Does Denver Public Schools’ officials owe the public an apology for crafting policy behind closed doors?

The short answer is it depends who is asked.

Board directors reached by The Denver Gazette said they don’t believe an apology is warranted. They, however, acknowledged the boards’ next steps would be critical for moving forward.

“There was no intent to hide anything from the public so I’m not sure an apology would be in order,” said Director Scott Esserman.

Members of the public — and at least one member of the board — placed the blame for violating the state’s open meeting law squarely on district leadership.

In their sights are Board President Xóchitl Gaytán, General Counsel Aaron Thompson and Superintendent Alex Marrero.

In the hours after a student shot at and wounded two East High School administrators on March 22, Marrero requested the March 23 executive session to discuss the district’s policy that bans armed school resource officers behind, according to an email obtained by The Denver Gazette under the Colorado Open Records Act.

“If anybody owes the community an apology, it would be the board president and the general counsel,” said Board Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson.

The way Anderson sees it, Gaytán is culpable because she, more than any other director, would have been better informed about the intent of the secret meeting, given that “DPS involves her much more in everything.”

And Thompson, Anderson said, was responsible as the district’s attorney to ensure the board stayed within the bounds of the law.

“I think we need to have a leadership change in order to build back trust in our school board,” Anderson said,

Neither Thompson nor Marrero returned emails or phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Members of Parents-Safety Advocacy Group, the group that formed in the wake of the shootings, said Wednesday that the “broken” public trust might be too difficult to overcome.

“P-SAG doesn’t want an apology, we want change,” Steve Katsaros, P-SAG co-founder, said.

Until Friday’s special meeting, when board members unanimously voted to release the video of their executive session, only Anderson had called for its disclosure.

A coalition of media outlets that included The Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics filed a lawsuit to compel the district to release the recording of the five-hour closed-door meeting after board members emerged from the executive session ready to unanimously reverse, without any discussion, the district’s policy that kicked cops out of campuses.

A district court judge last month agreed and ordered DPS to release its recording of the executive session.

The district fought its release and was actively appealing the court’s decision when the board reversed course last week.

Gaytán said Wednesday that, if an apology were warranted, it would require a consensus from the board. With the board off for summer break in July, it’s unclear when the board might discuss the issue.

For her part, Gaytán said board members would have to approach her about a public apology.

She also brushed off any concerns that the board’s credibility might have suffered as a result of conducting an executive session that a judge concluded violated open meeting laws, saying the public’s mistrust isn’t specific to this board, but, rather, a function of “systemic, institutional racism.”

“There’s been a history of mistrust between the public and Denver Public Schools and the board for a very long time — years and years and years,” Gaytán said. “Everybody seeks to build trust with the community.”

Baldermann and fellow directors Carrie Olson and Michelle Quattlebaum could not be immediately reached for comment.

Throughout the closed-door meeting, the DPS board members were aware — or were reminded by colleagues or staffers — of the parameters of the executive session.

At one point, Thompson told members that their discussion “needs to be in the context of the response to the incident, (as) part of the investigation, as a result of the investigation.” Thompson played a key role in guiding the board throughout the discussion, letting them know what they could or couldn’t discuss.

“I want to give this group as much latitude as I think legally possible to discuss what’s on the board’s mind,” he told them.

At one point, for example, Scott Baldermann, the board member who originally drafted the resolution that became the basis for the DPS memo reversing its 2020 policy, asked if it’s legal to pull out his resolution so members could see it and discuss it. Baldermann, who said he had COVID at the time, later left the meeting when the board decided to turn his resolution into a memo.

“I think that it would be legal because again it has to do with security measures,” Thompson responded.

Colorado’s Sunshine Law requires state and local governments discuss and take action in meetings that are open to the public.

State law does not prohibit a governing body, such as DPS, from releasing the recording.

The law permits a carve out for specific purposes, such as to consult with an attorney or discuss personnel matters or an individual student, among other things.

“If you’re crafting policy, by definition it should be done in public,” said Theresa Peña, who served on eight years on the DPS school board, four as president.

While an apology isn’t a silver bullet for addressing the public’s mistrust, Peña said, an admission would create some good will.

“I think it would be a step in the right direction,” Peña said.

The unsung heroes in this story — said Katsaros, who is a member of P-SAG — is the media coalition that sought in court the recording of the executive session, which resulted in its release.

“The work you do is part of the solution,” Katsaros said.