A Tale of Two Superintendents

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes

When division and instability plague a community, misinformation abounds. It can seem impossible to find the facts and truth when people intentionally try to muddy the waters. Recently, we have seen this come to pass in Douglas County, as the supporters for the four majority Board of Education Directors are resurrecting the resignation of former Superintendent Dr. Thomas Tucker. As a result, we feel the need to draw clear comparisons between his resignation and the recent firing of Corey Wise.

Colorado Open Meeting Laws (COML) & Personnel Issues

In Douglas County, we are getting a crash course on the Sunshine Law and how it works. It is very important to note that when a properly called Executive Session takes place, many different personnel issues ranging from performance concerns, complaints and more can be discussed and meet the parameters of the law. This is the appropriate time to discuss the termination, probation or potential resignation of an employee.

Dr. Thomas Tucker

Dr. Tucker had been Superintendent of Douglas County School District for two years by the time the 2020-2021 school year was set to begin in August, 2020. During that time, he had helped successfully pass 5A/5B, the Bond and MLO that served to start correcting teacher salaries and pay for much needed repairs on our schools and district buildings. In July 2020, prior to school starting, he had already informed the BoE that he planned to take a position as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer for the Kentucky Department of Education. He had intended to stay with DCSD to help launch classes in the fall of 2020 and guide the District as the pandemic continued to rage. 

However, early into the school year, on Sept. 1, a complaint was filed against Dr. Tucker, accusing him of workplace discrimination. The Board Directors took any complaint against staff very seriously, regardless of their position in the district, and proceeded as district policies and state laws demanded. Dr. Tucker was placed on leave during the investigation, which was conducted by an independent firm. On Sept. 8, 2020, Dr. Tucker formally resigned during a Special BoE Meeting. The independent investigation found that he did not violate any policies, cleared him of the allegations, and Dr. Tucker then began his new job in Kentucky on Nov. 2.

To further clarify information regarding Dr. Tucker’s salary, DCSD did not pay out his contract because he resigned. The District did pay some costs (such as moving expenses, etc.) per his contract, but was not obligated to pay his salary to him.

Corey Wise

A long-time educator, administrator and district leader, Corey Wise had only been in his position as Superintendent since May 2021, before the newly elected majority BoE Directors fired him in a spectacularly divisive and secretive manner. As mentioned, COML allows for personnel decisions to be made and discussed in a properly called Executive Session. The new Board majority failed to follow the law and district procedures when they made the decision and delivered the ultimatum to Wise on Jan. 28. 

As they decided to acquire new leadership to take the District in a “new direction,” which they incidentally still have not clarified or shared with the community, they simply needed to enter into Executive Session during a regularly held Board meeting (as Director Susan Meeks pointed out during the Feb. 4 special meeting). If it was not possible to hold an Executive Session during one of those meetings, they simply needed to call another special meeting and move into Executive Session to discuss the performance issues of theSuperintendent. Once an agreement was made that four Directors no longer saw Wise as a good fit, they could have asked Wise to join them and presented the options to him. This would have followed the law and district policy and prevented a lot of anger and mistrust at their unethical and secretive behavior.

As a result, our district has now spent over $245,000 per Corey Wise's contract since he was fired without cause and will continue to spend thousands more dollars on a new Superintendent search. This does not take into account and legal fees that have already been incurred and will continue to do so because of the nature in which Corey Wise was fired.

While it is certainly regrettable that DCSD is searching for its third Superintendent in four years, Dr. Tucker’s resignation was handled legally and transparently, whereas Wise’s termination was anything but.