Superintendent fired from post at center for disabled Iowans

GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) –  The superintendent of an Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities has been fired amid a federal investigation. 

Jerry Rea was notified in a letter Monday that he was being dismissed from his position at the Glenwood Resource Center. The letter says the dismissal is a result of disregard for policies and procedures. Rea had been placed on paid leave earlier this month. 

The state learned of federal investigations at the Glenwood and Woodward centers in a Nov. 21 letter to state officials from an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Woodward investigation appears to focus on whether individuals are placed in the most integrated setting appropriate, a requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Woodward serves about 180 patients with intellectual disabilities.

Few details have been released about the federal investigation into Glenwood that was first reported by The Des Moines Register.

The Nov. 21 letter said the investigation was focusing on whether the state was violating the federal rights of residents by placing them at risk with experiments that included using residents as subjects of sexual arousal research