A leave of absence for Sioux City School District Superintendent Juan Cordova could be approved after a late afternoon special school board meeting.
That special meeting involving a closed session begins at 4:30 p.m. at rhe downtown school district headquarters, in order to “evaluate the professional competency” of a person. The agenda says the Sioux City School Board closed session portion of the meeting will be followed by an open session where the members could take action on “superintendent leave status.”
That meeting will be followed by the regular school board meeting at 6 p.m.
This could be the second leave for Cordova, who became superintendent on July 1, 2025, after a national search.
However, in the final days before the school year started, the Sioux City School Board members in a closed meeting on August 22 approved an unexplained leave of absence for Cordova.
After being away from his job for a week, Cordova returned to his work on August 28, That was the same day that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners issued an administrator license to Cordova, with an endorsement for Pk-12 grades.
Then on September 15, a plan to have a closed Sioux City School Board meeting collapsed, after board member Lance Ehmcke said continuing rumors about the superintendent necessitated open talks.
Board president Jan George chided Ehmcke for continuing to cite unspecified rumors about Cordova. After that meeting, Cordova declined to comment after hearing Ehmcke several times say there are a lot of unflattering rumors about him.
On Monday, Cordova told Siouxland Public Media News that he could not give information about a potential new leave of absence.
In October, the school board approved hiring the Lynch Dallas Law firm in Cedar Rapids an at outside investigator for a personnel matter. During that meeting there was a lot of discussion about why the school board hired the investigator.
Sioux City resident Kristie McManamy expressed her concern about the school board taking that step and the lack of transparency with certain board members.
Jan George, Board President, said bringing someone from the outside would create an impartial, unbiased opinion.
There was a vacancy in the Sioux City School District after Superintendent Rod Earleywine retired after three years. Cordova most recently was working in a Missouri school.
