For all. Two point o. Thank you. That's okay. Item two point o two, budget summit work session. I'm sorry. I'm in the wrong place. Item Three point o three welcome visitors. Three point o four approve the regular board meeting. Do I have a motion to approve the regular board meeting as presented? No. I, move to amend the agenda to remove item 10 o two, the board votes from February 10. So Second.
I would like to So the motion, just to be clear, I'm Brad Miller. I'm legal counsel. So, Michelle, the motion is to amend the agenda to remove item 10 o two. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. And you've got a second? Yes. That that's in order. Okay. Sam Bennett. O two. Lay. Mark Emery? Yes. Michelle Erickson? Yes. Motion carried. So then, Anne, it would be appropriate to ask for a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Okay. So, a motion to approve the agenda as amended?
No. No. Okay. So no motion to approve the so you don't want to approve the agenda as amended? Yeah. And I have a statement that you'd like to make? The agenda. The statement is not part of the agenda, so we're not doing that right now. Is improper. The last meeting was never adjourned. Okay. So I I can, clarify for you. Continue the meeting of February 10. We're not continuing the meeting of February 10. The meeting adjourned. I'm sorry. Not adjourned. Mark. Well Before we begin tonight's meeting, we have a few questions regarding the Miss Bennett,
this is improper. I appreciate the the interest and the the desire here, but this is improper. And so we need to either move into a meeting or this meeting is is is not a meeting and we'll just move on from there. Was never adjourned. Well, that's fine. You can that that's a fine proposition to make, but that's improper here. And so we either get into this meeting or we don't. And if we don't, then we're done. So is there a motion? I'll move to approve the agenda as amended. Is there a second?
No second. You can yell at the meeting. We're done. Meeting adjourned. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. It's not adjourned. The meeting is not adjourned because we did not vote. Because when you adjourn a meeting, you don't we have to have conversation here. The meeting was abandoned. The meeting was abandoned. According to We're done for tonight. And call the state law. Okay. You're out of here. I turned in a meeting so you don't get to make the school credit. Sit down, listen, or get out. Get out. Long button security. Will you please remove this woman? Someone is an educator in this district.
You as you're meeting, there's nothing that you can do. Is she allowed to remove people from a meeting that's no longer happening? I'm like, I'm order during the meeting. Yes. Because you guys can yell and yell right now. That's fine. We're in a meeting again just like last time. Would you like to make your statement? I would like to There's no And I'm not currently no. They address no need to take We have a statement to make. So what? I would don't have to be I would like to hear I'd like to hear the statement. I I assure you she's she's not going to be disruptive. Folks. She's our employee. She's not going to be disruptive.
I promise. I do I do apologize for this. I I We have a few questions regarding fiduciary responsibility and the swearing in ceremony,
and would appreciate courses at or at a later date per council's level of comfort. I will begin by stating that it is inappropriate and premature for the board president to appoint someone before the February 10 meeting adjourns, which we never did. To start the abandonment of the February 10 meeting and in full transparency, the disregard for the request for the board to meet again prior to the appointment compromised board transparency with regard to following Robert's rules of order and proper adjournment. Thus, the meeting is still in session.
My first question is, did we follow the process we adopted to fill the board vacancy when Anne Och resigned? For example, have we met requirements that candidates include a resume, a cover letter, and one letter of recommendation? We selected seven interview questions. Each candidate was asked the same questions. Concerns about conflicts of interest were also shared multiple times and, yes, dismissed prior to voting on February 10. With these details shared, did we follow the process we adopted during our planning meeting and thereafter? Did we meet the requirements of the statute which states that an appointment must be
recorded in the minutes of meeting of a meeting, which is according to to Colorado revised statute twenty two thirty one one twenty nine. Question two. Did we use the said process to assess and vote for the candidates on February 10? As we as a board discussed an open meeting and as required by law, it is clear that identifying new measurements such as the number of emails received in favor of a candidate is unfair. In response to the mention of these emails and letters of support, it was clarified that they only represent a snapshot of our constituency.
By no means do the letters of support represent the over 10,000 students and their families and therefore, should it be considered a measurement at all. A fair and transparent interview should include the same questions for all candidates and be conducted by the same interview team. During the candidate voting process, other criteria were mentioned. And although the topic was briefly discussed, at the eleventh hour as a potential criterion, we did not include any questions specific to parental rights. It wasn't included in the first in the list of questions each candidate was asked.
Therefore, it shouldn't have been discussed or used as a measure of the candidate's preparedness to serve on the school board. In addition, the reference to myself and director Emery as the minority in this candidate selection procedure is both presumptuous and insulting. Per our oath of office and fiduciary duty, we are required to act in the best interest of the district and the community as a whole with equal voting rights. Did we use the said process to assess and vote for the candidates on February 10? I need to take a drink of water. My third question was why was the appointment made without further discussion, a meeting, or
some rationale to provide the expected transparency of the process? Regarding the appointment timeline, the statute states that we had sixty days to either vote for or appoint a new board member. The sentence in the statute is intended to provide a reasonable time frame. There's no penalty for extending this election beyond sixty days. Either way, we had extenuating circumstances and neglected duty to our community. A request to reconvene was sent to other board members without acknowledgment and as stated in the statute, a vote or appointment should take place during a board meeting for
transparency's sake. Again, CRS twenty two thirty one one twenty nine. Finally, and most recently, we perceived that there is a potential conflict of interest due to the alliance between the Miller Farmer law firm and Riverstone Academy and potentially the impact on District 70. The conflict may, directly impact the well-being of District 70, both ideologically and financially. Since the last time this body met, the Miller Farmer Law Firm has filed a
lawsuit. Is this and and our question is, is this a risk or cost to our district? And if not, we just need clarification. And with this said, we just wanted answers before making the appointment. So thank you. Thank you all for listening. I'd like to give a brief statement also. I depend on my partner, Michelle, to be very verbose and very good. Mine will not be nearly as eloquent. Good evening.
