Veteran principal takes over at Linfield

By: CRAIG SHULTZ - Staff Writer | Sunday, September 17, 2006 8:38 PM PDT ∞

TEMECULA ---- When Tom Peters took over as principal of Linfield Christian High School this year, he was eminently more qualified than the last time he was hired as an administrator.

That was in 1980 when, after one year of teaching, he became the first principal at Woodcrest Christian High School in Riverside.

Peters, 53, spent the next 25 years at Woodcrest before coming to Linfield in July, where he replaced Kevin Rex as principal.

"It was an opportunity for a new start at a fine, well-respected, highly thought of private Christian school," Peters said of the change.

Peters grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Western Georgia University. That's where he met his wife, Casper, who started him on a spiritual quest.

"With my newfound relationship with Christ, I felt God was leading me into full-time Christian work," Peters said.

The couple got married and moved to Texas, where Peters earned a master's degree in theology with a minor in Bible exposition and Christian education from the Dallas Theological Seminary.

"My goal was to teach Bible at Christian schools," he said.

When recruiters from Woodcrest visited the seminary and hired three of the graduates, "sight unseen I packed up my wife and daughter and moved to Riverside," Peters said.

After one year in the classroom, he moved into the principal's office.

Although he was only a dozen or so years older than the students, Peters said that wasn't a problem.

"The weird thing was having teachers 40 or 45 years old who had a lot of teaching experience," he said.

Besides leading the school, Peters continued to teach for 10 years before his administrative duties needed his full attention.

While at Woodcrest, Peters saw the school grow from around 250 seventh- through 12th-graders to 650. The school also started Advanced Placement classes and regular chapel and mission outreach programs. And while many public schools were cutting their fine arts programs, choir, art and drama thrived on campus, he said.

Peters was also heavily involved with athletics, helping raise the quality, as well as the number, of sports offered. He was president of the Christian League for 19 years, where one of Woodcrest's biggest rivals was Linfield Christian.

"I knew Linfield pretty well from the outside in," Peters said. "When I felt it was time for a change, this is one of the first places I looked."

The high school just opened a two-story, 23-classroom, 39,000-square-foot building as part of an $18 million renovation project on the campus, which serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

"They are growing from a small school mentality to a large school mentality," Peters said. "They need infrastructure and policy and procedures to move to the next level of growth in personnel as well as policy."

Linfield is the oldest high school in Temecula. Its campus on Pauba Road has served the community since 1968. The school traces its history back 70 years, when it was located in Los Angeles.

There are presently 420 students enrolled.

The school emphasizes college preparation and students must pass a test to be accepted. Peters said 99 percent of graduates go on to attend college.

"I'm delighted to be here," said Peters, who will be moving to Murrieta soon now that he's sold his Riverside home. "I look forward to moving here and am excited for the possibilities."

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