The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners could strip Des Moines Superintendent Tom Ahart of his administrator s license following several complaints about the district s online learning.
The complaints stem from Des Moines school officials decision to keep Des Moines Public Schools more than 31,000 students learning online for the first two weeks of the school year as the coronavirus was ripping through the state.
The complaints were filed with the Board of Educational Examiners against Ahart on Sept. 30 and Oct. 21, the notice of hearing and statement of charges dated Feb. 3 states. The notice does not give details about the complaints.
The educational examiners investigation of the situation, provided to the Des Moines Register, concluded Ahart failed to comply with several Iowa laws by failing to submit and/or implement a lawful return-to-learn plan for the 2020-2021 school year.
IPR
A decision by the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district to stick with remote learning in the midst of a pandemic could end up costing him his job.
A decision by the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district to stick with remote learning in the midst of a pandemic could end up costing him his job.
The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners is seeking to strip Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Ahart of his administrator license, saying it found probable cause that Ahart failed to submit or implement a lawful plan to return students to the classroom for the 2020-21 school year, television station WOI reported Wednesday. The license is a state requirement to hold the position of schools superintendent in Iowa.
The Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent could be stripped of his license by the state due to the district’s decision to only offer remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, Sinclair said the bill was not about being petty or targeting Des Moines schools. While this may have been prompted by the willful and intentional violation of Iowa Code related to education from Des Moines, she said, it’s a much broader topic of conversation that I that I think we do need to advance and I think we do need to have.
Two members of the Des Moines School Board joined the meeting to ask lawmakers to reconsider the legislation. I know there are some at the state Capitol who don’t agree with our decision-making, Board Chair Dwana Bradley said. I certainly recognize and acknowledge that, but I am also asking that you do not move this legislation forward and rather extend grace to elected officials, who took many factors into consideration in making their decisions that we felt (were) best for our community in the midst of a global crisis.
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Senators ponder new route to remove school board members
After students in Des Moines Public School spent much of the fall semester in online classes, a bill in the Iowa Senate is designed to make it easier to eject members from a school board.
Emily Piper, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, is raising concerns about giving just five registered voters the power to petition a judge to remove school board members.
“Let’s say the court did determine that the entire board or half the board had violated the law and agreed with their removal, without the ability to hold an immediate special election, school boards would be unable to function,” Piper said this morning. “They would not have a quorum, they could not do their business.”