Board of Education
L-R: Steve Morgan, Bill Brown, Dawn Robinson, Dr. Rick Denning (Supt.), Peggy Pesterfield,
Dr. Murl Dirksen, Evelyn Rockholt, Tom Cloud
Members
| Dawn Robinson ................................................................ | 479-3058 | (home) |
| Peggy Pesterfield -Chairman.............................................. | 472-2064 | (home) |
| Evelyn Rockholt Chairman pro tem..................................... | 473-6754 | (home) |
| Steve Morgan .................................................................. | 472-5807 | (home) |
| Bill Brown ........................................................................ | 476-4515 | (work) |
| 472-5521 | (home) | |
| Tom Cloud ....................................................................... | 472-1697 | (home) |
| Murl Dirksen-Vice Chairman............................................... | 479-8145 | (home) |
| 614-8131 | (work) |
Board Members
Dawn Robinson
represents the third district. She was born in Rock Island, IL.
and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dawn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in
Elementary Education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, which she followed
with classroom teaching experience in Memphis. Dawn is a bookkeeper for Drs. Robinson and Anderson. Dawn is a member of Broad Street
United Methodist Church and has served on their Board of Trustees. She is a past president of the Bradley County Medical
Auxiliary, past president of the Stuart School PTO, past president of the Cleveland Middle
School PTO, and served four terms as president of the Cleveland High School Band Boosters.
She and her husband, Dr. Don Robinson, have lived in Cleveland since 1977. They have four children who
have been educated in the Cleveland City Schools. Dawn has achieved Level
5 Boardsmanship (Master School Board Member) from the TSBA. She was the 1998
recipient of the C. Hal Henard Distinguished Service Award as School Board
Member of the Year for the State of Tennessee and Chairman of the All
Tennessee School Board that year. She is a Past President of the Tennessee School Boards
Association. Dawn is a a charter member of TSBA Scholar's Circle. She
is a two time recipient of the NSBA Award for Distinguished Service. She
is a member of the Board of Examiners for the State Department of Education and
is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee School Boards Risk
Management Trust. She holds a certificate from the Local Government
Leadership Program from the University of Tennessee. Dawn was appointed to
the Cleveland City School Board in 1995 by the Cleveland City Commission and
re-elected in 1998, 2002, and 2006. She has served seven terms as Board Chairman.
Peggy Pesterfield
(Chairman) was elected to represent the Fourth
District in August of 2006. Peggy has a BA degree in Psychology and French from
the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and an MS degree in School Psychology
from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has thirty years of
experience in education as a classroom teacher of French, Psychology, and
Sociology, a school counselor, school psychologist, and as the Supervisor of
Student Services. As Supervisor of Student Services, she had supervision over
Special Education, School Counseling, Health Services, and the Homebound
Program. Twenty-eight of her thirty years in education were served in the
Cleveland City School System. During her tenure with the Cleveland City Schools,
she was named a State Finalist for Tennessee Teacher of the Year, achieved
Career Ladder III, was honored by the Hiwassee Council for "Outstanding Service
to Children and Families" and recognized by Kappa Delta Pi for dedication to
students and the field of education. Peggy and her husband Joe Pesterfied are
active in Broad Street United Methodist Church were she currently serves as
Staff-Parish Committee Chair. Peggy is a Board member of the Bradley-Cleveland
Services, the Behavioral Research Institute, the Cleveland Symphony Guild and
Friends of the Library. She and her husband have three children and five
grandchildren. Two of their children and their spouses live in Cleveland and one
in Birmingham, Alabama. Brian Pesterfield is a local Builder, Andy Pesterfield,
a CPA in Birmingham, and Aimee Pesterfield Salazar is a local veterinarian. All
three children attended Mayfield Elementary, Cleveland Middle and graduated from
Cleveland High School before going on to receive their college degrees.
Peggy has received the NSBA Award for Distinguished Service and is a Level 3
school board member in the TSBA boardsmanship program.
Steve Morgan represents the City At-Large
for the Cleveland School Board. He worked at Cleveland Plywood for over twenty
years before retiring three years ago. Steve attended Cleveland State Community
College and received his diploma from the University of Madrid, Spain in
International and Cultural Studies. He also attended the University of
Tennessee at Knoxville in Pre-Law. Steve is a Licensed Minister with First
Baptist Church where he and his family are members. Steve is also a certified
Community Service Chaplain through the Church of God Theological Seminary.
Steve and his wife Cheri have two daughters Sara and Molly who attend the
Cleveland City Schools. Steve is an advocate for children with disabilities,
and has traveled abroad to assist blind children in orphanages. He is
passionate about the education offered to all of our children in Cleveland.
