NEW: DougCo School Board meeting where conservative board majority will likely get rid of Superintendent Corey Wise is off to a chaotic start. Board minority noted the public notice went out six minutes short of the required 24 hours. So now they're in recess... 
There was a line out the door to get in. Opponents of the conservative board majority are wearing "Red for Ed" (also happens to be Go Red for Women's Heart Health Day if you were curious why so many local TV news people are in red, too)
https://twitter.com/LuisdeLeon15/status/1489744915164635140
DCSD general counsel Mary Kay Klimesh says it doesn't matter if the public didn't get 24 hours notice as long as board members show up at the meeting. And we're off...
Board minority asks for public comment to be allowed. Board President Mike Peterson said they heard public feedback outside the meeting. Conservative board members defeat motion for public comment 4-3.
Board President Mike Peterson alleges "collusion" and "leaking" by fellow board members who revealed the conservative majority's behind-the-scenes plan to fire Superintendent Corey Wise, a 26-year veteran of DCSD.
President Peterson says conservative board members complied with Colorado Open Meetings law when discussing how to get rid of the superintendent. "No action was taken," Peterson said.
"This is about a minority of board directors and a local and state labor union not accepting the results of an election," Peterson said.
Director Christy Williams says conservative board members discussed getting rid of the superintendent in groups of two as to not violate state law by convening three at a time. Then two met with the superintendent to tell him. (If DougCo gets sued, this outlines the defense.)
Conservative Board Director Becky Myers calls yesterday's sick-out by 1500+ teachers a "negative circus act."
Director Susan Meek, a member of the minority, says the conservative majority just provided "clear evidence" they illegally issued a private ultimatum to the superintendent in violation of Colorado's Open Meeting law.
"You all have the votes to do what you want to do, " minority Director Meek said, "Have the integrity and the honesty to come together and make those decisions publicly."
Director Meek reveals she recorded her conversation with President Peterson. She asks him whether he'd prefer she play the recording or quote from the transcript. This all feels like its on a fast train to LawsuitTown.
Director Ray (board minority) indicates he also has a recording of his conversation with President Peterson where Peterson said the conservative majority was going to "proceed with termination" if the superintendent didn't comply with an ultimatum to resign.
This is a good time to remind you that Colorado is a one-party consent state for the purpose of recording phone calls. rcfp.org/reporters-reco…
"I disagree with those recordings... I mean.. the relaying of those events," says President Peterson. Woo boy.
Director Elizabeth Hanson (minority board member) says ultimatum to resign or be fired is a "constructive discharge" and must, per law, happen in a meeting. "There are recordings. You cannot backtrack now," Hansen said. "We have significant exposure, legally, as a district."
TLDR: Conservative board majority says they successfully worked around open meetings law to decide the superintendent should go and told him that. Progressive board minority is asking Qs to elicit admissions about that process that feel like evidence for a lawsuit.
"I should have contacted the other directors prior (discussions about terminating the superintendent) but we did contact them immediately after," said President Peterson. I'm no lawologist, but I feel like this is the point where an attorney would advise you to remain silent.
If the progressive board minority is correct in their interpretation of state law and how this went down, the town of Severance is going to be renamed Corey Wise after this.
Superintendent Corey Wise just used his rights under the law to prevent the discussion from going behind closed doors into an executive session. "I'd like it to be public," Wise said. "Let's keep going."
President Peterson says he can't work with Superintendent Wise "because of the influence of the minority board coming through." Peterson says he has lost trust in the Superintendent.
Superintendent Corey Wise has worked for DougCo Schools for 25+ years. He's probably getting fired tonight. And he's intent on making the school board majority explain it in public.
Conservative board member Kaylee Winegar talks about teachers being "mask police" but doesn't quite blame Superintendent Wise. "Not you, but maybe some influences around you made you do that," Winegar said. "Who are you really loyal to?"
"I want this to be a board job but not a job that requires so much of me," said Director Winegar. "I want to make sure that the superintendent feels like my actual hands and feet on what I envision."
The rationale has been tough to follow, but conservative board members are saying they want to fire Superintendent Wise for following the directions of the progressive board when they were in control. Wise indicates that he was implementing the new board's directives as required.
"If you can't support it publicly, that might be telling you it's a bad decision," says Director Meek (board minority).
"It is offensive to me on so many levels that we're sitting here today... without even having one conversation with the individual who has dedicated his entire life to serving this community and has done it during the most difficult time in education history," Meek said.
Director Becky Myers is faulting Superintendent Wise for not cutting off conversation in board study sessions quickly enough. Wise asks whether that's his job. It appears the board majority was not prepared to outline their rationale for his firing in public.
Director Ray (board minority) notes the conservative board majority can't articulate a coherent reason to fire Superintendent Wise. (I don't think they need one under the law.) But it's wild to watch it play out in public, as was Wise's choice.
President Peterson says he doesn't know whether the former progressive board or Superintendent Wise was the driving force behind a pro-mask lawsuit that Peterson opposed. (The dude is sitting 10 feet to his right. Will he ask him? Stay tuned.)
