DES MOINES, Iowa — It has been five days since the arrest of former Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts by Immigrations Custom Enforcement.

The Des Moines School Board had to act quickly after the arrest to name Associate Superintendent Matt Smith as the interim. Since then, the board placed Roberts on paid administrative leave, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his administrator license and then the board placed him on unpaid leave. Just yesterday, the board accepted Roberts’ letter of resignation as the leader of the district.

It has been a busy few days for parents of Des Moines’ students to soak in all of the developments. WHO 13 News interviewed several of them to see their reactions of the recent chain of events.

“I’ve met Dr. Roberts before, genuinely nice guy. Seemed like all the qualifications were there,” said Kam Earnest, a DMPS parent “I’m not really in much agreement with what ICE is doing, but at the same time I understand, you know, rules are rules. He’s got to have some documentation, obviously. And I am a little disappointed that was missed by the school board.”

“I still believe that he did great things for our school district, but I still believe that as somebody with a weapons charge, you should not be in charge of the school district,” said Alex Wicker, another DMPS parent. “We have an issue with kids coming to school with guns. We don’t need our superintendent coming to school with guns too.”

Both parents were able to share positives about Roberts’ tenure while also acknowledging the clear frustrations in the way ICE and the district handled the situation.

When asked about the board’s ability to find a replacement, the two had very different answers. Wicker stated that she had no belief in the board’s ability to find a replacement based off of the last hire. Earnest said that having to replace board members before the board finds a new, full-time superintendent would further complicate a process that will be difficult in its own right.

There is also a $265 million bond referendum that Des Moines tax payers will decide on at the ballot box on November 4. Both parents again had two different outlooks on it.

“I don’t know what we need $260 million for when we can’t keep our schools safe. And I originally voted yes, like when they came around with the petition I signed ‘yes’. But you can’t even tell me all these people have degrees, they don’t have a criminal background,” said Wicker.

“I just want what is best for the school district,” said Earnest. “I want the best for the kids and the students. If that means, you know, tax payer dollars, additional taxpayer dollars I am all for it. I just want to make sure that this Des Moines school district is in the best possible position moving forward. I haven’t looked into too many details of it, though.”

Multiple parents shared their views with WHO 13 News off camera, and there were mixed feelings about the topics discussed. As a whole most, if not all, parents acknowledged the positives Roberts brought to the district while being disgruntled in a lack of documentation, and the board’s ability to thoroughly vet Roberts when he was a candidate for the job.