Iola administrator's resignation months-long secret

Sari Lesk

IOLA - David Dyb resigned in January from his position as the administrator of Iola-Scandinavia schools. But he and other school district officials agreed to keep his resignation secret from the community for three months.

New records obtained by the Stevens Point Journal show that Dyb signed a resignation agreement with the school district Jan. 6; it said his last day will be June 30. The document also stated that Dyb would start "an approved paid sabbatical leave for the purpose of career exploration and educational opportunities from December 2, 2016, through June 30, 2017." A letter by School Board President Kristen Hoyord, dated Feb. 21, indicates the board approved the leave Jan. 3 behind closed doors.

Dyb's absence puzzled parents in the district, who criticized officials for a lack of communication and pressed for answers about why the popular administrator had left the job. Parents requested documents from the district and formed a Facebook page and website to communicate the information they learned while officials remained tight-lipped about the matter. The district declined to release details regarding his absence, other than to say it started in December as personal leave and morphed into a sabbatical. They also initially said his leave would end in March, but later changed that to June.

The school district released the resignation agreement, which appears to contradict earlier statements by officials, in response to a request the Journal filed under the state's open-records law. The district said it withheld several requested records to maintain attorney-client privilege.

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A "Frequently Asked Questions" document that appears on the district's website states twice that Dyb's sabbatical leave was to conclude at the end of March. A similar claim was made in a document posted to the district's Facebook page, which was available at the end of February but appears to have been removed. A document on the district's website states instead that Dyb's leave ends in June. Hoyord declined to explain the discrepancy. Business Manager Sarah Thiel, one of three acting administrators in the district, also told a reporter the leave ended in March. She declined to answer questions for this report.

Under the terms of the agreement, the district could not state publicly before April 1 that Dyb decided to leave his position at the end of the school year. School Board Vice President Mike Kolespublicly announced Dyb's resignation at a board meeting April 3. He read a letter sent to school employees communicating Dyb's decision, which Hoyord said was dated April 1.

Parents have attended board meetings throughout the year to ask about the district's handling of the matter. Some parents who questioned the board said they felt bullied for speaking up.

"Our job as a community is to hold the board accountable, and we should be able to ask questions," parent Diana Jones told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin in March. "To be ridiculed and bullied, in essence, from being able to ask those questions isn't right."

Thiel said in prior interviews that Dyb was still earning his $108,267 salary from the district. The agreement also calls for the district to pay him $15,000 in addition to $9,161 representing his unused vacation benefits as of Dec. 2.

If the government's unemployment division asked, the district agreed to state that his resignation was involuntary, was not for misconduct connected to his employment and was not for his "substantial fault." Dyb declined to comment for this article, other than to emphasize that his separation from the district is involuntary.

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Hoyord refused to answer any questions by phone but said she would review questions by email. She subsequently declined to answer questions about:

  1. When she signed the agreement — her signature is undated in the copy of the agreement provided by the district.
  2. Why Dyb's resignation was to remain a secret until April.
  3. When the agreement, which contains references to early December, was drafted.
  4. Why the district indicated Dyb's leave was scheduled to end in March. 
  5. Why the district stated Dyb requested leave if the agreement states his severance is involuntary.
  6. Why the district wanted to end Dyb's employment.

Hoyord wrote in an email that Dyb "has resigned, we wish him the very best. We, as a district, are eager to move forward and for that reason have no additional comments."
