Thomas Ahart (Des Moines Schools photo)
The superintendent of the Des Moines Community School District may lose his administrator’s license for failing to have students back in classrooms for much of the fall semester.
The Des Moines School Board voted to start the school year with online only instruction — without a state waiver to do so. Students didn’t start returning to classrooms until October. WOI TV in Des Moines was first to report the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners has drawn up charges against superintendent Thomas Ahart.
A hearing is scheduled for May 20th. If Ahart loses his license, he will be unable to remain as superintendent in Des Moines.
Two members of the Des Moines School Board issued statements of support for Ahart. The board’s chair and vice chair say public health guidance from the state and federal government during the pandemic was often conflicting and changing and online classes were meant to slow the spread of Covid in Iowa’s largest school district.