Sioux City School District Superintendent Juan Cordova has been placed on paid administrative leave, following action by the Sioux City School Board after a lengthy closed session meeting on Monday.
A district official added that Iowa law prohibits sharing personnel information to pinpoint reasons or the duration of the paid administrative leave.
That closed session was set in order to “evaluate the professional competency” of a person. The regular November school board meeting followed shortly thereafter, and Cordova was not present for that.
This is the second leave of absence in four months for Cordova, who was hired in July 2025.
In the final days before the school year started, the 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.
In October, the school board approved hiring the Lynch Dallas Law firm in Cedar Rapids as an outside investigator for a personnel matter that has not been publicly pinpointed.
This week, Cordova said he could not give information about the latest leave of absence. Siouxland Public Media News asked if Cordova knew whether he was the subject of the independent investigation, and he declined comment.
Back on October 29, another closed meeting was held by the Sioux City School Board. As the motion was made to go into a closed session to discuss records that are required to be kept confidential, board member Lance Ehmcke asked what federal statute concerning records was in play.
An attorney from the Ahlers Law Firm told Ehmcke that “at a minimum…this relates to Title IX,” and that she could not explain more in the open venue.
Ehmcke then asked what records were involved. Board President Jan George replied that it was investigative report records. The board then entered the closed session.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
Further back on September 15, a plan to have a closed board meeting collapsed, after Ehmcke said continuing rumors about the superintendent necessitated open talks.
After that meeting, Cordova declined to comment after hearing Ehmcke several times say there are a lot of unflattering rumors about him.
After a national search, the Sioux City School Board hired Cordova after Superintendent Rod Earleywine retired after three years in June.
