Ankeny School Board Member Says Departing Superintendent Should 'Give Back' Severance Money

On Wednesday, the Ankeny school board voted 5-2 to give departing superintendent Matthew Wendt a one-year transition allowance to aide him .

Twenty-four hours later, to become its new superintendent. The contract came with an approximate $50,000 pay increase.

Now, one school board member is telling The Des Moines Register that he is requesting Wendt give back the $176,000 transition allowance.

“I am asking Dr. Wendt to return the money to the taxpayers of Ankeny,” board member Dustin Graber told the Register.

Graber was one of two board members who cast a dissenting vote against allowing Wendt the transition allowance. “The way I saw it was he took a promotion to Illinois and he took one extra year of salary in Ankeny for doing nothing,” Graber told the newspaper.

, the District 308 Board of Education in Oswego approved Wendt's contract Thursday night to take over for the district's current superintendent, who resigned in February. His salary will be $225,000 per year, plus benefits.

Wendt's first day at Oswego will be July 1. His last day in Ankeny is June 30.

Jeff Krausman, attorney for the district, told the Register it would not be illegal to request Wendt give back the money, but he's under no obligation to do so.

Wendt also declined to comment in the Register's article, stating he and board President George Tracy have "worked through the process."