I think I said this last time. I ran for this board seat. I got a phone call. Mister Emery, they said, would you like to run for the board again? I thought, I don't know. But I did for my third term, and my first two terms were wonderful. This one isn't as wonderful yet. The first thing I'd like to say is I apologize to our students of district seventy, of which missus Erickson and I were teachers, both of us for over thirty years, parents of the kids in the district, you know, the list goes on and
on. I promise to make the education of my students my first priority, but I will fight for our district. District seventy has been my home for forty two years. That's why I chose to run for a third term. I'd like to give you a timeline of this process, and I think a lot of you know. But I I spelled this out so everyone knows. And what we're trying to do is provide full transparency. Now I need a drink, and I'm the one who talks so much. On 01/2726, we had a work session, and this is from the agenda.
The purse purpose of this work session is for the board of education to review and discuss applicants for the current board vacancy. The sessions are intended for discussion and information gathering only. No official appointment or vote will occur today. On the February 3, we had another work session. The purpose of this work session is conduct interviews. Are many of you here for those? It was a very educational experience and I want to congratulate all our interviewees for taking the time to fill out their applications, get their references, and do fine interviews.
The purpose of the work session is to conduct interviews with candidates for the position of school board director two. The board of education will review and evaluate each candidate's qualifications, experience, and vision for advancing the district's mission. This session is intended to provide a fair, transparent, and consistent process. These words are important, aren't they? To inform the board's decision regarding the appointment to District 2 vacancy. Then we had our interviews. 02/10/2026, regular board meeting.
Voting, this is straight from the agenda. Voting for appointment to fill vacancy for Director two, consideration and the appointment of qualified candidate. Let me scroll up so I don't have to we had 10 rounds of voting. Were you here for that? I'm sorry. I am so sorry to do that to you, but we feel it was necessary. Jonathan Lewis, Tara Strother, and Adolf Vigil were all nominated by Michelle and I several
times. All were voted on voted against by Anne and AJ causing the tie vote sorry, tie vote each time. The only candidate that AJ and Anne would vote for and vote yes was Susie Karnes. I moved to hold a second interview of Jonathan Lewis and Susie Karnes at a special board meeting. This was denied. AJ had to leave the meeting because of illness, and I was very concerned about him. We took a ten minute recess. When we returned, we learned that Anne had left the meeting breaking our quorum.
The meeting was never adjourned. There was no contact from miss Bennett for several days. She was out of touch. On 02/1326, Michelle and I sent a letter, and we we sent it by text and email. Email to make things completely transparent. It can be searched with Cora, but we sent it for text just to make sure we got it. She replied the next day stating she would be appointing the candidate for the open seat.
On 02/15, by the way, appointing the candidate by herself with no contact, no discussion. She sent a letter appointing. All of her letters were very, very well written, almost in a leap from a legal standpoint. I wish I had that ability. As you can tell, I don't. I feel there's no interest of by my colleagues to work together to find a new board member. Thank you for sitting through that. We appreciate you very, very much, and we wanna apologize for the harm and the
time we're taking out of your day. Thank you. So I I would like to say some things, and I appreciate, both of your statements. But as a district, we are a business, and we still have to conduct business whether we have board approval or not. And so, there are some items on this agenda that absolutely have to move forward whether we have board approval or not, like February's payroll. And so I'm just stating for the record that we are going to move forward with business and running our district with or without a full board. You do what you have to do on my end of that, but I'm going
to ensure that we are taking care of business. And so we are going to move forward with the February payroll. We are going to move forward with February payroll. We are going to move forward with several items on that consent agenda items because we're a business and we have to. I'd also like to address, something that occurred last week be because they deserved recognition today. I would like to thank First Student and Chris Lobodnick and Lori Kilpatrick for their response to the tragic accident that occurred on I 25 last week. When emergency operations center reached out, we immediately requested assistance.
And, Daniel Lynn and Chelsea Paseko, who are bus drivers from First Student, went above and beyond to transfer injured community members to our hospitals and to to drive to different pickup points that Chris was making so that so that they could be reunited and taken care of in safe locations. That's what our district is about. It's about coming together. It's about coming together for our community, for serving our public. And I appreciate everybody in this room tonight.
I I'm sorry that we won't be able to do some of the presentations. It's frankly disgusting to me that this is where we're at. It's embarrassing to me. But the good news is we have a great team. We have a great team of administrators. We have great leaders. We have great staff. And we are going to continue to serve our kids and take care of them the way we always have and always will, whether we have the vote or we don't. So thank you for coming tonight, and we will continue. By the way, Klaus, I was interested in hearing your public comment.
I see the blue sheets. Please return next time and do it. Please. Thank you so much. Well, will next time Mark, will next time be too late before decisions are filed? Michelle and I are trying. I don't I I understand that. So I can't answer. I think as as a group, this is a public sector. We can we can say we can continue on with this meeting with or without the word of the day here, but if there's public comment, I I don't know why Let's do it. Let's do it. Is that okay to you?
Blue stats here. You guys want the stack? I'll let. Kimberly, here's the blue stack. You want me to do it or you're the boss? I'm not the boss. So so we we can we can cut the feed. My boss. We can cut the feed, but we can continue to record it without without live streaming it. So the first So that we can Let's