DENVER — A judge on Friday ordered Denver Public Schools (DPS) to release a recording of a five-hour closed-door meeting – held the day after a shooting at East High School – where board members decided to bring police officers back to schools.
That was a violation of the state’s open meetings law, Denver District Judge Andrew Luxen concluded in his ruling.
Luxen gave the district until noon on Monday to make the recording public.
Stacy Wheeler, the district’s open records coordinator, did not immediately respond to a request from 9NEWS about when it would release the recording.
The meeting was held about 24 hours after a student shot and wounded two deans at East High while they were patting him down for weapons.
That student took his own life later that day.
The following day – March 23 – the DPS board voted to go into executive session, where state law allows the discussion of land purchases, personnel matters and legal issues. In this case, the board said it would be discussing “specialized details of security arrangements.”
Board members came out of that session with a memo reversing a 2020 decision that removed school resource officers from schools.
Luxen said the board violated the open meetings law, which requires that proper notice be given for the specific issues to be discussed in executive session – in this case, specialized security arrangements.
“The Denver school board did not discuss these issues in executive session, specifically any issues involving specialized details of security arrangements or investigations, including defenses against domestic and foreign terrorism or matters which if made public might reveal information that could be used for the purpose of committing, or avoiding prosecution for, a violation of the law,” the judge wrote in his order. “There was a lengthy discussion of general security arrangements, however, including the return of school resource officers to Denver Public Schools.”
Luxen also pointed out in the ruling that “it is declared to be a matter of statewide concern and the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.”
Over several days, media organizations requested a copy of the recording and other records generated by the meeting, such as minutes. DPS denied each one, contending the records were not required to be disclosed by either the state’s open meetings or open records laws.
Then a consortium of media organizations – including 9NEWS, The Denver Post, Chalkbeat Colorado, KDVR Fox31, Colorado Newsline, Nexstar Media Group, the Denver Gazette, and Colorado Politics – filed suit.
In his ruling, Luxen gave the media organizations the right to seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Contact 9Wants to Know investigator Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.
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