Three members of went public Thursday night with allegations that a fellow director had accused them of violating open meeting laws, and they, in turn, accused him of “behavior unbecoming of a board member toward DPS staff.”
Near the end of director Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán said she and fellow board members Michelle Quattlebaum and Scott Esserman had emailed board President Carrie Olson asking that unspecified policy violations by another member be discussed during a work session on Jan. 9.
Quattlebaum identified the board member as John Youngquist, a former DPS principal and teacher who was elected last year to an at-large seat on the board.
“Several board members have addressed board policy violations with director Youngquist in private settings, including a conversation with president Olson, regarding behavior unbecoming of a board member toward DPS staff,” Quattlebaum said. “…We have been accused of violating the law. We have been accused of (a) lack of transparency as well as violating the Colorado Open Meetings Law.”
Gaytán said the allegations by Youngquist were “unfounded” and that the board had also been threatened with a lawsuit.
The members did not further detail their allegations against Youngquist, who tried to address his fellow directors at Thursday’s meeting but was stopped by Olson after his colleagues said his behavior threatened the integrity of the board.
Olson told him to wait for the Jan. 9 work session, at which the group plans to address unspecified policy violations by Youngquist as well as his accusation the group violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law. Addressing such matters at a work session is
On Friday, Youngquist told The Denver Post that the claim he behaved inappropriately toward DPS staff came as a “total and complete shock.” He also said he had not been approached about an alleged violation of board policy prior to the meeting.
“I was surprised, and embarrassed, and didn’t know what to think,” he said.
Youngquist acknowledged sending a letter to Olson outlining concerns about the board’s conduct during closed-door executive sessions, and said he alone had been excluded from such sessions on Dec. 12 and on Thursday.
In the letter dated Tuesday, which Youngquist provided to The Post, he accuses the board of violating the open meetings law by not properly stating the subject of the Dec. 12 executive session and then excluding him from a discussion related to his board compensation and how it is impacted by rules set by the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, or PERA.
“I am requesting that the recording of the executive session be made available to me immediately,” he wrote to Olson.
After the meeting Thursday night, Gaytán declined to discuss the matter with The Post and Quattlebaum said it will be addressed at the January meeting.
“The real interest that I have is that the public has access to the work of the board that they legally are able to have access to,” Youngquist said in an interview. “I believe that open meetings are the way to go, and that seems to be a representation that is pretty consistent with (the Colorado Association of School Boards) and other organizations’ guidelines.”
The board’s Jan. 9 work session will start
Denver Post reporter Jessica Seaman contributed to this report.