"If you can come up with nothing wrong other than what happened before you were elected, the problem is the four of your (board majority)," Director Hanson said. "We are not campaigning anymore."
President Peterson says the teacher sick-out was a campaign ad and the kickoff of a recall campaign against him and the other conservative board members. This happened after the majority says they decided to fire the superintendent but this is a free-for-all at this point.
Director Meek (board minority) now has a chart showing how instability in a school district leads to teacher turnover and a drop in student performance. "If this is truly about the superintendent's performance, why wouldn't we work with the superintendent to improve it?"
Good for you. I'm at work, sober as a gopher, and this is brutal.
https://twitter.com/kpoast/status/1489780475275014144
Meeting is at the 2-hour mark and I'm still baffled that the majority didn't write down a reason to fire the superintendent on an index card, read it aloud, vote, and leave. The only thing I can think is that they didn't imagine Superintendent Wise would force this to be public.
Wise is now explaining to the board how conflict resolution works. "I hear division. I don't hear us working through conflict well."
"We might have the best opportunity in front of us," Wise said. "But can we be humble and move forward and be better?"
"Let's not continue to go forward and make missteps by making rash decisions," Director Ray (board minority) says. Progressive board members are trying to offer olive branches and Wise is talking about the future of DCSD with him in it. Unclear if this will sway majority.
"I wish you would have reached out on Friday with that resolve and that attitude," President Peterson says, suggesting the board minority should have been more accommodating after learning of secret meetings about firing the superintendent.
President Peterson says once minority board members revealed the majority's secret plan to fire the superintendent, they sealed his fate. "At that point, you crossed the rubicon on the superintendent," Peterson said. Somewhere, an open meetings attorney jotted that on a notepad.
I'm going to repeat that: the DougCo school board president just said they might not have fired the superintendent if their plan to fire the superintendent hadn't been revealed.
Director Myers (board majority) is asking if she can have all the emails from the public removed from her inbox for a "clean slate." Says there are too many of them.
That would have been one of the 10 wildest things I've heard a public official say at a meeting but spaces #1-10 are occupied by other things said tonight.
Director Myers is now crying, asking someone in the room to vouch for the fact she loves teachers. Director Hanson (board minority) says she doesn't doubt her love for teachers but asks if Myers has talked to teachers about their love for Superintendent Wise.
I have no idea. this is unlike any public meeting I've ever covered
https://twitter.com/BasedMarcos/status/1489788647708798979
Director Meyers is again asking DCSD Special Education Services Officer Sid Rundle to take the mic and vouch for her character and love of teachers. Sid is sitting there. This is awkward.
President Peterson asks for a final statement from each board member. The board minority asks what they are voting on. "We don't have a motion on the table," Peterson said. What is happening?
I'm no Roberts Rules of Orderologist but I think someone has to make a motion here. Was there no orientation for new board members on how meetings work?
President Peterson says they "need a stronger leader in there." In a Q&A with minority members, he says he wants to fire the superintendent without cause (board member notes this will result in a payout of one year salary). Still not sure a motion has been made.
Director Ray is reading a letter from 10+ previous board members calling on the board members to learn the rules of being on a school board.
Director Hanson (board minority) decries the "combination of arrogance and ignorance I've seen tonight."
I'd settle for a bathroom break
https://twitter.com/LAWHilton/status/1489792550797930498
It's Superintendent Wise's final turn to speak. This likely concludes his 26 years with DCSD. "There's times I wonder if you want to fire each other or fire me," Wise begins.
Wise is offering a detailed defense of his performance in terms of student outcomes and academics. "We're at the forefront and we are doing amazing things," Wise said. "We have an opportunity. Let us lead. Let me lead. Let's see what can happen."
Wise says the board majority could have evaluated his performance and found him lacking but instead issued an ultimatum to resign over a weekend and leave the district he loves. On a threat to fire him for cause, Wise says, "Bring it."
Wise turns to the audience to conclude his comments. "I love you all. I value you. I believe in Douglas County and I believe in what we can become." Some in the audience rise in applause.
A motion by the progressive board minority to postpone the firing is defeated 4-3.
Holy cow. The conservative Board President just called the vote to fire Superintendent Wise. Conservative director Myers votes NO, against the firing. The board president asks her if she really means that. "Oh, can I go home?" Myers says. She changes her vote to YES on firing.
What the actual hell just happened
Director Hanson (board minority) votes against firing. Uses her time to praise Superintendent Wise and urge another district to hire him.
Director Meek (board minority) is voting against firing. "Ignorance and arrogance. It's a toxic combination," Meek said. "And our students are going to pay the price. all you're demonstrating tonight is you don't care."
Director Ray (board minority) is voting against firing. "You're responsible for every teacher who walks out of this district because of your vote today," he tells the majority.
Superintendent Corey Wise has been fired without cause on a 4-3 vote, ending his 26-year career with DougCo Schools. All conservative board members voted yes. All progressive board members voted no.
(Most of the conservative board members declined to speak before their votes, which is why they aren't quoted in the last string of tweets.)
The meeting is over. Thank you for following along.
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