(Radio Iowa) – A retired superintendent who’s a state senator says lawmakers must find out how the man who’s facing deportation and federal gun charges was ever hired as superintendent of Des Moines public schools. Senator Lynn Evans, a Republican from Aurelia, is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “There will come a time that I do believe hearings need to be conducted and we’ve got to get answers to some of these questions to ensure that this never happens again,” Evans says.

” We’re talking about the largest school district in the state of Iowa. They’re responsible for 30,000 students and this person was responsible for a multi-million dollar budget of taxpayer money.” Ian Roberts — hired in July of 2023 to be superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools — was on his way to work 13 days ago when he was arrested by immigration agents.

“We need to be asking questions of the Board of Educational Examiners and the Des Moines public schools on just how 1.) Mr. Roberts was issued a license to practice in the state of Iowa and 2.) how some of the information that should have been picked up in a background check either wasn’t communicated or was not picked up,” Evans says. Applicants for a professional administrator license from the State of Iowa must submit fingerprints, college transcripts and other documents — and the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners initiates a background check.

“I’m assuming it was done, but obviously in this case something slipped by,” Evans says. “There’s really more questions than we have answers to at this point.” State officials AND the president of the Des Moines School Board say Roberts claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he filled out paperwork before he started the job. Evans is reviewing the regulations the state Board of Education Examiners follows to issue administrator licenses and may sponsor a bill that requires the agency to check if applicants are authorized to work in the U.S. by using the federal government’s E-verify system.

“A database that is available for use not just for private employers, but public employers as well,” Evans says. “I think we need to take a good hard look at making that mandatory for use.” Evans says it’s important to ensure any investigation legislators do on this case doesn’t impede the criminal prosecution of Roberts or lawsuits being filed against the private firms that recommended Roberts be hired by school districts in Des Moines and, before that, in Pennsylvania.

“At some point, someone’s going to have to held accountable in this because this is an incident that should have never happened in the state of Iowa,” Evans says. The State of Iowa uses a firm called “Fieldprint” to collect fingerprints from people seeking state licenses to teacher or serve as administrators in Iowa school. According to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners’ website, using the company decreases processing times and results for the majority of background checks are received in a week or less.