Steve has Multiple Sclerosis and is blind from the effects of the disease.
He was elected to the Cleveland City School Board in August of 2008.
Tom Cloud represents the 5th district on the Cleveland City School Board of
Education. He retired from Cleveland City Schools in May 05 after 12 years
of teaching elementary school. Most of that time was at E. L. Ross Elementary
School. Other experience includes Arnold and Prospect Elementary Schools. Prior
to teaching, he was employed with the State of Tennessee Department of
Correction and Employment Security. His total years with the State and teaching
totaled 32. Tom is a veteran of the U.S. Army having served in Vietnam in the
early 1970’s. He hold a Master’s Degree from the University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga in Supervision and Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree from the
State of New York, and attended Lee University. He graduated from Bradley
Central High School in Cleveland, TN. His goal on the Board of Education is to
reestablish harmony and trust with the staff of Cleveland City Schools. As a
teacher, he fully understands how trust between the two can create an atmosphere
to continue to move our system forward and increase teaching, learning, and
performance of our teachers and students. He also wishes to strive to be
accessible to everyone in and out of his district. He is married to his wife Jeanie.
Bill Brown
was born in Cleveland, TN and practices law in Bradley County. He is
an at-large representative on the School Board. Bill graduated from the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Political Science and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. He has held
positions as Assistant District Attorney in the 3rd, 5th and 10th Judicial
Districts. Bill is admitted to practice law in Tennessee, in the Federal
District Court, in the US Court of Appeals and in the United States Supreme
Court. He has successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bill and
wife Marsha have two children in college who were educated in
the Cleveland City Schools. Bill has a Level 4 Boardsmanship Award from TSBA and
was named to the All Tennessee School Board in 2000. Bill has served as the
President of the Tennessee Legislative Network for the Tennessee School Boards
Association and was a Director of TSBA. He was appointed to the Cleveland
City School Board in 1995 and re-elected in 1998, 2002, and 2006. He was
elected Chairman of the Cleveland City School Board in January of 2005 and
served 3 terms in that position.
Murl Dirksen (Vice Chairman) is a veteran member
of the Department of History and Political Science at Lee University. He has
served more than 10 years as the department chair and is one of the few Lee
professors that has received both the Excellence in Scholarship Award (1993)
and the Excellence in Teaching Award (1991). He also completed post-doctoral
studies at Duke University and has been a visiting professor at University of
Florida under the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the cultural
anthropologist on a multi-disciplinary research team working on the Karak
Plateau in central Jordan. He spent a several years in China at Henan
University and Anhui Teachers College in the late eighties. Under a grant from
the U.S. Department of Education, Dirksen serves as the project director for
developing curriculum and student travel to Latin American. Locally, he
serves on the Board of Directors of the local affiliate of Habitat and is a
member of the Hopi Mission School Foundation Board in Arizona. He has travel
and lived in over 35 countries. Dirksen grew up in the village of
Kykotsmovi on the Hopi Reservation and attended Northern Arizona University in
Flagstaff, Arizona. He holds the following degrees: B.A., M.A.T., University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga, Ph.D., University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
He and his wife Carolyn, Vice-President of Academics at Lee University, have a daughter, Sara, who
attended Arnold Elementary School and is a graduate of Cleveland High School.
Sara is presently a music major at Lee University. Dirksen enjoys “teaching”,
skiing, swimming, and playing tennis. Murl represents the second
district on the City School Board and was elected in 2004.
Evelyn Jenkins Rockholt (Chairman pro tem)
was elected in the First District to the City School Board in 2004. She is a native of
Cleveland and has lived here most of her life. She is married to Chuck Rockholt, Principal
of Cleveland High School. They have four children and three grandchildren. She
has worked in the medical profession for over twenty-eight years. The schools represented in District One cause
the School Board position to be meaningful to her. Those schools are
Blythe-Bower, Arnold and Stuart. She spent part of her elementary school years at Blythe Ave.
Elementary; was in the first class when became Arnold Jr. High and was very active in the PTO and
other activities when her children attended Stuart Elementary. Evelyn is a graduate of
Bradley Central High School and has attended classes at the Continuing Education Seminars,
University of Alabama School of Optometry in Birmingham; Cleveland State Community College;
Tarrant County Junior College in Fort Worth, Texas; and the Leonard Institute in Arlington, Texas.
She is involved in extensive community service through the Women’s Ministry at First
Baptist Church.
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02/28/09