Former IPS official facing plagiarism accusations

A former Indiana education official is in trouble in Arkansas after allegations he plagiarized his doctoral thesis.

Dr. Dexter Suggs, who served as IPS' chief of staff for the 2012-2013 school year, resigned his post Tuesday as superintendent of the Little Rock School District. The Arkansas Department of Education confirmed the news with a statement Tuesday morning saying they had come to an agreement with Suggs to accept his immediate resignation.

The abrupt resignation came after allegations that he plagiarized parts of his Ed.D. dissertation at Indiana Wesleyan in 2009.

Officials at Wesleyan told the Arkansas Times they were "aware" of the allegations but would not comment on specifics, citing federal law.

Should an investigation lead to Suggs' doctoral degree being revoked, he would forfeit some of his contractual salary, according to the settlement as posted by our Little Rock affiliate, KARK. If not, LRSD will pay him severance of roughly $250,000 between now and January 1.