anderson, executive principal of Kennedy Middle School in Antioch, faces 12 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure. Metro police said he was arrested after being indicted by a grand jury over accusations he had sexual contact with two teen boys he met through Royal Life International Church in Madison. The alleged abuse took place in the past 10 years, police spokesman Don Aaron said in a statement.
Metro schools officials first learned of the alleged abuse in mid-February and reported him to police. He was suspended Feb. 12.
"We received a call to our customer service center with the allegations," Olivia Brown, a spokeswoman for the district, said Friday. "On the day we received the allegations, we suspended him. Then we reported him to the police."
Page Turner, whose three children attend Kennedy Middle School, was stunned by the news.
"That's a shock, an outrageous shock," said Turner, who is head of the Kennedy Middle parent-teacher-student organization. "I don't know what else to say."
Brown said that Anderson was hired in 2001 and, like all new hires, underwent a background check. A former assistant principal at Metro's Gra-Mar Middle, he was in his first year at Kennedy.
Brown believes the alleged abuse was limited to the church. "There have been no allegations that involve his work at the school," Brown said.
Contact Bob Smietana at 615-259-8228 or bsmietana@tennessean.com.
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