Thread by @LauraPowellEsq on Thread Reader App
Ian Roberts, the Des Moines school superintendent arrested by ICE, has so many inconsistencies in his public biographies that it’s amazing that no one questioned his identity before.
Roberts is quoted in 2020 referring to Guyana as his birthplace and saying that his father immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and his mother in the 2000s. But in a 2024 local news story, he claims he was born in Brooklyn and raised by a single mother. His Facebook lists two secondary schools in Guyana as alma maters.
Roberts’s LinkedIn lists a lot of universities, though notably, the degrees are absent. Elsewhere, he claims two master’s degrees and two doctorates, in addition to a bachelor’s. (I found some sources that claim he has a PhD, but I will presume these were honest errors.) It appears he does have a EdD from an online university. He also claims he did a postdoc at Harvard.
During the years that Roberts supposedly was earning numerous graduate degrees, he also claims to have been continuously employed, as a teacher for a few years, then as a school administrator for almost two decades. His LinkedIn indicates that he was moonlighting as an “Executive Leadership Coach/Chief Thought Partner” for a private company since 2020, while he was a superintendent for two difference school districts. (I am not going to bother to share all the bios that inflate his job titles to the point of lying.)
Roberts’s official bio from his current employer, Des Moines Public Schools, states, “While in the nation’s capital he was named the George Washington University’s 2013 Washington D.C. Principal of the Year.” I have searched and search and cannot find any record of this award. Nor can I find a record of George Washington University giving out a “Principal of the Year” award to anyone, ever. Roberts was a principal at Anacostia High at the time, if any sleuths want to look into it.
One of Roberts’s more interesting claims, from his bio in his 2009 self-published book, is that he was a “Commissioned Military Officer” and a “Police Officer/Detective.” He dropped this service from his resume until 2022, when a run-in with law enforcement became public. After pleading guilty to violating Pennsylvania gun laws, he released a statement that insinuated the officer was motivated by racism and mentioned that he was “a trained Commissioned Military Officer with a wealth of experience in firearms training and safety.” I found some indications that he was in the Guyanese military, and this would explain the gap he had before entering college in the US in 1995. (Depending on which birth year is accurate, he was either 17, 22, or 25 in 1995.)
More on Roberts’s military service in a self-published book he wrote. He says he graduated from officer candidate school when he was 22 and then worked at security detail for Queen Elizabeth. Her visit was in 1994. (It was her first visit in 28 years, not 50 as he says.) If true, he was born prior to 1973.
Here is Roberts’s marriage certificate from his 2017 marriage. (I removed a couple of identifying details of other parties, and SSNs were redacted by the county.) 
As others have reported, the Chair of the Des Moines school board that hired Roberts was Michelle Obama’s Chief of Staff.
This is a new one for me! For his 2017 wedding, Roberts essentially had his resume written on a cake. It’s hard to make out, but it appears that he claims degrees from St. John’s (2000), Morgan State (2007), and Georgetown (2014).
Roberts was superintendent for Millcreek Township for three years. Each year the board gave him a rating of “meets expectations”—the equivalent of a grade of C on their 5-point scale. His replacement has received a rating of “outstanding”—their top mark—each year.
I’ll keep adding receipts to this thread as I find information. 🧵
Court records show Roberts’s birthdate as December 18, 1970. But his original Wikipedia entry, created by an account that nearly matches a handle Roberts uses, says he was born December 18, 1978. And records from athletic competitions list his DOB at December 18, 1973.
Roberts is quoted in 2020 referring to Guyana as his birthplace and saying that his father immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and his mother in the 2000s. But in a 2024 local news story, he claims he was born in Brooklyn and raised by a single mother. His Facebook lists two secondary schools in Guyana as alma maters.
Roberts’s LinkedIn lists a lot of universities, though notably, the degrees are absent. Elsewhere, he claims two master’s degrees and two doctorates, in addition to a bachelor’s. (I found some sources that claim he has a PhD, but I will presume these were honest errors.) It appears he does have a EdD from an online university. He also claims he did a postdoc at Harvard.
During the years that Roberts supposedly was earning numerous graduate degrees, he also claims to have been continuously employed, as a teacher for a few years, then as a school administrator for almost two decades. His LinkedIn indicates that he was moonlighting as an “Executive Leadership Coach/Chief Thought Partner” for a private company since 2020, while he was a superintendent for two difference school districts. (I am not going to bother to share all the bios that inflate his job titles to the point of lying.)
Roberts’s official bio from his current employer, Des Moines Public Schools, states, “While in the nation’s capital he was named the George Washington University’s 2013 Washington D.C. Principal of the Year.” I have searched and search and cannot find any record of this award. Nor can I find a record of George Washington University giving out a “Principal of the Year” award to anyone, ever. Roberts was a principal at Anacostia High at the time, if any sleuths want to look into it.
One of Roberts’s more interesting claims, from his bio in his 2009 self-published book, is that he was a “Commissioned Military Officer” and a “Police Officer/Detective.” He dropped this service from his resume until 2022, when a run-in with law enforcement became public. After pleading guilty to violating Pennsylvania gun laws, he released a statement that insinuated the officer was motivated by racism and mentioned that he was “a trained Commissioned Military Officer with a wealth of experience in firearms training and safety.” I found some indications that he was in the Guyanese military, and this would explain the gap he had before entering college in the US in 1995. (Depending on which birth year is accurate, he was either 17, 22, or 25 in 1995.)
More on Roberts’s military service in a self-published book he wrote. He says he graduated from officer candidate school when he was 22 and then worked at security detail for Queen Elizabeth. Her visit was in 1994. (It was her first visit in 28 years, not 50 as he says.) If true, he was born prior to 1973.
Here is Roberts’s marriage certificate from his 2017 marriage. (I removed a couple of identifying details of other parties, and SSNs were redacted by the county.) He married a woman who lived in Arkansas, and who now lives in Texas, according to her online bios. Although Roberts has worked in many different places, there is no sign of a connection to either locale. They both worked for Lighthouse Academies at the same time, which is likely how they met.
His date of birth on the marriage certificate is 1970, and his place of birth is Guyana. He was previously married and divorced in 2006. It appears he put a Social Security Number on the form.
As others have reported, the Chair of the Des Moines school board that hired Roberts was Michelle Obama’s Chief of Staff.Roberts also met Michelle Obama when she was the graduation speaker at the high school where he was the principal. That speech featured prominently in his self-published book.
This is a new one for me! For his 2017 wedding, Roberts essentially had his resume written on a cake. It’s hard to make out, but it appears that he claims degrees from St. John’s (2000), Morgan State (2007), and Georgetown (2014).Sadly, his children’s birth do not get a mention in his life chronology.
Roberts was superintendent for Millcreek Township for three years. Each year the board gave him a rating of “meets expectations”—the equivalent of a grade of C on their 5-point scale. His replacement has received a rating of “outstanding”—their top mark—each year.These poor ratings for Roberts came before the board even knew that he would make personnel decisions that would cost the district significant sums in legal settlements.
h/t @beautyinnis 
