Iowa’s school district demands the search firm examining the Superintendent arrested by ICE last week

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) – The largest school district in Iowa said it filed a lawsuit against the consulting company that hired to identify the superintendent candidates, claiming that the company did not properly examine Ian Roberts, who was arrested by the immigration authorities last week.

The public schools of Des Moines hired JG Consulting in 2022 to facilitate the search for leadership, which led to the hiring of Roberts the following year.

The immigration and customs officials of the United States have said that Guyana’s native was illegally in the United States and had no work authorization. Federal prosecutors accused Roberts on Thursday of possessing four firearms while in the United States illegally, including an authority, he said he was involved in a towel inside the Cherokee Jeep that drove when the agents arrested him, according to judicial presentations.

The district complaint accused the search firm for non -compliance with contract and negligence, and the president of the school board, Jackie Norris, said the approach focuses on recovering the dollars of taxpayers and addressing the reputation damage.

“The firm failed its duty to properly examine candidates. Ian Roberts should never have presented himself as a finalist,” Norris said. “If we knew what we knew now, I would never have been hired.”

James Guerra, President and CEO of JG Consulting, based in Texas, did not immediately respond to telephone calls or messages that are looking for comments on Friday. A phone call to the JG Consulting customer service line was unanswered.

Roberts’s arrest after he ran from a traffic stop has shocked and confused the community. Students have left their classrooms in protest. The community members have gathered to ask Roberts’ lawyers, trying to reconcile the vibrant man who got involved with the students and the staff with the man in the center of a scandal that has captured national attention. The DES Moines School Board has said that he was “a victim of deception” during his mandate.

Roberts, who is in federal custody in Des Moines, resigned as a superintendent this week after a state education board revoked his license.

Federal authorities said Roberts had a final elimination order that was issued last year, and an immigration judge denied a motion to reopen Roberts’s immigration case this April. Roberts’s lawyer Alfredo Parrish said Roberts was under the impression of a previous lawyer that his immigration case “successfully resolved.”

The district has said that Roberts signed a form when he was hired that attests to him that he was an American citizen, presenting a social security card and a driver’s license as a verification. District officials also declared that they had no knowledge of an elimination order issued in 2024.

ICE officials also said that Roberts had an un specified weapons charge of 2020. The records of the Pennsylvania court show that Roberts paid a fine of $ 100 after declaring himself guilty in January 2022 to a lower infraction for illegally possessing a firearm loaded in a vehicle. An officer of the Pennsylvania game commission stopped him after the hunting of deer in Erie County.

Roberts said at that time that he was a licensed hunter and a arms owner for a long time, that he left his hunting rifle in sight to ensure that the officer did not feel threatened during his interaction and that he declared himself guilty of avoiding distraction.

The district was aware of that position and the officials said it was addressed from the beginning.

The contract between the district and JG Consulting, which for a long time has been available on the district website, said the company was responsible for advertising, recruitment, review of the application and the curriculum, the search for public domain, complete reference checks and the presentation of qualified candidates. The district serves about 30,000 students and uses almost 5,000 employees.

Roberts, who has two decades of experience in education, used a doctoral degree long before obtaining a doctorate from Trident University International in 2021.

Roberts falsely affirmed in a curriculum that he presented with his request obtained by a doctorate in urban educational leadership of the Morgan State University in 2007, according to documents that Associated Press obtained through a request for public records.

Although Roberts enrolled in that doctoral program from 2002 to 2007, the School’s Public Relations Office confirmed in an email that did not receive that title. A background verification during the hiring process said the same, marking the discrepancy with the curriculum, according to the district.

The district said that the Complete School Board only saw a revised curriculum to indicate that it had not completed its dissertation, which is necessary for the title. But the Board had access to the background verification alerting members about the initial variance.

It was required that the consulting company brought all the information, positive or negative, to the attention of the Board, but did not, said Norris. “This is responsibility.”