Haluska responds to brewing Iowa Association of School Boards scandal

Decorah Community Schools Superintendent Mike Haluska has issued a statement in regard to a brewing scandal involving the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB). The surfacing details of the scandal, covered in a March 15 copyrighted story in the Des Moines Register, include apparent serious financial problems, the current Executive Director being placed on paid leave until further investigation, high salaries in the organization, and deals that were struck with the exiting finance director last year. Those deals including paying Larry Sigel's newly formed consulting firm significant dollars for a variety of consulting and training services, as well as what appears to be questionable roles to promote the use of IASB services over those offered by private companies in Iowa. Shortly after that contract was to have begun, the IASB sued Sigel for failure to provide those services.

The scandal first began to surface publicly last week when the Des Moines Register reported that the organization was facing serious financial problems and was undergoing an audit. The Iowa Legislature's Government Oversight Committee was scheduled to begin investigation of the situation today. Ironically,the IASB provides significant leadership and training to superintendents and local school boards in regard to school finance.

Haluska issued the following statement to decorahnews.com:

"The Decorah Schools are disappointed, to say the least, about the current developments at IASB. The organization has been one of the leading voices for education in Iowa for many years, but I fear the current developments are detracting from the voice. For example, IASB has been the leading lobby group for school boards across the state during the legislative session. I'm guessing that voice isn't now listened to in the same way it once was and that is unfortunate for schools statewide.

"The Decorah Schools are also involved with a separate arm of IASB, the IASB Foundation, that is the research arm of the organization. It's through IASB that the board is involved in the Lighthouse Project work toward board development and school improvement. We certainly hope these issues don't, in any way, deter from our current work."