(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines School Board met in closed session today (Friday) and then announced a lawsuit against the search firm used in the hiring of former Superintendent Ian Roberts. School Board president Jackie Norris read a statement says J-G Consulting did not do its job. “The firm failed its duty to properly vet candidates. Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a finalist,” she says. “And if we knew now what we if we knew what we knew now, he would never have been hired.” Roberts lost his authorization to work in the United States well before he was hired to lead Iowa’s largest school district, and was arrested by ICE agents one week ago. The arrest raised several other questions about whether the background information he gave was accurate.

“The contract required J-G consulting to bring all known information of a positive or negative nature to the board, because that did not occur we are pursuing pursuing legal action as allowed by law. This is about accountability. Taxpayer dollars were used and we are seeking accountability,” Norris said. The school board paid the consulting firm 41-thousand dollars to find candidates for the job. The story of Roberts’ arrest and the false information presented to the Board has draw national and international attention to the story. “Sadly, some have used this situation to advance hateful comments. We will not be deterred or distracted by that. We are using this as a moment to come together and build a stronger future,” she says. Norris was asked about a federal investigation into whether the district violated hiring practices, and comments by state officials that the situation needs to be investigated.

Des Moines School Board President Jackie Norris. (photo from stream of board meeting.)

“I think it’s important to remember that the Governor Reynolds and the state of Iowa Board of Educational Examiners also provided Dr. Roberts a license. So there are state entities that also provided acceptance of Dr. Roberts licensure,” she says. “So I think our job is to partner with federal and state agencies to work together to make sure that we are continuing to strengthen our processes. But I think this is a is an issue that’s bigger than just our district since this is something that happened to the state of Iowa as well.” A lot of the information on Roberts was discovered online after he was arrested. Norris says J-G Consulting was responsible for advertising, recruitment application and resume review and public domain search, and complete reference checks of qualified candidates. “Clearly they missed things of a negative nature because things are being identified now online in hours,” she says.

Roberts was born in Guyana, was charged Thursday by federal officials with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms. A-T-F agents found three guns in a search of his home after his arrest last Friday. A loaded gun was also found in his Des Moines Public Schools vehicle.