Denver school board to vote on whether to release recording of closed-door meeting about police

The Denver school board sits around a table in a room at Denver Public Schools headquarters.
The Denver school board voted in June to permanently return school resource officers to schools. (Sara Martin/Chalkbeat)

The Denver school board will hold a special meeting Friday to vote on whether to release the recording of a closed-door meeting it held in March. Several news outlets, including Chalkbeat, are suing Denver Public Schools for the recording of the meeting.

DPS spokesperson Bill Good said Thursday that he didn’t know when the recording would be released if the board votes to do so.

The board held the closed-door meeting on March 23, one day after an East High School student shot and injured two deans before fleeing and later taking his own life. 

The school board emerged from the five-hour meeting, which is called an executive session, and with no public discussion voted unanimously to temporarily return police officers to schools — a decision board members made permanent in June.

In a lawsuit, Chalkbeat and six other media organizations argued that the topics of the meeting were not properly noticed and that the board made its decision in private. State law says the “formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.”

A Denver District Court judge listened to the recording last month and ordered DPS to release it. DPS is appealing that decision. Earlier this month, the coalition of news organizations asked a judge to hold DPS in contempt for not releasing the recording.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, covering Denver Public Schools. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

The Latest

District officials urged the school board to make ChiArts, a West Side contract high school, a district-run school, and winding down EPIC Academy, a South Side charter high school.

The eighth grader was stabbed at Gompers Elementary-Middle School, according to the Detroit school district

Harris is running for a seat representing northeast Denver’s District 4 on the school board.

Michigan schools could also lose a portion of their state aid if they offer financial incentives to get students to attend school on Count Day.

All 11 candidates debated topics including school closures, the superintendent’s performance, and how Denver Public Schools should respond to the Trump administration.

The city’s teachers union is opening up its child care navigator tool to city residents after its members found it helpful. It has about 12,000 listings.