Education

Conservative-led school board fires superintendent after allegations of private ultimatum, teacher protest

By Timothy Bella
Yesterday at 5:23 p.m. EST

A school board outside Denver voted to fire the district’s superintendent Friday night in a controversial move that came amid accusations that the newly elected conservative majority had violated state open-meeting laws.



The Douglas County, Colo., school board voted 4 to 3 in a special meeting Friday night to fire Corey Wise without cause, dismissing the superintendent with two years left in his contract. Wise, voted in by the board last April, supported policies on in-school masking and equity that were overturned in the months since by four conservatives who campaigned against critical race theory and other diversity initiatives and were elected to the board.

“It’s more about finding someone who better aligns,” Kaylee Winegar, a member of the school board, said during the meeting. “It’s just what we want with this district is different.”

The vote followed allegations from the board’s liberal minority that the conservative members made an ultimatum in secret to Wise for him to resign or be fired through a vote — actions that would violate Colorado’s open-meeting laws. The allegations sparked outrage in the community and resulted in one of the Denver area’s largest school systems to close Thursday as 1,000 teachers, district staffers and parents protested the board in support of Wise. It also underscored mounting tensions in schools around the nation over divisive issues that have come into sharp relief amid the nation’s reckoning on race relations and pandemic policies.

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By Timothy Bella
Timothy Bella is a staff writer and editor for the General Assignment team, focusing on national news. His work has appeared in outlets such as Esquire, the Atlantic, New York magazine and the Undefeated. Twitter https://twitter.com/TimBella