One month after being placed on paid administrative leave, Sioux City School District Superintendent Juan Cordova has not worked on school tasks and questions about the leave remain.
Cordova was hired as superintendent beginning July 1. He was placed on leave, following action by the Sioux City School Board after a lengthy closed session meeting on November 10.
School board and district officials have noted that Iowa law prohibits sharing personnel information to pinpoint reasons for the leave. This week, district spokeswoman Leslie Heying said she could share no new information about Cordova’s tenure or his leave.
Heying clarified that when the leave action was decided, the leave was placed retroactively to November 6.
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.
Cordova did not respond to interview requests on Wednesday.
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.
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.
This is the second leave of absence in four months for Cordova.
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.
After a national search, the board hired Cordova after Superintendent Rod Earleywine retired after three years in June.
Assistant Superintendent Angela Bemus is serving as Acting Superintendent.
