Waukee school board faces heat over COO accused of wrongdoings

A call to fire an embattled Waukee school administrator was met by applause from the crowd gathered Monday for a board of education meeting.

Waukee resident David Leonard was one of two people to speak out against Waukee Community School District's Chief Operating Officer Eric Rose at the board's first meeting since the Des Moines Register reported on an internal investigation that outlined his conduct.

Leonard called for Rose to be fired after the report revealed he fabricated employee time cards, used school property at home and solicited more than $3,000 in donations for his son’s hockey team from district vendors.

More: Waukee administrator altered time cards, used district property at home, reports say

"Eric Rose blatantly betrayed the trust you placed in him as an employee in a high administrative position," Leonard said. " ... Were I sitting in your place, I would never trust Rose in the future."

He questioned why Rose was still employed by the district and why he was given a 6 percent raise less than a year after the investigation concluded. Teachers were given a 3 percent raise this year.

Prior to Leonard's statement, board vice president Wendy Liskey told him no one could speak about Rose in the public meeting.

"Iowa law does prohibit us from discussing specific employees or their job performance," she said.

Iowa law says school districts can choose to keep performance evaluations or disciplinary records confidential, but it does not prohibit district officials from discussing an employee's job performance publically.

"We elect you people," Leonard told the board. "This is one more example of some good old boys club where you don't want to hear anything negative."

The internal investigation was conducted by the district in March 2016, but was made public last month when the Register obtained a copy. It concluded that Rose kept a district snowblower at his home, had employees run errands for him while on the clock, provided his wife and son with key card access to district buildings and solicited donations for his son's hockey team from district vendors using his work email address, the report said.

Rose admitted to the allegations made against him, according to the report. A separate police investigation did not result in criminal charges.

The chief operating officer and the district have been named in a lawsuit filed by former operations manager Nicholas Bavas, claiming he was forced to resign after blowing the whistle on Rose's conduct.

Former school board member Pat DeMouth also spoke Monday, recalling a time when the school board had to suspend a third-grader for bringing a spent shell casing to class for show-and-tell. DeMouth served on the school board a decade ago.

"If we're going to have zero tolerance like that towards our students, I certainly think we should expect the same for our administration," he said.

The Waukee Community School District declined to tell the Register whether Rose was disciplined after the internal investigation was completed.

But Superintendent Cindi McDonald sent a districtwide email to parents shortly after the story published. In it, McDonald said the board of education required Rose to reimburse the district and apologize to staff. They also realigned his job responsibilities, she wrote.

She was not more specific.

"In July 2016, the Waukee Board of Education reviewed the findings of the independent investigation and — after consultation with legal counsel and a recommendation by the district superintendent — determined that Mr. Rose's decisions and errors in judgment did not warrant termination from a district where he had worked for more than 12 years," McDonald wrote. " ... Since that administrative action occurred 15 months ago, Mr. Rose has performed his duties as chief operating officer in a professional and responsible manner."

In other news Monday, the district hired a public relations firm, Wixted & Co., for strategic communications services. Spokeswoman Nicole Lawrence said the firm was hired to help her as the district prepares for a bond referendum in February to build a second high school. She said the contract was not in response to the allegations against Rose.

"Third-party companies are used when there is not enough work or funds to justify hiring and paying for an additional full-time employee," she said. "Working with these companies can save the district money until hiring an additional (full-time employee) makes sense."

The district will pay Wixted & Co. $150 an hour for its services. The contract extends through the end of the school year.

Lawrence, who is the only employee in the district's communications department, makes $74,383 a year.