In a striking public meeting, the three board members — Elizabeth Hanson, Susan Meek and David Ray — said they found out Friday that the board’s president and vice president, Mike Peterson and Christy Williams, had issued the ultimatum to Superintendent Corey Wise, giving him until Wednesday morning to decide his course of action.

There was no vote, no meeting and no notice that this would be happening, the three directors said Monday night in a Zoom meeting.

“We’re not just whining,” said Ray, the District F director. “We’re genuinely concerned we’ve got a board that’s off the rails in terms of following not only the law, but also the policies that keep us governing effectively.”

The directors who spoke Monday believe these actions violated Colorado open meeting laws, which govern how decisions can be discussed and decided by public officials, and said the board members are not authorized to take these actions on their own without informing the rest of the board.

“I fully understand if four members want to vote one way,” said Meek, who represents District A. “That’s a majority, but it needs to be done in accordance with law and in accordance with policy and procedure.”

Hanson, who’s also an attorney, said she would be filing an ethics complaint with the state over the conduct of one of the board’s attorneys, Will Trachman. The attorney, Hanson said, met with Peterson and Williams to give legal advice on whether they could issue Wise the ultimatum. Trachman is obligated under his contract to write memos to other directors if he meets with them individually, she said, but the three directors said they’ve received nothing.

“I’m not comfortable having an individual on our payroll who is not in compliance with his contract legally and ethically,” Hanson said. “This needs to be addressed immediately as well.”

As for why the board’s majority wants Wise out, the three directors said during the meeting that they were told the rest of the board had “collectively decided we need to take the district in a different direction.”

“We’re mystified,” Ray told The Denver Post after the meeting. Given the circumstances, Wise has “performed admirably” as superintendent, he said.

“I have no issues or concerns with his leadership,” Ray said.