Moving Forward – Sebring is Gone. The School Board is Not.

I filed a request with the Office of Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman to investigate the 12:00 p.m., May 10 closed meeting of the Des Moines Public School Board. This is the link to the letter to the Ombudsman and this is the link to the attachments I included with the letter to the Ombudsman.

I contend the Des Moines Public School Board improperly went into closed session on May 10 to discuss political strategy on how to best handle the resignation of Nancy Sebring.

In the minutes, hours and days following the meeting, the board president and District officials misled the public to why Sebring resigned. They have subsequently said they did so because the truth would come out eventually. It is not up to public officials or employees to decide when and how the truth surfaces.

As interim superintendent, Thomas Ahart should make every effort to end the controversy surrounding this matter. He should rescind his request for a closed meeting and the School Board should release the recording of the entire session as soon as possible.

Should Mr. Ahart refuse to rescind his request, all portions of the meeting should be made public that do not involve Thomas Ahart’s performance, appointment, hiring or discharge. The public has a right to evaluate the matter free of the changing filters established by self-interested board members and DMPS employees.

The quickest way to dispense with the swirling controversy Nancy Sebring left behind is to open all of the records. This would allow the public to reach an informed decision about how to best move our community forward.

### 

Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay.