One Douglas County school board member blasted the district’s selection of its new superintendent in an email to media Tuesday morning, saying he would boycott Tuesday night’s meeting because of the board’s recent actions.

In an email, board member David Ray wrote that he would skip the meeting, at which the board later approved soon-to-be Superintendent Erin Kane’s contract, because he believed it to be “the culmination of a series of unethical and unacceptable practices.” 

“These include the wrongful termination of the former superintendent, a deeply flawed selection process, and decisions/discussions that were made outside of the public eye,” wrote Ray, who was the board’s president until the November election swept in four new members.

“I look forward to a day when the Board can refocus its work on learning, the well-being of ALL students, and supporting our employees who make this possible.”

Board and district spokeswoman Paula Hans declined to comment Tuesday afternoon. In a text message, Ray said he had informed Peterson of the statement Ray would send to the media. He said Peterson had replied that his absence was approved administratively, that Peterson was sorry Ray felt “this way regarding the process” and that Peterson hoped Ray would be open to discussions with the rest of the board later on.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, the board ratified Kane’s contract, several days after it voted – 4-3, along new-versus-older member lines – to begin negotiating a contract with her.

Kane, a charter school leader in the county and a former interim superintendent of the Douglas County School District, had been approached by Peterson before the superintendent’s job was vacant and had been widely considered the frontrunner from the outset.

Ray’s email references the controversial firing of former Superintendent Corey Wise, over which the school board and its four leaders are currently being sued, and the expedited timeline to hire his replacement.

Asked what decisions he felt were made outside the public eye, Ray told The Denver Gazette that he was referring to four: discussions about Wise’s performance; the decision by the board’s leaders to meet privately with Wise and tell him to resign, retire or be fired; the board’s four new members meeting with Kane in November at a private retreat; and Peterson approaching Kane while Wise was still the superintendent.

The private retreat, which new board members have said was a training session attended by many people, has been the subject of scrutiny, particularly on social media and in public comment sessions at recent board meetings.

Ray, along with the other two longer-serving members, Elizabeth Hanson and Susan Meek, have been increasingly critical of the board’s four new leaders over the past four months, largely in the wake of those leaders’ decision to fire Wise and their actions afterward. The board’s leaders – Peterson, Christy Williams, Kaylee Winegar and Becky Myers – have maintained that their firing of Wise and discussions about his performance followed the law and that the district needed a change. They have said Kane is the best choice to advance the district.

After Wise was fired on a 4-3 vote on Feb. 4, Peterson and the board’s other three new members set into a process to quickly hire Wise’s replacement, which they said was needed to bring stability to the district. Ray and his two longer-serving peers urged a slower approach, citing lengthier searches they and other districts had undertaken previously. 

The board settled on the faster approach. Within two months of Wise’s firing, Kane was selected as the superintendent, over district administrator Danny Winsor. At that meeting last week, Ray attempted to steer the board toward a unified 7-0 vote in favor of Winsor. Peterson replied that he would vote for the candidate he felt would do the best job – Kane – and indicated that if Ray wanted a unified voice, he should vote for her, too.

Ultimately, Ray, Hanson and Meek all voted against advancing Kane.