Another educator in the news for all the wrong reasons. This time it comes to us courtesy of Iowa Central Community College President Robert Paxton, who will collect $400,000 from the school in return for his resignation. Even though the school’s board of trustees did not get a chance to discuss the personnel matter that led to his resignation, a photograph of Paxton was published in the Des Moines Register showing him aboard a boat with a group of young people, holding the spigot of a small beer keg suspended over the open mouth of a young woman.
When questioned by the Register, Paxton initially denied knowing anything about the photo or any recent boat outings with young people. After being told that College trustee Mark Crimmins had already informed the Register that he had seen the photo and the two men had discussed it, Paxton acknowledged the photo’s authenticity. He said he had done nothing illegal or improper.
At today’s board meeting, the trustees met for eight minutes and agreed, without discussion, to accept Paxton’s resignation and approve a compensation package for him. The deal calls for Paxton to receive $200,000 in January 2009 and $200,000 in January 20. Trustee Larry Hecht said the board felt the compensation package was fair to all parties.“The thing we struggled with was whether his personal life was, you know, his,” he said. “I think we all thought that was true. On the other hand, his position — I guess what you do in your personal life does affect the public’s perception of what you do on the job.” Hello! A college president cavorting like a 20-something is not the picture we all want to see.
Paxton, 52, has said all of the people who were drinking in the boat when the photograph was taken were of legal age. He said the beer keg was broken and wasn’t dispensing beer into the young woman’s mouth. He said his 19-year-old son, who was arrested for second-offense drunken driving early the next morning, was in the boat but was not drinking. Gee, I wonder how he got drunk?
Paxton isn’t new to scandal. In fact, according to Des Moines Register, in 2002 he was indicted on charges of felonious misconduct in office, falsification of public records and tampering with public records. The charges grew out of an investigation into student athletes being awarded false grades. Three of Paxton’s colleagues at Iowa Central eventually pleaded guilty to charges they tampered with student records to benefit the athletes and to deceive others. All three men retained their jobs at the school. The charges against Paxton were deferred under an agreement in which he accepted responsibility for the transcript fraud. He should have been terminated then and the school would have avoided this latest scandal. What a role model!
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