CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A Douglas County judge has ruled that four Douglas County school board members broke the law when they held a series of one-on-one meetings to discuss firing Superintendent Corey Wise last year.
District Court Judge Jeffrey Holmes said in a ruling issued Friday that the conservative board majority — President Mike Peterson and board members Christy Williams, Becky Myers and Kaylee Winegar — violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law (COML) by having private conversations about Wise, two at a time, before telling him to resign or be fired.
Under Colorado law, a meeting of three or more board members where public business is discussed are declared to be public meetings.
"Circumventing the statute by a series of private one-on-one meetings at which public business is discussed and/or decisions reached is a violation of the statute, not just its spirit," Holmes wrote.
Wise refused to resign, forcing the conservative majority to fire him in a public meeting in February 2022.
The board members could not provide a reason for firing Wise at that meeting.
Holmes issued a preliminary injunction against the board members in March 2022, ordering them to conduct business publicly.
Holmes declined to issue a permanent injunction Friday, saying he doesn't think the board majority will hold secret meetings again.
DougCo Board of Education President Mike Peterson sent out the following statement Saturday morning.
“As one Director and an individual defendant, I am glad to move forward and put the termination of the former superintendent in the past. I believe the court was accurate when the judge’s order stated ‘While the Individual Defendants believed their behavior did not violate COML (Colorado Open Meeting Law), it does not appear they were purposefully acting in an unlawful manner. They did not blatantly violate the statute…’. I believe the court was right to dismiss the claim to declare the termination of the former superintendent null and void and in the decision to not impose an injunction against the Board, as we will simply rely on existing COML going forward.”
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