Former teacher fights license suspension over alleged incident with student

A former Davenport elementary school teacher is contesting the state’s efforts to suspend his teaching license due to allegations of inappropriate contact with a former student.

Julian Lira is taking the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to court and seeking judicial review of the board’s recent decision to suspend his teaching license for three years.

In his lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, Lira is appealing the board’s Sept. 24, 2026, final order in his disciplinary case. Lira alleges that before the matter was turned over to the board for final action, an administrative law judge on June 30, 2025, issued a proposed decision for the board to consider.

According to the lawsuit, the judge’s proposed decision included a finding that Lira had “briefly touched (a former student’s) chest” at a wedding reception and described this as a “brief, inappropriate interaction.” The lawsuit asserts the judge concluded that a public letter of reprimand was the appropriate sanction in the case.

The judge’s proposed decision was then forwarded to the board, which issued a final order that, according to the lawsuit, “expressly deleted the last three sentences” of the judge’s proposed decision, all of which were related to the seriousness of offense and the appropriateness of a public reprimand.

The board retained the judge’s finding that “Lira had an inappropriate interaction with a former student at a wedding reception,” and then opted to impose a three-year license suspension, the lawsuit claims.

In addition, the lawsuit asserts, the board imposed additional conditions on Lira’s potential license reinstatement, calling for consultation with a doctor for a psychosexual evaluation, as well as a mental health evaluation and possible counseling or treatment.

According to the lawsuit, the board identified “no additional aggravating factual findings” to justify the enhanced penalty it favored, and the board supplied no explanation for not agreeing with the judge’s proposed sanction in the case.

Lira is asking the court to reverse the board’s final decision and dismiss the disciplinary complaint against him. In the alternative, Lira argues, the court should vacate the board’s decision and remand the matter back to the board for a new hearing before a different administrative law judge.

The State of Iowa, which does not comment on pending litigation, has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

The disciplinary case appears to stem from allegations that surfaced in late 2023, when WHBF TV reported that Lira had been arrested and charged with misdemeanor lascivious conduct with a minor while the two were guests at a wedding reception on Oct. 7, 2023.

Prosecutors later dropped the criminal charge, saying they could not show Lira — who had briefly served as the alleged victim’s teacher in the third and sixth grade — was in a position of authority over the victim at the time of the alleged incident.

Court records indicate that earlier, in 2019, Lira was criminally charged with sexually abusing a young girl who was a relative of his at the time. A jury subsequently found Lira not guilty of sexual abuse in the second degree, court records show.