001I thought she was so Jackie, she just popped up online. >> Okay. Okay. You got it. This like [Music] The time Time is now 503. I would like to call the special school board meeting for Saturday, September 27th, 2025 for the De Mo public schools to order. Miss Rios, can you please take the role? Council >> here. Miss >> Campbell's here. >> Mr. Dixs >> here. >> Miss Knox >> here. Miss Martron here. Dr. Mayberry Mazize >> here. >> Miss Norris here. We have a Um I just want to make sure uh we'll be doing statement upon conclusion of the of the board item. The next item is approval of the agenda. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve a revised agenda and remove the closed session. >> Martano so moved and also second.
002>> We have a motion by Miss Marterano and a second by Miss Alonzo. Miss Rios, can you please take the vote? >> Yes. Mansono? >> Yes. Miss Compost? >> Yes. Mr. Dicks, >> yes. >> Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Miss Marano, >> yes. >> Dr. Mayberry Mace, >> yes. >> Miss Norris, >> yes. The vote is approved, seven to zero. The board has one action item C1, action on administrative leave of the superintendent. I'll turn it over to Miss Marano. >> Madam Chair, I would like to make a motion to place uh the superintendent, Dr. Ian Roberts, on administrative leave. We have a motion by Miss Martano. May I have a second? >> Second. Alonso, >> we have a second by Miss Alonzo. Miss Rios, can you please take >> If I may, um, Madam
003Chair, um, while there is still much that we don't know, um, what we do know is that Dr. Roberts is currently unavailable to perform his duties as superintendent. Uh, based on Iowa Code Chapter 279 and standard district practice, the motion is to place Dr. Roberts on a paid administrative leave pending further information. The board may revisit this at any time that we have obtained additional concrete information relevant to Dr. Robert's status. >> Thank you. Miss Rios, can you please take the vote? >> Yes. Miss Alonso? >> Yes. >> Miss Compost? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dixs? >> Yes. >> Miss Knox? >> Yes. >> Miss Martana? >> Yes. >> Dr. Mayberry Maze? Yes, >> Miss Nor. >> Yes. The vote is approved 720. Okay. Thank you. Without objection, this meeting is adjourned at 5:06 p.m. Okay.
004Um I'm Jackie Norris. I am the chair of the board, but I'm speaking on behalf of the full board. And I am going to read a statement and then uh board member Maria Lonzo is going to uh read the same statement in Spanish. The accusations ICE has made against Dr. Roberts are very bear with us. Is that right? It's okay. Everybody was touching. It's just moving around. So that's Yes, it is. This one has your final page. These must mean cookies. Did you give me another That's page two. Thank your patience. There is no denying this simple fact. Yesterday was a jarring day for many people, not only at De Moines Public Schools, but throughout this community and country. In 2023, our students, staff, and families warmly welcome Dr. Roberts into our community, and he
005has served as an enthusiastic voice in support of our students academic success and the need to support public education. So, yesterday came as a shock to all of us. I want to be clear today. We still do not have all of the facts. According to ICE, on May in May 2024, an immigration judge issued a final removal order for Dr. Roberts. We were not made aware of that fact, and that's very concerning. I want to be clear, no one here was aware of any citizenship or immigration issues that Dr. Roberts may have been facing. The accusations ICE has made against Dr. Roberts are very serious and we are taking them very seriously. Dr. Roberts has retained the Parish Cryineir law firm and they have already provided a statement on their role and they will be
006probably offering future statements. As we shared yesterday afternoon, employers including DNPS are required to verifi verify employment eligibility for all employees. In this case, Dr. Roberts completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation. Everything the district has on file indicates that Dr. Roberts affirmed that he was a citizen who is eligible to work in the school district. The Iowa Department of Education issued a license in 2023 to the De Mo superintendent. The agency says an FBI criminal background check did not raise issues and Robert said he was a US citizen on the application. Later on, we will address the specific steps the board took when conducting the superintendent search in hiring Dr. Roberts in 2023. Two things can be true. We must support our interim superintendent and staff as they lead
00735,000 students and staff on Monday because our collective role is to educate and support our students and their families and we must continue to pursue the facts in this case and understand our school community is still processing this very significant issue. I also want to be clear about one fact that cannot be ignored. Of course, the school district ensured that a background check was conducted before hiring Dr. Roberts. That is done for every person who is hired by the district and periodic reviews are conducted on a regular basis for all current employees. On that point, I want to share the steps in the process that led to the hiring of Dr. Roberts. In December 2022, De Moines Public Schools approved a contract with JG Consulting as the district's search form to bring qualified superintendent candidates
008for our consideration. Between January and the end of March 2023, the board worked with the search firm on a variety of issues related to the qualifications and characteristics of candidates for the position. as the search firm recruited potential candidates for consideration. Between April 11th and 13th, the school board conducted interviews with the candidates. On May 16th, the school board approved our first contract with Dr. Roberts, who began his role as superintendent on July 1st, 2023. As part of their work for DMPS, JG Consulting's contract included their obligation to disclose to the district all known information of a positive or negative nature regarding candidates for the superintendent position. That included having a comprehensive criminal, credit, and background checks conducted by a third party. In this case, the search firm used a company called Baker Eubanks to
009conduct the background check, which found nothing related to citizenship or immigration matters related to Dr. Roberts. After his selection, Dr. Roberts then applied for his superintendent license with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. The state of Iowa issued a superintendent license to Dr. Roberts on July 11th, 2023. This all came after a career of more than 20 years that Dr. Roberts spent as an educator and school leader in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Maryland, Washington DC, and New York. In addition, DMPS is cooperating with requests for information from the state of Iowa authorities and will continue to do so. Finally, we all need to cool down the rhetoric. We should promote true discourse and facts, not spread misinformation meant to divide us. Our elected officials need to behave like role models for our children. Enough with the name
010calling and misinformation that is meant to divide us. We are talking about human beings. Our kids are watching. They are online 247 on social media, on phones, and what they see right now is likely very difficult for them to process. While we work to address this personnel issue, we must continue to lift up our district, our students, and staff and push back against hateful rhetoric against us. station right here. [Music] Clara Dr. Roberts Roberts Commando parish it cried near Roberts. Robert Superintendent Roberts. Dr. Roberts, personal Investig Dr. Roberts consulting considerific. qualific Roberts Consulting Baker Eubanks Roberts Dr. Roberts, Missouri, Maryland, Washington DC. Iowa information. Thank you for coming. We're not answering questions tonight, but Phil Raider in the back is available if you have additional needs.