A year into his tenure as superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district, former Olympian Ian Roberts made headlines when – in a maroon three-piece suit, candy cane striped bow tie and matching Nike Air Force 1 sneakers – he ran a 100-meter dash against some of his elementary school students.
An 11-year-old crossed the finish line a few steps ahead of Roberts, who represented Guyana in the 800 meters in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, CNN affiliate KCCI reported.
It was a small but unforgettable lesson.
“I raced an Olympian,” fifth grader Amayah Vilmael, a student athlete whose parents are from Nigeria and Haiti, said after the May 2024 race, according to KCCI. “I’m going to keep that in my mind forever.”
Roberts said, “The work we do is so much more than reading, writing and math.”
On Friday, the popular superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools again made headlines after he was detained by immigration officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which claims he’s in the country illegally and has weapon possession charges.
Roberts was then placed on paid administrative leave pending more information by the Des Moines Public School Board on Saturday after a vote determined he was unable to perform his duties.
“Yesterday came as a shock to all of us. I want to be clear today: We still do not have all of the facts,” Board Chair Jackie Norris said at the meeting.
For Roberts’ colleagues, the more than 30,000 students he oversaw and their parents, the episode offered another unforgettable lesson: A close-up look at the Trump administration’s unrelenting crackdown on immigration – which has seen raids on workplaces and arrests of community pillars such as a firefighter, a journalist and a pastor.
His arrest came one month into the school year, shook the community and spurred a protest outside the federal courthouse in Des Moines. “Education, not deportation / Free Dr. Roberts,” read a sign carried by a demonstrator, according to KCCI footage. Local education and immigration advocacy groups have rallied behind the superintendent.
Alfredo Parrish, an attorney in Des Moines, told CNN he spoke with Roberts – who was being held at a county jail in Sioux City, Iowa – by phone on Saturday morning.
“He sounded good. We had a good conversation,” said Parrish, whose firm is representing the superintendent. Parrish declined further comment, saying he needed “an opportunity to review all the documents” related to the case.
Roberts’ long career as an educator included positions in New York City; Baltimore; Washington, DC; St. Louis; Oakland, California; and Erie, Pennsylvania, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“My career chose me,” he said in an interview with Coppin State University “Alumni Stories.”
“I believe that I was divinely guided to this career, to educate, inspire, motivate and serve as a champion for children, particularly children who are marginalized by our K-12 education system, and to inspire the adults who serve them daily.”
He was named Des Moines Public Schools superintendent in 2023, according to the district’s website. Roberts was “born to immigrant parents from Guyana, and spent most of his formative years in Brooklyn,” New York, the website said.
His rise from special education teacher to principal to administrator resonated with many in a country where, in 2021, nearly one-fourth – or 11 million – of its public school students were children of immigrants, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
“I just think it’s really important that we take care of one another, and we seem to be at a spot where that’s not what’s happening,” Mary Pat LaMair, a district teacher who was among the crowd protesting Roberts’ arrest on Friday told KCCI.
“It’s important for people to know that the general public, I think, is not OK with what’s happening,” she added.
Last month, in announcing a partnership between Des Moines Public Schools and Des Moines Public Library that allowed the school IDs of middle and high school students to function as a library card, Roberts spoke about how his first library card changed his life.
“My mom couldn’t get me to leave the bedroom once I was able to borrow three, four or five books,” he told DMPS-TV, the school district’s television channel.
Roberts entered the US on a student visa in 1999, according to DHS.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Coppin State University in Maryland, according to his bio on the district website. At Coppin, where he was inducted this year to the sports hall of fame, Roberts was the college’s first men’s NCAA all-American in any sport. He was also the school’s first Olympic athlete.
Roberts later got master’s degrees from St. John’s University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington, according to his bio on the district website. He is married and enjoys hunting.
The school district and DHS presented starkly divergent portraits of Roberts.
DHS described him as a “criminal alien” and suggested he was a public safety threat. But at a news conference after his arrest, board president of Des Moines Public Schools Jackie Norris said the superintendent was “an integral part of our school community” who “has shown up in ways big and small” for students and staff.
The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners issued Roberts a license to serve as superintendent in the state in July 2023, according to Norris.
On his application for the job, Roberts said he was a US citizen who was eligible to work in the district, Norris said at the board meeting Saturday.
Norris said the school district only recently learned of the final removal order for Roberts issued by a judge in 2024.
“We were not made aware of that fact, and that’s very concerning,” Norris said. “I want to be clear – no one here was aware of any citizenship or immigration issues that Dr. Roberts may have been facing.”
Roberts disclosed his weapon charge, related to a hunting rifle, when he was hired, a district spokesperson told CNN.
The superintendent was arrested as part of a “targeted enforcement operation” and fled after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers approached him, according to statements from DHS and the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
DHS said he was “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife” at the time of his arrest. It’s a violation of federal law to own a firearm and ammunition if an individual doesn’t have legal status in the US.
Another administrator, Matt Smith, has taken the role of interim superintendent in the meantime, according to a message posted on social media by the district earlier.
The board can revisit the decision to place Roberts on leave at anytime as they learn more details about his status, board member Kimberly Martorano said at Saturday’s meeting.
A longtime gun owner and hunter
Des Moines Public Schools said it was unaware of the order of removal but Roberts did inform the school board of a firearms offense related to a hunting rifle during his hiring process. The district said in a statement Roberts “provided sufficient context and explanation of the situation to move forward in the hiring process.”
Public records show Roberts pleaded guilty to a weapon charge in Pennsylvania in 2022. CNN has been unable to verify whether Roberts has a separate charge from 2020, which DHS cited in its statement Friday.
In a 2022 Instagram post, Roberts wrote he was given a citation by a state game warden for having a loaded weapon in his vehicle. He said he is a longtime licensed gun owner and hunter. Roberts, who was in the woods hunting that day, said he placed his hunting rifle in the backseat of his vehicle to ensure the warden “did not feel unsafe or threatened in any way.”
“I may not appear to be the ‘type of man’ who would enjoy deer season in Pennsylvania, in fact, I am and have been hunting for more than 20 years,” Roberts wrote.
Roberts wrote he never intended to leave a loaded weapon in his vehicle but was approached by the warden before he had the chance to unload it and place it in a lockbox. He added he remains “confident in my decision not to unload a rifle in the presence of a law enforcement officer.”
The district said Roberts submitted an employment eligibility verification form and an I-9 as part of the hiring process.
“The district has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been able to talk with Dr. Roberts since his detention,” district spokesperson Phil Roeder said.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said in a statement Roberts’ arrest should be a “wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats.”
The agency’s online detainee locator system shows Roberts was born in Guyana and was being held at a county jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and later transferred to Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City.
The Iowa State Education Association and Des Moines Education Association said they were shocked by Roberts’ detention and described the administrator as a “tremendous advocate” in a statement, KCCI reported.
“His leadership and compassion for all students, regardless of background, identity, or family origin, are a beacon of light in one of the state’s most diverse school districts,” the statement reads, according to KCCI.
“It is a dark and unsettling time in our country. This incident has created tremendous fear for DMPS students, families, and staff.”
Roberts, in his interview with the Coppin State online alumni publication, spoke about his parents, who migrated from Guyana – his father in the 1980s, his mother in the early 2000s – in search of better opportunities.
“The way that my mother has lived her life with a strong spiritual foundation, unbelievable work-ethic, humility, and an inclination for community activism, served and continues to be an inspiration to me,” he said.
Roberts added, “One day I hope to return to my birthplace of Guyana, South America as a public servant.”