The Board of Education, although elected, is a volunteer group that donates its time to the people of Douglas County. No member is paid any salary, and each of us brings a unique background to the position of school board director. We benefit from this diversity.
The District worked with the Douglas County Clerk and Recorder’s office to set a date for the new board members’ swearing-in ceremony within the statutory deadline. This date was set on November 30th, within the correct timeline according to statute [C.R.S. §1-1-106(5)]. Although it is customary for this ceremony to occur in the context of a business meeting, a swearing-in may legally occur at any time after the certification date. So, the new DCSD board directors arranged their private swearing-in ceremony on November 23rd.
The November 30th ceremony was scheduled to meet statutory deadlines for swearing in new board directors, which was officially done on November 23 after the election was certified. Another item of business is the election of new officers. Within 15 days of the election being certified, C.R.S. §22-32-104 states that a special meeting must be called for the purpose of electing new officers. The last day to accomplish this without violating state law would be December 3.
Because the November 30 meeting date is outside our normal meting schedule, one of our members, Dr. Jim Geddes, has a conflict involving a scheduled surgery. Dr. Geddes is a surgeon and builds his surgery schedule around BOE regular meetings, planning months ahead to accommodate both his medical practice and his board duties.
For something as important as board leadership elections, every member should have the opportunity to have a vote. The timing of professional obligations such as those detaining Director Geddes might be unfortunate. However, this is a special meeting by definition, and statutorily, the board secretary calls the meeting on any date in the range.
The meeting date has changed to December 1 for this accommodation. Although a meeting date change would ordinarily not occur if a member had to miss a regular meeting, special meetings often come with unusual circumstances.
We look forward to seating new officers and moving forward with the business of the school district. It’s a privilege to serve the citizens of Douglas County as we work to provide the best education for our kids.
TIMELINE
3 November: Election Day
19 November: Election results certified by the Douglas County Clerk and Recorder’s office
30 November: Statutory deadline for new board members to be sworn in
30 November: Special board meeting scheduled for swearing-in and board officer elections
1 December: New date for special board meeting after schedule conflict
3 December: Statutory deadline for special board meeting, 15 days after certification of election results
