Hampton Residents Want Answers On Why Principal Wasn’t Hired

When it was time to speak during Monday’s Hampton-Dumont School Board meeting, high school sophomore Isaac Vosburg delivered a clear message to district leaders: You let us down.  

Flanked by four other Hampton-Dumont High School students at the podium, Isaac told Hampton-Dumont officials how disappointed he was in their decision to rescind an elementary school principal job offer from Leslie Praelle Osborn after a single local resident publicly complained that she had a “woke agenda.”

“This action solely taken by our superintendent [Aaron Becker] prompted no recorded discussions or questions at the special school board meeting where this candidate was to be made the offer,” Isaac said at Monday’s meeting.

“Despite multiple members of both faculty and community explicitly addressing this, asking what prompted this, there’s been no official response,” he continued.

To date, Hampton-Dumont officials have not publicly explained why they pulled Osborn’s offer to become principal of North Side and South Side elementary schools just three days after giving her the job. The district even out a letter/press release alerting people of the news. Starting Line was able to obtain a screenshot:

While no official reason has been given, many in the community point to a series of Facebook posts by Hampton resident Jacob Swieter accusing Osborn, who is white, of having a “woke agenda” because she made a video called “What My Biracial Daughters Taught Me.” Osborn is married to a Black man and has two biracial daughters.

Osborn was officially offered—and accepted—the principal job on April 21, and the letter/press release was sent out to parents confirming the news. A special school board meeting was set to make things official on April 24, but on April 23, Swieter made his Facebook posts, including a since-deleted post where he encouraged people to contact board members and tell them to vote against her hire. This post included contact information for board members. The next day, Osborn’s job offer was rescinded well before the meeting began.

Instead, the board hired an outside firm to conduct a principal search.

Swieter and Osborn were among the hundred or so residents crammed into the Hampton-Dumont Middle School library for Monday’s school board meeting. Osborn did not speak during the public comments portion of the meeting, but Swieter did.  

The controversy surrounding Osborn and the elementary school principal’s job was not on the meeting agenda, meaning the board would not address it, but Osborn’s supporters, many of whom were clad in black T-shirts adorned with the phrase “Ally Advocate Accomplice for Change,” and a handful of Swieter’s supporters were there to make a physical statement. 

Shirts worn by supporters of Leslie Pralle Osborn during a May 22 Hampton-Dumont School Board Meeting.

Only seven people were signed up to speak, one of whom was Kolette Kapp, a 2001 Hampton-Dumont graduate. Kapp told the board she hopes they realized their error in backtracking on hiring Osborn. 

“I understand this is highly unlikely because it’s hard to admit when we’re wrong,” Kapp said. “I hope this can be used as a teachable moment that our community welcomes diversity and inclusion.”  

Kapp asked what kind of message pulling Osborn’s offer sends to her child and other children of color in the district, which is more than 40% minority.

“I can tell you because I have a biracial child and it’s telling them that they are not accepted,” Kapp said.

Three other people spoke in support of Osborn during the meeting, another parent spoke about proposed third-grade classroom alignments, and Swieter, whose “woke agenda” Facebook post kicked off the firestorm, also spoke. 

Hampton resident Jacob Swieter speaks during the Monday, May 22, Hampton-Dumont School Board meeting. Photo by Starting Line staff

“I’d like everyone to know my post on Facebook was never meant about race,” Swieter said. 

Swieter, a US Army veteran, said during his time in the service he served with people of all races, religions, gender, and political leanings with no issue. He said they were all Americans fighting for our rights including the right to free speech, including that of his and Osborn’s.

“Where I take issue is when I feel those views can be used to influence our children,” Swieter said. “I don’t want my children to be influenced by someone else’s belief any more than some of you would want your children to be influenced by mine. Our children’s education does not need a political or social influence from the left of the right.”

Again, Osborn’s video was titled “What My Biracial Daughters Taught Me.” In it, she explained how she learned more about race, racism, and systemic issues by having two biracial daughters and a Black husband. Politics is never brought up.

The video was released in August 2020—in the thick of national conversations about race following the murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests—and was part of a virtual education conference presented by the OER Project, an effort that seeks to empower “teachers to better serve their students through free innovative curricula and a variety of teaching tools.”

Swieter did not explain what he felt was political about the video or what specific parts of it he objected to. And though he was upset about a white woman explaining what she learned about racism through the prism of having a multicultural family, he said he took offense to people calling him a racist, a bigot, a misogynist, and sexist.

“My concerns with this individual were not about race, but policies and politics” Swieter said, repeating his earlier talking point. “The freedoms in this country and the systems put in place allow all to have a voice.”

He also noted he was not the only person who had concerns with Osborn, although no one else spoke about them at the meeting. Swieter finished up by again noting he does not care about a person’s color because “we are all red” in the end and his supporters applauded. 

A Hampton-Dumont employee who attended Monday’s meeting and asked not to be identified for fear of retribution told Staring Line many in the district were disappointed by the board’s decision to rescind Osborn’s offer.

After the public comment portion of the meeting, Adriana Zamora, a 2007 Hampton-Dumont graduate, told Starting Line why she came out to support Osborn.

“I’ve been in this community since I was six after coming from Mexico, so I’m very passionate when it comes to discrimination and racism in this community,” she said.

Zamora said people alerted her to Swieter’s post because of her role as a vocal anti-racism and discrimination activist in the north-central Iowa town of about 4,400 residents. She watched Osborn’s video and reread Swieter’s Facebook comments and couldn’t understand the correlation. 

“There was nothing political. There was nothing about the left or right wing, it was all personal experience,” Zamora said. “When you experience racism or discrimination, that’s not political. That’s crossing the boundaries of being able to exist because of the color of skin you are or your hair or your country you came from, to me, that’s not political.

“That’s not something you should argue about. It should be fair and equal; equality, justice, that’s not anything we should be debating about or having an argument about,” she continued.

Zamora worries about what this means for the district’s future.

“As diversity increases, how are they going to adjust to that,” she said.

by Ty Rushing
05/23/23

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