A public relations and marketing expert spent about two hours with the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education last month in a meeting closed to the public to discuss the shooting at East High School, according to minutes of the executive session.

The board can invite whomever is needed to provide information to them on sensitive subjects that are exempt from Colorado’s open meetings law, which requires the state and local governments to discuss and take action in meetings open to the public.

It is unclear, though, why Bill Good – the board’s spokesperson – was needed in the March 23 executive session to discuss security arrangements and investigations stemming from a shooting that wounded two administrators the day before.

Good did not respond to The Denver Gazette inquiry seeking comment.

Questions are already swirling around about the legality of the executive session.

Earlier this month, Steve Zansberg, a First Amendment attorney in Denver and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, called the executive session “a clear-cut violation of the open meetings law.”

Zansberg is a prominent attorney who has represented a number of media companies across the state, including The Denver Gazette.

Members of the Parents-Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG) have also taken issue with an executive session in which members emerged without public discussion and with a pre-printed policy change around returning police officers to school campuses.

“Bill Good is in there for crisis communication,” said Steve Katsaros, a parent of a sophomore at East High School and a P-SAG founding member. “He’s trying to preserve the brand of the seven members of the board.”

P-SAG organized in the wake of last month’s shooting to demand greater transparency from the district.

Theresa Peña served on eight years on the school board, four as president. In that time, Peña said, the board never once invited a marketing expert to sit in on an executive session.

“The marketing person should not have been in there to begin with,” Peña said.

This – and the behind-closed-door decision to reverse its policy on police in schools – has helped fuel the growing mistrust among the public, Peña added. 

“It feels like they have something to hide,” Peña said.

Some described other troubling issues with last month’s executive session.

In 2014 – after residents noticed the Douglas County School District Board of Education was conducting about half of its business behind closed doors – lawmakers revised the state statute to require executive session minutes reflect the amount of time spent discussing each topic.

The minutes also must be provided the public no more than 10 days after receiving board approval.

“The minutes that they prepared in compliance with the school board meeting statute lists who is coming and going but they do not say the amount of time each topic was discussed, which is what the provision in the statute requires,” said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

The DPS minutes of the March 23 executive session meticulously account for the time board members or their guests entered or left the meeting. For example, Board Director Carrie Olsen, left the executive session at 12:42 p.m. and returned at 12:45 p.m.

But there is no accounting for how long they spoke about security arrangements, the shooting investigation or any specific student.

“We don’t care how long someone took a bathroom break; we care about the safety of our kids,” said Katsaros of P-SAG.

Katsaros – who attended the executive session but was forced to wait outside with reporters and other attendees – added: “It’s our tax dollars. It’s our data. It’s our kids. Don’t hide the ball anymore.”