THREAD: There's confusion about what DougCo Schools did regarding a potential release of the names of teachers who were absent on the day of a major protest against the conservative majority school board. This is why the teachers names may still be made public...
Background: Colorado courts have held that teacher absences are public records (in a similar case in Jefferson County where teachers called out sick to protest the actions of a conservative school board). coloradofoic.org/court-of-appea…
Open records are open to all. Douglas County Schools provides a simple web form that can be completed in minutes. Records custodians then determine whether to fulfill or deny the request, in part or in full, based on their interpretation of CORA, Colorado Open Records Law.
Denials can be appealed and may result in legal action. There's no evidence that DougCo Schools denied the records request for the teachers' names or was prepared to do so when the request was withdrawn. The night prior, the district warned teachers the info would be released.
When Board President Mike Peterson announced during last night's board meeting that the teachers' names would not be made public, he did not explain why. A district spokeswoman later told 9NEWS that the records request had been withdrawn.
Why was the request withdrawn? We don't know at this point. Perhaps the records requester was not initially aware their name would also become public. Perhaps the requester was convinced by allies to abandon the request. Perhaps they were told the district would fight disclosure.
I directly asked DougCo Schools today if the district had made a decision not to fulfill that open records request or future requests for teachers' names. A district spokeswoman said she couldn't say how future CORA requests would be handled.
Could DougCo deny a new request for the teachers' names? Sure, if the district is willing to risk legal action. Could the release of the names be blocked by a court despite precedent? Possibly, according to attorney @MarioNicolaiEsq, who works in open records law. 
Open records requests tend to come in bunches, from journalists and advocates, when an issue is in the news. We don't yet know if there are other pending requests for the teachers' names - or how DougCo Schools will handle such a request. And there may be another filed anytime.
I hope this thread helps clear up misperceptions that the DougCo School Board blocked the release of the teachers' names and that the names will not be released in the future. We simply don't know.
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