Iowa district hired superintendent despite false Morgan State doctorate
claim on his resume
[October 02, 2025]
By HANNAH FINGERHUT and RYAN J. FOLEY
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of Iowa's largest school
district, who was detained last week by immigration agents, falsely
claimed a doctoral degree when applying for the job two years ago but
was hired even after the school board learned about the
misrepresentation.
Ian Roberts, who immigration authorities say was living and working in
the U.S. illegally and who resigned this week as Des Moines'
superintendent of schools, claimed in his 2023 application that he
received a doctorate in urban educational leadership from Morgan State
University in 2007, according to documents The Associated Press obtained
through a public records request.
Although Roberts was enrolled in that doctorate program from 2002 to
2007, the school’s public relations office confirmed in an email that he
didn't receive that degree. It declined to say which degree requirements
he hadn't met.
The Des Moines school board learned before hiring Roberts that he hadn't
received the degree, but it still chose him to lead the district, which
serves about 30,000 students.
“As part of the background check process that was done at the time, it
indicated that he did not complete -- he began but did not complete a
degree from Morgan State,” district spokesman Phil Roeder told the AP.
The background check was conducted by a third party and is not a public
record, Roeder said.
On Wednesday evening the board released a statement saying Roberts
provided a resume to a consulting company in which he indicated he had
earned a doctorate from Morgan State, but that the search firm later
flagged that he hadn't completed his dissertation.
A revised resume showing Roberts didn't received the doctorate from
Morgan was provided to the board, the statement said. After his hiring
the district sought documents from the consultant, which provided the
original resume and not the revised one.
“The Des Moines School Board is also a victim of deception by Dr.
Roberts, one on a growing list that includes our students and teachers,
our parents and community, our elected officials and Iowa’s Board of
Educational Examiners, and others,” board chair Jackie Norris said in
the statement.
Roberts, who is challenging the order to deport him to his native
Guyana, remained jailed Wednesday in Sioux City, about 150 miles (240
kilometers) northwest of Des Moines. When asked to comment on Roberts'
false application claim, his attorney, Alfredo Parrish, said he was
looking into the matter and would discuss it with his client.
The job profile in the web archive of JG Consulting, a firm the district
hired to assist in its 2023 superintendent search, said applicants must
have a master’s degree and at least 30 hours of graduate work in
administration. Roberts appears to have met those requirements.
In his application materials, Roberts also wrote that he had a doctorate
in educational leadership from “Trident American University” obtained in
2021. Roeder said the board's background check confirmed that Roberts
did receive that degree from that online school, though it is called
Trident University International. A school official declined to comment.
Experts say Roberts' false claim should have raised red flags
The false claim on Roberts’ resume might not have been legally
disqualifying, but it may have raised concerns about his integrity,
education administration experts said.
“That’s a pretty big discrepancy,” said Sadika Jubo, managing partner of
the School Liability Expert Group, a New Jersey firm that provides
expert witnesses. “I think red flags would go up for the district. ...
If they are making misrepresentations on their CV, is this a person of
moral character? They are going to be in charge of the district, money,
funds, people’s lives. Is this someone that we want to hire?”
When detaining Roberts, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents
cited a final removal order issued last year and an unspecified past
weapons charge. Since his detention, a state board has stripped Roberts’
license to be superintendent and the Des Moines school board has voted
to accept his letter of resignation, which Parrish wrote on Roberts'
behalf.
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This photo provided by WOI Local 5 News in September 2025 shows Des
Moines schools Superintendent Ian Roberts. (WOI Local 5 News via AP)
According to Parrish, Roberts was under the impression from a prior
attorney that his immigration case was “resolved successfully.
Parrish's law firm has filed a request to stay Roberts’ deportation
with an immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska. He described a “very
complex case” that will take time to investigate but acknowledged
Roberts could face deportation at any moment.
Parrish confirmed that his client was born in Guyana, but he didn't
say whether Roberts had ever applied for U.S. citizenship or legal
permanent residency, if or when he was authorized to work in the
U.S., or what happened during removal proceedings that resulted in a
final order of removal last year.
Other details on Roberts' resume confirmed
Roberts, who ran in the Olympics for Guyana, had two decades of
experience working as an educator and education professional across
the country. He has long used the doctorate title.
Roberts’ biography on the Des Moines school district’s website
touted a doctorate in urban educational leadership from Trident,
misidentifying the degree, with no mention of Morgan State.
Trident, acquired by American InterContinental University in 2020,
is a for-profit university that offers online degree programs.
The AP confirmed some of the other degrees and places of employment
listed on Roberts' resume, including his undergraduate degree from
Coppin State University in 1998 and master’s degree from St. John’s
University in 2000. Georgetown University did not respond to emails
seeking comment about Roberts' 2013 master's degree.
His employment as a superintendent at Millcreek Township School
District in Erie, Pennsylvania; a network superintendent at St.
Louis Public Schools; and a principal and teacher at Baltimore City
Public Schools was confirmed by each school district.
Aspire Public Schools, a charter school system in California, said
it doesn't comment on past or present personnel. A federal grant
application submitted by Aspire in 2019 named Roberts as chief
schools officer, as does his resume.
District of Columbia Public Schools did not respond to a public
records request about his employment there.
A Pennsylvania settlement
After he got the Des Moines job but before his term began, Roberts
was at the center of a costly personnel settlement involving his
treatment of a key subordinate and longtime colleague. It was
intended to be kept secret.
The former director of human resources for the Millcreek Township
School District, Melody Ellington, claimed that she faced
unspecified unlawful treatment after she was hired by and worked for
Roberts from July 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022.
The two previously worked together in St. Louis public schools from
2015 to 2018, where Ellington was budget director and Roberts was a
network superintendent.
A settlement agreement states that Ellington claimed she was
unfairly pushed out of her job and that she had “threatened
litigation,” while district administrators denied wrongdoing. The
district agreed in late June 2023 to pay Ellington $250,000 as part
of an agreement requiring that she, Roberts and other officials
would not disparage each other. Roberts started the Des Moines job
on July 1.
Ellington and her lawyer didn't respond to messages seeking comment
on the settlement, which had a nondisclosure provision but was
obtained by the Erie Times-News in late July 2023 through the public
records law.
At the time, Roberts told the Des Moines Register that he couldn't
comment on the settlement but noted it wasn't the reason he left
Millcreek and accepted the Des Moines job. He said the school board
“felt it was in the school district's interest to approve the
settlement," according to the Register's reporting.
The Des Moines school board chair at the time, Teree
Caldwell-Johnson, said the board did not know about the settlement
during his hiring because it only became public afterward.
___
Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.
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