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A five-minute school board meeting. A quick exit by a school board president. A school superintendent who said she was disgusted and embarrassed.
That was Tuesday’s Pueblo 70 school board meeting in a nutshell. The contentious meeting reflects the ongoing fallout from the controversial launch of Riverstone Academy, which its authorizer has called Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”
The dispute that cut short Tuesday’s meeting surrounds the appointment of a fifth board member who could either align with two conservative-leaning board members or with two board members who’ve criticized how Riverstone came about. The factions also have opposite takes on the district’s attorney, Brad MIller, who helped launch Riverstone at the behest of a conservative law firm in order to spark a religious liberty lawsuit.
Riverstone is a tiny school in Pueblo County, but it has generated outsized ripple effects since it opened last summer, including the lawsuit that Miller envisioned, concern from state lawmakers and education officials, and ongoing tension in the Pueblo 70 district.
The board vacancy came about after a school board member with ties to Riverstone’s authorizer resigned in December. Problems filling the seat emerged at a Feb. 10 meeting, when the four sitting board members conducted numerous rounds of voting on candidates for the open seat and deadlocked every time. Then Board Vice President AJ Wilson became ill, prompting Board President Ann Bennett to call a 10-minute recess. Multiple people rushed to assist Wilson out of the room.
But Bennett, who along with Wilson is part of the board’s conservative wing, never returned to the meeting room, where she likely would have been on the losing side of a 2-1 split. Several days later, she appointed her favored candidate, Susie Carnes, using a power the board president is allowed to wield if the board can’t agree on a candidate.
Fast forward two weeks to Tuesday at 6 p.m., Wilson was absent, as was Carnes, who’s an elementary teacher for the Christian organization that operates Riverstone. She was set to be sworn in that night. Again, that left Bennett facing off against two board members who disagreed with her unannounced departure from the previous meeting and her choice of Carnes to fill the vacancy.
The board clashed immediately as member Michelle Erickson sought to make a statement, and Bennett cut her off.
“No, a statement is not part of the agenda, so we’re not doing that right now,” Bennett said.
Board member Mark Emery, who generally aligns with Erickson, responded, “The agenda isn’t proper. The last meeting was never adjourned.”
Seconds later as Erickson tried to read her statement, Miller, the district’s lawyer, interjected.
“This is improper,” he said. “We either get into this meeting or we don’t, and if we don’t, then we’re done.”
Bennett made a motion to approve the agenda, but nobody seconded her motion, a requirement to vote on it.
“You can gavel the meeting, we’re done,” Miller said to Bennett.
“Meeting adjourned,” she said quickly.
Erickson pushed back against the adjournment, saying, “We need to have conversation here.” Some members of the audience began to shout at Bennett and Miller as they gathered their things to leave.
A woman near the front told Bennett, “Listen or get out.”
“You get out,” said Bennett, “Security, will you please remove this woman?”
“Is she allowed to remove people from a meeting that’s no longer happening?” someone asked.
Someone else said of Bennett, “She’s leaving the meeting again, just like last time.”
After Bennett and Miller left, Erickson read her statement to the crowd still in the room, saying the “abandonment” of the Feb. 10 meeting and the appointment of Carnes by Bennett compromises transparency.
Superintendent Ronda Rein, who was clearly frustrated, also spoke.
“There are some items on this agenda that absolutely have to move forward whether we have board approval or not, like February’s payroll,” she said. “We are going to move forward with business and running our district, with or without a full board.”
She concluded, saying, “It’s frankly disgusting to me that this is where we’re at. It’s embarrassing to me.”
The district’s administrators and staff will continue to serve kids, she said, “the way we always have and always will, whether we have the vote or we don’t.”
The audience gave her a standing ovation.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
