Post by Watchtower6201 on Nov 24, 2021 10:23:16 GMT -7
For those that don't know, Colorado Sunshine Laws define and regulate open meetings of all public bodies in the state, including School Boards. Some of the most important LAWS related to school boards include:
1. ANY meeting where 3 or more members of the local body (school board) gather is an open meeting and must be noticed and open to the public, have an agenda, and have minutes recorded. ANY time this occurs and those requirements are not met, it is illegal!
2. "Emailed messages discussing pending actions constitutes meetings and are subject to the law" (from the link above in paragraph 1).
3. Closed meetings, such as social gatherings and executive sessions, are not open to the public. Executive sessions can ONLY be called from a regular meeting, and only for a few specific reasons. A school board cannot call an executive session outside of a noticed open meeting. A school board cannot call an executive session because they would be embarrassed or threatened by the discussion being public. According to Charter School Open Meeting Laws, "An executive session is a portion of a regular or special meeting in which the board may consider sensitive issues in privacy. No adoption of any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation, or formal action (except for the review, approval and amendment of the minutes of an executive session) may occur at any executive session that is not open to the public.
Below is a running list of all the documented violations by the Banning Lewis School Board including the President Heather Zambrano, the Secretary Alexandra Tomei, and BOD Elections Committee Deanne Barnett, Krlsell Lumpkins, Todd Blum (resigned), and others.
1. The school board falsified its record of votes for officer seats on July 20, 2021. Notice how the President in her response tells Mr. Lewis he cannot question or ask for accountability from the Board. Actually, he can, and so can anyone else!
2. On July 30, 2021, just one week into her school board presidency, Heather Zambrano held an illegal meeting with herself, two other board members, and the CEO of ACCEL schools Ron Packard. Scott Lewis may have more documentation to support this.
3. Soon after, on August 2, 2021, the new president, Heather Zambrano, attempted to direct public school funds AGAINST the formal vote by the board. This came after the school board stalled for months on agreeing to the hiring of a principal.
4. The school board and its elections committee took action on a financial contract between the president and the management company outside of called meetings.
These 4 violations of Colorado Sunshine Laws (Open Meetings laws) occurred in just the first few months of Heather Zambrano's appointment to the board and presidency. Considering that she acts as the Executive Director and Principal Officer of the BLRA Education Foundation, and that several board members have or still do serve on the Foundation, these open meeting law violations having to do with approving appointments, waiving conflicts of interest, and directing funds meant for students and programs are very serious.
What will be next on this list? Stay tuned for items 5, 6, and 7....If you have the receipts for others, please post them in this thread.
Here is another:
5. The illegal removal of the RVP and changing the school structure to a Head of Schools: drive.google.com/file/d/1d_2ZFAA5ddSMPu87ru1k2WvssJKSgeHX/view?usp=sharing
1. ANY meeting where 3 or more members of the local body (school board) gather is an open meeting and must be noticed and open to the public, have an agenda, and have minutes recorded. ANY time this occurs and those requirements are not met, it is illegal!
2. "Emailed messages discussing pending actions constitutes meetings and are subject to the law" (from the link above in paragraph 1).
3. Closed meetings, such as social gatherings and executive sessions, are not open to the public. Executive sessions can ONLY be called from a regular meeting, and only for a few specific reasons. A school board cannot call an executive session outside of a noticed open meeting. A school board cannot call an executive session because they would be embarrassed or threatened by the discussion being public. According to Charter School Open Meeting Laws, "An executive session is a portion of a regular or special meeting in which the board may consider sensitive issues in privacy. No adoption of any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation, or formal action (except for the review, approval and amendment of the minutes of an executive session) may occur at any executive session that is not open to the public.
Below is a running list of all the documented violations by the Banning Lewis School Board including the President Heather Zambrano, the Secretary Alexandra Tomei, and BOD Elections Committee Deanne Barnett, Krlsell Lumpkins, Todd Blum (resigned), and others.
1. The school board falsified its record of votes for officer seats on July 20, 2021. Notice how the President in her response tells Mr. Lewis he cannot question or ask for accountability from the Board. Actually, he can, and so can anyone else!
2. On July 30, 2021, just one week into her school board presidency, Heather Zambrano held an illegal meeting with herself, two other board members, and the CEO of ACCEL schools Ron Packard. Scott Lewis may have more documentation to support this.
3. Soon after, on August 2, 2021, the new president, Heather Zambrano, attempted to direct public school funds AGAINST the formal vote by the board. This came after the school board stalled for months on agreeing to the hiring of a principal.
4. The school board and its elections committee took action on a financial contract between the president and the management company outside of called meetings.
These 4 violations of Colorado Sunshine Laws (Open Meetings laws) occurred in just the first few months of Heather Zambrano's appointment to the board and presidency. Considering that she acts as the Executive Director and Principal Officer of the BLRA Education Foundation, and that several board members have or still do serve on the Foundation, these open meeting law violations having to do with approving appointments, waiving conflicts of interest, and directing funds meant for students and programs are very serious.
What will be next on this list? Stay tuned for items 5, 6, and 7....If you have the receipts for others, please post them in this thread.
Here is another:
5. The illegal removal of the RVP and changing the school structure to a Head of Schools: drive.google.com/file/d/1d_2ZFAA5ddSMPu87ru1k2WvssJKSgeHX/view?usp=sharing