The leader of the Douglas County school board told his then-superintendent that, if he resigned within five days, he would advocate for him to get paid through the end of the school year. Otherwise, the board leader said, he would seek to have the superintendent fired for cause, according to a newly released audio recording.

The recording was filed in district court Wednesday as part of a lawsuit against the board, alleging its four leaders broke the Colorado open meeting law in January by privately discussing the removal of then-superintendent Corey Wise. The recording, apparently taken by Wise during a private meeting with the board’s two leaders, suggests the board’s newly elected majority was committed to removing him from office before they publicly voted to do so, a key allegation in the lawsuit that the board’s leaders have flatly denied.

Wise met board president Mike Peterson and vice president Christy Williams for coffee on Jan. 28 to discuss his future. In the days prior, Peterson and Williams had individually talked with the other new board members, Kaylee Winegar and Becky Myers, about Wise. All four have publicly maintained that they’d made no decision about whether to terminate Wise before they publicly voted to do so on Feb. 4, a week after the coffee meeting.

After their private meeting with Wise, Peterson and Williams called the board’s three, longer-serving members, David Ray, Elizabeth Hanson and Susan Meek. All three have said publicly – and Meek testified in court – that they were unaware of the conversations about Wise’s future or that their leaders had met with him. Ray and Meek both recorded their conversations with Peterson and Williams.

Ray, Hanson and Meek held an emergency public meeting three days later, decrying the actions of their fellow board members. After a contentious week and an hours-long, even more rancorous board meeting, the board voted, 4-3, to terminate Wise unilaterally, without cause, on Feb. 4.

The Douglas County school board has been in a pitched, often expressly political, battle since its voters elected four new board members on Nov. 2. Policy watchers say the pandemic divided the county, with many parents adamant about keeping kids in school while others insist that educational leaders should follow state health department recommendations, including advocating for masks in school. Division also exists around curriculum, particularly surrounding the teaching of race and history.

The Feb. 4 decision to fire Wise followed what have become the board’s version of ideological lines: the four new members voting for his removal, the three more veteran members voting against.

Peterson, the new board president, earlier said he tried to work with Wise, but that he had lost trust in his ability to lead: “Trust is essential for any employee relationships. I have concerns about the superintendent being able to make decisions for our children.” 

Robert Marshall, a county resident and now a Colorado House candidate, filed the lawsuit alleging Peterson, Williams, Winegar and Myers had broken state law by privately discussing public business in a coordinated way, and that those conversations led to a decision on a public matter: ousting Wise.

The school board’s new attorney, Scott Gessler, did not return a message seeking comment sent Thursday morning. Nor did a school board spokeswoman. A message sent to Wise’s attorney was also not immediately returned Thursday.

The recording suggests the decision to move on from Wise was made before Peterson and Williams met him for coffee. According to the tape, Peterson told Wise that he and Williams had reached out to the other new directors and that there was a “very strong commitment to moving forward” with a change in leadership. He said he didn’t know when Wise was planning to retire but asked if that date could be moved up. He said he wanted Wise’s tenure to be ended quickly, so it wouldn’t affect, among other things, a coming school funding ballot measure.

“I think that at this point, there’s – there’s so much going on that we just – we have to move in a different direction,” Williams added, according to the recording. “I feel like we want to do what’s right by you. We don’t want to make this horrible, we don’t want to make this super public, but we’re prepared to do that if that’s the direction in which it has to go.”

Wise replied that he still had a contract and that his entire educational career had been spent in Douglas County. He asked why Williams and Peterson wanted him out.

Williams replied that she thought the board had “a pretty good case” to fire Wise for cause. She said she felt there were “a lot of things happening behind the scenes to work against” her, Peterson and the board’s other two new members. She referenced meetings that “shouldn’t have occurred” without Peterson’s knowledge. She did not elaborate on what meeting she was referencing or what other actions she felt Wise had taken to undermine the board’s new members.

Peterson then told Wise they’d already “talked about” terminating him for cause and “were prepared” to do so. He said he’d recently spoken with Will Trachman, a conservative attorney whom the board’s new majority had voted to hire as an outside counsel during their first meeting in early December, about Wise’s contract.

Peterson reiterated that he didn’t want to fire Wise for cause. He said if Wise decided to step down immediately, Peterson would advocate that he continued to be paid through the end of June. 

“But if you go for cause,” Peterson continued, “then you know what that looks like.”

He told Wise, who was about leave for a brief trip, to take some time to think about it. The meeting was held on a Friday, and Peterson told Wise to let them know his decision by the coming Tuesday. His resignation would be effective Wednesday, he continued, and the board could appoint someone from the district to negotiate his exit package at its next board meeting. 

If Wise chose not to resign, Peterson said, and if he wanted “to move forward with termination, then we can get to a special meeting, appoint a hearing officer and start those things.” Wise replied that he didn’t want to be put on a timer but understood Peterson and Williams’s urgency. 

Wise was ultimately not fired for cause. Because his contract was unilaterally canceled by the board, he’s entitled to another year of his salary.

In a press release sent late Wednesday night, Marshall, who filed the suit and released the recording, accused Peterson of perjury. He referenced a February hearing, in which Peterson testified under oath that he and Williams had not asked Wise “to resign immediately.” It had, Peterson said, “asked him to consider a variety of options.”

Peterson also testified no decision had been made until the Feb. 4 formal meeting, and that he and Williams did not “ask (Wise) to resign” when they met with him for coffee. 

He added that his interpretation of the meeting with Wise was not “a request to resign. It was a discussion on his future contract.”

In light of the recording and its contents, Marshall’s attorney, Steve Zansberg, asked a Douglas County judge on Wednesday to rule that the board had broken the open-meeting law. 

He argued that it is “undisputed” that the board’s four new leaders had met and discussed Wise’s future in a one-on-one, but coordinated, fashion, and that those discussions had led to a formal decision that can only be made at a public meeting.

Watch: Douglas County students walk out of class in support of ousted superintendent