DENVER — After arguing in court that releasing the recording of a behind-closed-doors meeting after the East High School shooting would cause "substantial harm to the public," the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education voted Friday to release the recording of the March meeting.
The board's vote was unanimous to release the video of the executive session from March 23, after a months-long fight with 9NEWS and other journalism outlets.
On March 22, an East High school student shot two faculty members inside the school. He later died by suicide. The next day, the school board called an emergency meeting.
The school board went behind closed doors for five hours in an executive session and then voted unanimously to reinstate school resource officers for the rest of the school year.
In a clip of the video tweeted by school board vice president Auon'tai Anderson, Superintendent Marrero appears to tell the board that then-Mayor Michael Hancock would force their hand by threatening to bring back cops with an executive order.
"I understand that this is a very problematic conversation to have, but it’s going to happen. It’s beyond our control," he said. "I would hope that it’s going to be our decision. But we are going to be tied to an executive order. At least that’s what he told me yesterday evening."
The former mayor had denied he told Superintendent Marrero that he'd take that action.
"I never, not one time, had a conversation with anyone where I uttered the words or suggested or threatened to issue an executive order," Hancock said on the Mandy Connell KOA radio show in mid-April.
> The video below is the DPS Board of Education recording of the March 23 meeting:
9NEWS requested a copy of the recording of what was said behind closed doors. DPS refused. 9NEWS and other outlets sued. A District Court judge ruled against DPS and ordered the district to release the tape.
"The court finds the March 23, 2023, executive session was convened in violation of statute," wrote Judge Andrew Luxen.
DPS appealed the decision, and the appeals court has not held any hearings. On Thursday, School Board president Xóchitl Gaytán called an emergency meeting for Friday morning.
"Why now," asked Michelle Quattlebaum, District 4 member.
"I'm confused," said at-large member Scott Esserman.
After fighting for months, the board unanimously voted to release the tape. Anderson questioned whether the meeting was related to the fact Denver has a new mayor.
"I will also raise the speculation that the former mayor of Denver is now out of office and we've miraculously met within the week of the new mayor being sworn in," Anderson said. "I question if there were any fears of political retaliation from the former mayor once this tape would have been released."
Anderson had led a 2020 effort to remove all school resource officers from DPS schools.
"What comes out on that video will speak for itself in terms of which board members demonstrated leadership," Esserman said.
He said during the executive session that DPS attorneys told them they were meeting legally and they were focused on safety.
“Engaging in thoughtful and meaningful and important dialogue about the safety of our students, and the safety of our faculty, and the safety of our communities and what we could do about it,” Esserman said.
It's not clear when DPS will make the recording publicly available.
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