With the Denver Public Schools executive session recording out and the legal battle for releasing it over, how much will the behind-closed-door meeting cost the district to fight?

Roughly $45,000.

That tally includes the outside counsel DPS used to defend the lawsuit as well as the legal costs incurred by the media outlets that brought it.

On March 23, a day after an East High School student shot two administrators, the DPS Board of Education held an executive session to discuss, among other things, security arrangements.

They emerged after more than five hours, however, with a memo drafted in the private meeting that reversed the district’s policy banning armed police officers, also called school resource officers (SRO).

Colorado’s Sunshine laws permit, for specific purposes, government agencies to conduct private meetings to consult with an attorney or – in the case of school districts – to discuss individual students, among other things.

State law, though, requires state and local governments to discuss and take action in meetings open to the public.

The public outcry was swift.

A coalition of media outlets that includes The Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics filed a lawsuit to compel the district to release its recording of the meeting.

In June, a district judge agreed and ordered DPS to release the recording.

DPS fought its release and appealed the decision before the board reversed course and posted a video of the executive session online.

The district decision to appeal was made by DPS General Counsel Aaron Thompson, who also advised the board on the legal bounds of the discussion during the executive session.

DPS used Denver law firm Semple, Farrington, Everall & Chase to defend the lawsuit. Legal invoices obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request, which were heavily redacted, show the district spent $12,718.62 for outside counsel.

Having lost the lawsuit, the district is also responsible for the plaintiff’s legal fees, which have not yet been negotiated in court.

Steve Zansberg, a first amendment attorney and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, and Rachael Johnson, a lawyer with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, represented the media outlets.

Zansberg estimated the litigation costs at $32,000, as of July 25.

The Denver Gazette reached out to the board inquire about this use of taxpayer money.

Only Board President Xóchitl Gaytán responded.

“Under the current Superintendent and school board, we’ve spent fewer dollars on legal fees than ever before,” Gaytán said in a text message. “The legal fees were necessary to respond to a lawsuit against the board as per the advice of our general counsel.”

Gaytán added that the unanimous July 21 vote to release the recording was, in part, to avoid further expenses associated with the lawsuit and to refocus the board on work that “directly impacts student outcomes.”

Neither Thompson nor DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero – who requested the private meeting four hours after Austin Lyle wounded two administrators on March 22 – responded to an email requesting comment.