Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Time for the News Roundup.

Inside the Relationship Between Ian Roberts and a Des Moines Public School Contractor (Des Moines Register)

Poor Des Moines Public Schools. Not only did their now fired school superintendent lie about his immigration status and work authorization to get the Des Moines job back in 2023, now Ian Roberts is back in the news after a state audit found him being employed as a consultant to a firm whose president he was sleeping with.

According to the Des Moines Register,

“…Joseph Hill wanted the Des Moines School Board to fire its superintendent.”

“Hill, 66, a used-car dealer and trucking company owner in Kansas City, Missouri, said his problem with Roberts began when Hill, since divorced, drove to his estranged wife’s house in July 2023. He brought a dozen red roses, some soda and some juice.”

“In her garage, Hill said he spotted a car he didn’t recognize.”

“Hill rummaged through a briefcase inside the vehicle and found papers with Roberts’ name on them, he said. He had long known of Roberts, who consulted for his wife’s company, Lively Paradox….”

“Now, as he bounded up the stairs, he found Price walking out of her bedroom. He said he pushed past her, barged through the door and saw Roberts in bed, watching soccer on TV.”

Joseph Hill contends the Des Moines Public Schools’ board of education knew about Roberts relationship, both the romantic affair and the consultant work, before the district hired him as their new superintendent.

The district is denying Hill’s charge.

Based on my 25 years working in a large urban school district, these types of stories connected to a sleazeball like Roberts just continue to stick around, like a bad scab that never heals. The ripples from the metaphorical exploding bomb (Roberts being fired by DMPS after his immigration status became public) just continue to move through school districts like DMPS, and there is little leadership can do to stop it.

Two Students Join Winooski School Board to Give Their Peers a Voice (Burlington Free Press)

Winooski s a small town north of larger Burlington, Vermont.

Winooski’s school board made news recently by adding two students to their group.

According to the Burlington Free Press,

“Local high school students…will represent their peers on the board for the next two years, starting June 10.”

“Because Vermont law reserves ‘binding’ votes for elected officials, [the students] will only be able to cast ‘advisory’ votes on all motions, which don’t count but will be recorded in meeting minutes.”

“’They’re not going to be able to change the vote,’ said Nicole Mace, the school board president. But she is ‘confident that their voices will influence a direction.’”

Let’s hope so.

I’ve seen this movie before. A group of adults become convinced that putting students on their school board as “advisory members” will serve to improve learner agency – making kids feel like they are part of the school decision-making process.

But too often these types of actions are nothing more than a public relations stunt, and the students are part of the decision-making group in name only.

Maybe Winooski will be different.

NAEP Civics Test Could Expand to Offer State-by-State Results (EducationWeek)

Earlier this year it appeared that the Trump administration was moving away from endorsing the importance of the National Assessment of Education Progress – NAEP – commonly referred to as our nation’s education report card.

But according to EducationWeek,

“The nation’s report card is poised to expand its assessment of American students’ civics knowledge, potentially creating the nation’s first state-by-state results on a topic with strong bipartisan interest.”

The National Assessment Governing Board also voted to restore several cuts made to the testing schedule last year due to staffing reductions at the National Center for Education Statistics, including adding back grade 12 reading and math for 2028 and 2032 and allowing for state-by-state results in those subjects, too, as well as in science for grade 8.”

This is good news for those of use who want to know how our kids are progressing, because as one of my mentors once told me, “If you don’t test, then how do you know?”

Now if only America’s young learners can improve their performance on most of the NAEP tests.

Enjoy the long weekend. ABPTL will return Tuesday, May 26^th. Til then. SVB