Iowa superintendent arrested by ICE loses license, placed on leave

DES MOINES, Iowa (NYT) — The public school system in Des Moines remained in upheaval on Monday as district leaders struggled to respond to the detention of their superintendent, Ian Roberts, and accusations by federal law enforcement that he had been living and working in the country illegally.

During a hastily scheduled meeting Monday evening, school board members voted 6-0 to place Roberts on unpaid leave, a day after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his state license. Roberts, who was placed on paid leave Saturday, is being held in a jail nearly 200 miles away.

All of it left residents of Iowa’s capital city confused, concerned and unsure how to square their impressions of Roberts, whose vision for the

See Full Page