Dive Brief:
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The Iowa Department of Education and the state's Board of Educational Examiners are being audited after U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement took former Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts into custody last month for allegedly staying and working in the country illegally.
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The state auditor will review the entities' licensing and background check procedures, as well as audit Iowa's Des Moines Public Schools, according to information shared with K-12 Dive by the state auditor's office.
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Meanwhile, the state's largest school district announced earlier this month that it is suing JG Consulting, the search firm that Des Moines School Board tapped to help with its superintendent search in 2022-23 and facilitated the hiring of Roberts in 2023.
Dive Insight:
Roberts' arrest by ICE on Sept. 26 is one of the most high-profile apprehensions in the K-12 sector to result from the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, which has impacted school communities nationwide and has even changed schools' daily operations in some places like Chicago. Roberts has served in educator and school leadership positions for over two decades in the U.S., according to the Des Moines school district.
His apprehension by immigration enforcement officials raised questions about the hiring and vetting processes in place at the state and district levels.
The Iowa state department of education audit was launched after a request by state Sen. Tony Bisignano from Des Moines, who said in an Oct. 22 letter to state auditor Rob Sand that the arrest of Roberts "raise[s] serious concerns about the integrity and effectiveness of the Board's licensing processes.
"This incident represents a glaring oversight and suggests a potential failure in either the background check protocol itself or in the implementation and review process," said Bisignano, adding that "public trust" is on the line.
Bisignano also requested that the use of third-party contracts by the board be reviewed.
Since 2001, Roberts filed repeated green card applications, which is also known as a Permanent Resident Card, which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rejected, according to ICE. In 2019, he filed for employment authorization documents, which was approved with an expiration date of Dec. 18, 2020. By 2024, an immigration judge had ordered Roberts to be deported.
Des Moines Public School district said in a Sept. 30 statement that Roberts wrote he was a U.S. citizen on his I-9 employment form and that he provided a driver's license and Social Security card as two forms of identification. His arrest also raised concerns about his qualifications, including his doctorate degree from Morgan State University in Maryland.
Following his arrest, Roberts submitted a letter of resignation to the district through his attorney, which the Des Moines School Board accepted. His license allowing him to practice as superintendent was revoked by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners in the days following his arrest.
The district maintained in an Oct. 1 statement that it was a "victim of deception" by Roberts.
The district’s lawsuit against JG Consulting claims the firm failed to properly vet Roberts in violation of their contract and was negligent when it represented Roberts as a suitable candidate for the superintendency. The district is seeking an undetermined amount of damages, including the costs of superintendent pay.
In 2023, the Des Moines school system paid Roberts a base salary of $270,000, according to district documentation.
Des Moines Public Schools, along with all other public school districts in Iowa, are required by law to undergo an annual audit, making the audit launched by the state in light of Roberts' arrest a "reaudit."
Roberts was in U.S. Marshals custody, according to an Oct. 3 ICE statement. Court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa show that his trial date is set for Dec. 1, and that he's pled not guilty to the charges.
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