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Denver Public Schools files appeal to stop executive session recording from being released

A district judge ruled the executive session violated Colorado's public meeting laws.

DENVER — Denver Public Schools is still fighting to keep its school board meeting on armed officers a secret.

On Monday, the school district decided to appeal a judge's ruling that ordered the district to release the recording of a March school board executive session.  

The school board met the day after a shooting at East High School injured two deans in March, and voted to go behind closed doors.  

Five hours later, without discussion, the board voted to bring back school resource officers. 

DPS refused to release a recording of what happened behind closed doors.  A judge ruled the executive session violated Colorado's public meeting laws. 

For parent Mary Stromberg, the news of the appeal was disappointing but not surprising. 

"Until they are transparent, they're not trustworthy," Stromberg said about the DPS Board of Education. "They're dangerous. They're ineffective. They need to go. So I'm incredibly frustrated but I'm not surprised."

"Why would they hide a decision about how we're going to keep schools safe? What are they hiding?" Stromberg asked. 

Denver School Board Vice President Auon'tai Anderson told 9NEWS he has nothing to hide. He and another school board member said they never were consulted on whether to appeal the judge's decision or not.

"We need to release this tape and move forward so our district can start to heal," Anderson said. "I know that it's not going to make all of us look great. There was a lot of emotion that took place that day and I don't regret anything because I know that the tense moment that we were in, but if a judge has made a decision and a determination that we violated the law, then we must comply with the judge's orders." 

9NEWS asked DPS if they met with the Board of Education regarding the decision to appeal. In a written statement, they said, "As the order came down on Friday and the appeal needed to be made by Monday at noon, and there were no Board of Education Meetings scheduled during that time, the decision was made by the Office of the General Counsel of Denver Public Schools to pursue its appeal rights due to the short time to respond."

In court documents, the district argued releasing what was said in the executive session is against the public's interest. 

A hearing about the appeal is scheduled for Tuesday morning. 

   

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