This story first appeared in a Colorado Community Media newspaper. Support CCM’s neighborhood news. The Colorado Sun is an owner of CCM.
The Douglas County School Board has been ordered by a judge not to discuss public business or take formal action outside of public meetings.
The order, issued Wednesday by Douglas County District Court Judge Jeffrey Holmes, grants a preliminary injunction requested by Douglas County resident Robert Marshall.
Marshall sued the school board and its majority members in February, alleging that the majority had violated the state’s open meeting laws during discussions regarding the removal of Superintendent Corey Wise.
Holmes wrote in his order that the evidence indicated that the majority board members committed to fire Wise in non-public meetings.
“The hiring and firing of a school district’s superintendent is clearly a matter of public business,” according to Holmes’ order. “It is a subject that can generate strong feelings and it is a matter on which the public can expect to be fully informed.”
Marshall’s lawsuit, filed by Steve Zansberg, a well-known Colorado open-government attorney, alleged that Directors Mike Peterson, Becky Myers, Christy Williams and Kaylee Winegar used “serial meetings” or “daisy chain” meetings to evade the state’s open meetings laws.
The board majority has adamantly maintained, however, that they did not violate any open meeting laws.