When the Waukee School Board announced it accepted former COO Eric Rose’s resignation, the board said the resignation gives “immediate closure.”
That, however, is not the sentiment shared by everyone.
“I’m very frustrated with the issues on hand regarding how the school board and superintendent has handled all this,” said Royale Andrews. “Eric Rose should have been fired two years ago when all this was coming out but instead the superintendent and the school board agreed to give him a six percent raise.”
Andrews, who lives in Waukee and has two children in the school system, said Rose is not the only guilty party. Everyone on the board except for Lori Lyon drew the ire of Andrews.
“Mrs. Lyon was the only one that voted against Mr. Rose getting a raise,” Andrews said. “The other school board members need to step down and the Waukee Schools need to find another superintendent. All this misuse of funds is very frustrating for my family as my husband and I have been fighting to get our child services since fourth grade and now she is in seventh grade and three years behind in math and other areas.
“It makes me wonder if that is why it has been so hard to get my child the help when the funds are being used elsewhere and not for the children of the school district.”
Andrews said justice has not been served.
“It will not be until members of the school board step down along with replacing (superintendent) Cindi McDonald,” she said. “I think the school board really doesn’t care what we as citizens feel because if they did they would own up to the mistakes that they have done, but we have not heard of one apology throughout all this.”
Megan Wick, whose oldest child graduated in 2016 and has four more kids in Waukee schools, said her family chose to move to Waukee in part because of the great school system.
“We still love our schools, teachers and principals,” she said. “All of our kids love school and for that we give all the credit to their teachers.”
But by no means does Wick believe the Rose situation is behind the district.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “Having Rose gone now allows focus on the rest of the individuals who were a part of this scandal. The school board president and superintendent think that taxpayers will just sweep this under the rug. Just like they thought would happen the first time issues arose. Not the case.
“Trust has been completely lost and people will be watching and researching from now on.”
Wick still has at least half a dozen questions she’d like answered.
*Who else was involved and to what extent?
*What will the repercussions be for those individuals?
*When will Cindi McDonald resign or be let go?
*What policies will be put into place to allow more transparency?
*What is the reason they were worried about the possibility of a lawsuit from Rose?
*What other secrets, scandals or corruption are they hiding?
Allowing Rose to resign rather than terminating his employment added to the sting.
“He bonded out of jail. He is charged with four felonies that are directly related to the district,” Wick said. “He should have been fired two years ago. Besides committing four felonies, using district resources for personal use, he also is getting $16,000 paid to him for unused vacation time. What kind of message does that send? Absolutely ridiculous. They mentioned it would be better so that he will not sue the district. Sue the district? For what? He is a criminal.”
