“Sign up for C halkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. Three school board candidates who were passed over for a vacant seat on the Pueblo District 70 school board sued the board Monday, asking the court to order a new vote to fill the seat. They also asked the court to declare that the Pueblo 70 school board violated Colorado’s open meetings law several times over the last seven months, including by not clearly describing agenda items related to Riverstone Academy, an elementary school that backers have called Colorado’s “first public Christian school.” The lawsuit is the third one this year related to Riverstone. The lawsuit alleges a pattern of violations that started last summer when the school board voted to allow Riverstone to open within district boundaries and continued with the controversial appointment of a fourth candidate to the school board in February. Monday’s lawsuit was filed in Pueblo County District Court by attorney Eric Maxfield on behalf of Jonathan Lewis, Tara Stroesenreuther, and Adolph Vigil, three of four candidates who vied for an open seat on the school board over the winter. The school board president appointed the fourth candidate, Susie Carnes, to fill the seat in February. At the heart of the latest lawsuit is the idea that the public’s business must be conducted in public. Emails obtained by Chalkbeat show that Riverstone was created at the behest of a conservative law firm seeking a test case on the question of public funding for religious schools . Attorney Brad Miller, whose law firm represents Pueblo 70, outlined that goal in an email to the five-member board and superintendent last June. The school board president at the time, Anne Ochs, wrote back within minutes, and the topic was added to the next meeting agenda. Monday’s lawsuit alleges that the school board hid Miller’s plan from the public at two June meetings by using generic, jargon-laden language to describe the Riverstone matter. This failed “to provide full notice regarding the proposed Board approval of a publicly-funded Christian school within D70, created for the purpose of manufacturing a Supreme Court test case in hopes of striking down Colorado’s ban against using public funds for religious education,” the lawsuit says. Reached by email on Tuesday, Miller did not comment about the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges that placing the Riverstone vote on the board’s consent agenda on June 24 was a violation of open meetings law. Consent agendas allow public bodies like school boards to group routine, uncontroversial issues together for a vote with no debate. Board members can request that items be removed from the consent agenda and voted on separately. That didn’t happen with Riverstone. Voting on Riverstone as part of the larger consent agenda constituted an “unlawful rubberstamp of a prior, non-public decision,” the lawsuit says. Riverstone Academy originally operated in this building, but moved temporarily to Christ Church Pueblo West in February. The lawsuit says that the Pueblo 70 school board continued to violate open meetings law over the winter. That was after three new members were elected in November and after Ochs resigned in December , when a district parent criticized her for hiding key facts about Riverstone’s creation and failing to disclose a conflict of interest. According to the lawsuit, School Board President Ann Bennett, one of the board members elected in November, violated the law by abruptly leaving a meeting on Feb. 10, the date the board was supposed to select a new member to replace Ochs. Before Bennett left, the board had deadlocked on picking a new member with repeated 2-2 ties. Then board Vice President AJ Wilson fell ill and was helped out of the room. That left three board members and the possibility that a candidate Bennett didn’t support — Lewis, Stroesenreuther, or Vigil — could be appointed in a 2-1 vote. “Faced with losing the vote, in a ‘personal power move’ that broke her pledges to follow state law and to respect the Board, Bennett illegally fled the un-adjourned meeting to break quorum and prevent a vote,” a motion accompanying the lawsuit states. Quorum refers to the minimum number of members needed for a public body to take votes on public business. This education co-op quietly opened a Christian public school. Does Colorado need more guardrails? Several days after the Feb. 10 meeting, Bennett announced in a letter to the community that she’d appointed Carnes the vacant seat. Under Colorado law, school board presidents can appoint a new member if the board can’t agree on a candidate after 60 days. The lawsuit alleges that the “non-public and unilateral appointment of Carnes” and her swearing in during an “un-noticed” meeting on Feb. 25 violated the open meetings law. In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed along with the lawsuit, the plaintiffs ask the court to order the three Pueblo 70 school board members who were present when Wilson became ill to resume the Feb. 10 meeting that was never adjourned and vote in a candidate to fill the vacancy. That motion also asks that Carnes be ordered to cease serving as a board member while that process plays out. The lawsuit also wants the Pueblo 70 board to pay the three plaintiffs’ legal fees. District Superintendent Ronda Rein said by email that the lawsuit could divert funds from student programming “The board acts on the guidance of their attorney, and any legal proceedings would require the district to cover attorney fees,” she said. “There are more constructive ways to hold the board accountable than through a lawsuit.” While Miller’s law firm continues to represent Pueblo 70 school board, the district could soon be represented by a different firm. Rein, who will retire at the end of June, recently put out a request for proposals for attorneys to represent the district. Rein said four firms responded, including Miller’s. Riverstone is still in the midst of another lawsuit. In February, the school and its authorizer filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the state over the possibility that the school’s public funding could eventually be clawed back. Forging Education, the Christian nonprofit group that operates Riverstone, also filed a lawsuit against Pueblo County in January, after county officials ordered the school to close its building over safety concerns. School officials voluntarily closed the building and moved the school to a temporary location shortly after. Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org .
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