The Tanque Verde Unified School District board will meet Friday night to address the arrest and subsequent resignation of former Superintendent Albert Thomas "Tom" Rogers, who was formally charged Tuesday with attempting to travel to Mexico to engage in illicit sexual behavior with a minor.
Rogers also is the subject of an Arizona Department of Education investigation, said Amy Rezzonico, a spokeswoman for the department.
A U.S. Attorney's Office press release confirmed Rogers' indictment Tuesday. A U.S. District Court judge will determine at a detention hearing in Phoenix today whether or not to set a bond amount for Rogers.
If Rogers is convicted, he faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both, the press release stated.
Friday's public meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at the Emily Gray Junior High School/Tanque Verde High School campus, 4201 N. Melpomene Way.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Rogers late last week at the U.S.-Mexico border south of Yuma.
A criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney's Office shows Rogers, 51, reserved a tour that was to include sexual acts with a 13- or 14-year-old boy.
The school district will conduct an investigation of Rogers, Governing Board President Steven Auslander said Wednesday morning.
Rezzonico confirmed that the state is also investigating.
"Albert Thomas Rogers is currently under investigation on the basis of recent allegations of immoral or unprofessional conduct and the investigation into the allegations is ongoing," she said.
The Tanque Verde Unified School District Governing Board put Rogers on administrative leave Monday night, the day before the district office received a mailed, handwritten letter of resignation from him.
Susan Centers has been appointed acting administrator until an interim superintendent is hired, Auslander wrote in a letter posted on the district's Web site, www.tanqueverdeschools.org. Centers is the principal of Tanque Verde Elementary School, 2600 N. Fennimore Ave.
The district has begun the recruitment process with the aid of the Arizona School Boards Association and will bring together a group of district employees and residents to review candidates. It expects to have an interim superintendent in place by the time the school year begins, the letter says.
Rogers was associate principal at Emily Gray, where he also taught a seventh-grade global awareness class, in addition to being district superintendent.
The district is mailing invitations to Friday's meeting to every mailing address in the district's boundaries and e-mailing it to everyone for whom it has e-mail addresses, Auslander said.
Parents also can relay any concerns by calling the district office at 749-5751. The office and all district buildings will be closed starting Friday, with the exception of that night's public meeting, as part of a cost-savings plan that was put into place before Rogers' arrest. District buildings will reopen July 14.
