A judge is ruling in favor of a suspended high school principal in eastern Iowa. Following a hearing that concluded early last month, administrative law judge Larry Bartlett says in an 86-page decision that Durant High School principal Monica Rouse should not be fired. School superintendent Duane Bark suspended Rouse with pay last September.

The school board voted a month later to consider firing her, citing 15 allegations of wrongdoing, including falsifying student records and academic fraud. Rouse denied the charges and requested the hearing. Bartlett says the allegations against Rouse were not backed up by specific examples.

And he says decisions Rouse made were to benefit students and did not harm the school district. The Durant School Board will now decide whether to fire or reinstate Rouse.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport