EXCLUSIVE: The Waukee school board says it knew little when it let COO Eric Rose keep his job. Sworn depositions say that's not so.

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In 2016, the Waukee school board voted to suspend its chief operating officer, Eric Rose, for two weeks after an internal investigation found he was misusing district resources to benefit himself and his family. 

Two-and-a-half years later, a state audit cited the same misconduct. But this time, the board asked Rose to resign instead of being fired.

Board members have said they weren't given extensive information or told how serious the allegations were against Rose when they met in a closed session on July 11, 2016, to decide whether he should be punished or fired.

But in sworn depositions, the current and former Waukee superintendent say board members received an eight-page executive summary at that 2016 meeting that lays out the same accusations documented in a recent state audit, a Des Moines Register investigation has found. 

Rose admitted to many of the allegations, the summary says. The summary was one piece of a monthslong internal investigation by Two Solutions LLC, which the Waukee Community School District hired to look into allegations against Rose.

That confidential summary, obtained by the Register, is more truncated than some of the details in the audit. But those same details can be found in the full report of the school district's internal investigation.

Yet the school board was not given a copy of the full document in 2016, and its members did not ask to review it before deciding Rose's fate, the Register found.

The revelations come as the Waukee school board faces rising criticism over its failure to act more aggressively when the chief operating officer's misconduct was first disclosed.

Board president Wendy Liskey admits board members should have asked more questions.

"We are sorry for the impact our employees, students and community have felt as a result of our decision," Liskey said in an emailed statement. "We made a judgment regarding Eric Rose's employment in July 2016 based on what we knew at the time.

"… In hindsight, the entire board should have requested more information before making a decision."

Wendy Liskey  (Photo: Special to the Register)

Liskey maintains that the board received only a verbal summary of Rose's misconduct, despite court documents and interviews indicating otherwise. 

Rose now faces three felony charges for allegedly altering an employee's time card and directing another employee to do the same.

He also faces a serious misdemeanor for allegedly violating the state's gift law. He faces up to 16 years in prison. 

Rose has pleaded not guilty. 

More: Waukee schools investigation: A timeline of how it all happened

How we got here

The investigation into Rose's misconduct was launched March 23, 2016, when then-Superintendent Dave Wilkerson and two board members met with the school district's attorney to go over a copy of a diary that the district's former human resources director wrote.

In the diary, Terry Welker outlines allegations other employees made against Rose dating back to Sept. 21, 2015. Welker also writes about employees being "summoned" to administrators' offices and later telling him they were "threatened" not to talk to human resources or the school board about Rose.

Wilkerson said in a sworn deposition that two board members, Mary Scheve and David Cunningham, read the diary and ultimately made the decision to investigate. Neither responded to the Register's request for comment.

Investigators reviewed school reports, emails and camera footage and conducted interviews with 15 employees, including Rose, throughout the monthslong investigation.

The resulting report, which runs hundreds of pages, states that Rose altered employee time cards, used school property at his home and solicited donations for his son's hockey team from district vendors. 

The investigation culminated at that July 11, 2016, closed meeting, where Rose met with board members to go over the allegations against him. He was ordered to take two weeks of unpaid leave and reimburse his son's hockey team $2,000. 

"I remember him admitting to — I don't know if it was all allegations — some of the allegations, maybe all of the allegations and there was some comments and he got — he was emotional," said Superintendent Cindi McDonald in a sworn deposition filed in a former employee's wrongful termination lawsuit. "He was choked up."

McDonald was associate superintendent at the time but was acting as board secretary during that meeting. 

In the time since Rose was allowed to keep his job, nine employees interviewed as part of the internal investigation have resigned from the district.

Two former employees have filed wrongful termination lawsuits claiming they were forced to resign after Rose retaliated against them for cooperating with investigators. Nicholas Bavas settled his case for $175,000; Amy Patters' case is ongoing.

Another former employee, Welker, received a $985,000 settlement from the school district in lieu of a lawsuit. Welker, the former human resources director and a key witness in the internal investigation, claimed his job was eliminated after he turned over evidence to investigators and police. 

Rose, in contrast, received two raises totaling $10,446 during that same time period. Before resigning, Rose earned $142,800.

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