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Bettendorf's incoming interim superintendent has been operating a side business that sells consulting services to school districts, even while serving as second-in-command of the Iowa Department of Education overseeing all public schools.

John Elkin is founder and co-owner of PremierEdLeader.com, a company that conducts training seminars for educators both within and outside Iowa. The firm charges each seminar participant $300.

Asked in an email about the potential conflict of interest by Bettendorf.com, Iowa Department of Education General Counsel Thomas Mayes stated: "there is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Elkin or his consulting organization obtained any 'advantage or pecuniary benefit' from his organization's identification of him as a leader in the Department."

Mr. Elkin did not respond to voicemails asking him for direct comment on his business operations.

Bettendorf's school board paid Supt. Michelle Morse $720,000 to get her to resign.

The same day that settlement was made public, the board signed off on a contract to pay her one-year interim replacement $218,000.

The huge pay-out agreement – held secret by Board President Paul Castro for nearly two weeks – indicates the board had no reason to seek to terminate the superintendent for cause, and was willing to pay Morse three year's of her salary in exchange for her resignation.

Morse had served as superintendent for the district for the past six years and had two years remaining on her contract with the district.

Iowa Capital Dispatch
July 8, 2026

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Iowa immigration detainee who suffered “horrific abuse” in Sudan before being jailed in the United States for two years by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour against ICE and the Muscatine County sheriff, sought Nour’s immediate release from the county jail.

In dismissing the case, Chief Judge Stephanie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, ruled recently that while she “laments the horrific abuse he suffered in Sudan,” federal law and ICE policies cited by Nour do not offer him the legal refuge he now seeks.