Summary
The timeline raises questions about the conduct of several school officials, hinting at a possible concerted effort to influence transparency laws, specifically the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA). The pattern of communication between board members such as DJ Anderson, Nathan Donovan, Rob Petterson, and Kristen Draper, along with their interactions with legislator Cathy Kipp, suggest they may have collaborated on shaping the provisions of a CORA-related bill.
Nathan Donovan‘s preference for using a personal email for official CASB communications, explicitly noted to sidestep CORA requirements, alongside DJ Anderson‘s similar use of personal email, points to a troubling trend of avoiding public scrutiny. This evasion is particularly concerning in light of their potential involvement in legislative matters directly impacting public access to information. The timeline also documents a seemingly rushed process by which the board unanimously approved CASB resolutions without proper public review or reading, further amplifying concerns over transparency.
Rob Petterson‘s and Kristen Draper‘s activities, including forwarding important documents to personal emails and convening with key legal representatives, coupled with their strategic meetings with Cathy Kipp—who is directly involved in sponsoring relevant legislation—suggests they might have had an undue influence on the crafting of policies governing public records. The series of meetings, especially those not documented with minutes or held without public announcement, deepens suspicions around the true extent of these officials’ roles in advocating for changes to CORA that may benefit school board operations while potentially diminishing public oversight. The entire sequence of events documented in the timeline could indicate a pattern of behavior that some might interpret as undermining the principles of governmental transparency.
District Focus Implications
The timeline suggests that while the Poudre School District officials, including DJ Anderson, Nathan Donovan, Rob Petterson, and Kristen Draper, were deeply engaged in discussions around modifications to CORA, there seems to have been a notable lack of focus on revising hiring practices, as highlighted by the troubling case of Tyler Zanella. Zanella’s recent sentencing for the abuse of non-verbal autistic children raises serious concerns about the district’s priorities. The attention to CORA over internal hiring laws may indicate a troubling oversight or a deliberate choice to concentrate on controlling information flow rather than addressing the potentially flawed hiring mechanisms that allowed for such a grave oversight in employee conduct.
Nathan Donovan’s role as the CASB finance chair, particularly his discussions on raising membership fees, could be seen as part of a larger strategy to consolidate the organization’s influence. By increasing funding through membership dues, CASB may be seeking to strengthen its capacity to lobby for legislative changes, such as those pertaining to CORA. If indeed CASB communications are exempt from CORA, as suggested by Donovan’s email practices, this financial bolstering could have the effect of expanding the association’s ability to operate with less transparency, potentially shielding school boards from the level of public accountability expected in public education.
The combination of these actions, particularly the potential increase in CASB’s financial clout coupled with a push for less stringent transparency laws, could appear to be a coordinated move to fortify the association’s legislative influence while decreasing public oversight. This could raise significant concerns for stakeholders in the education sector, especially parents and guardians who rely on transparency and accountability to ensure the safety and well-being of their children in the school system.
Timeline
Last Update | 12/16/2025
2023-05-25: CASB President, Jubal Yennie, sends an e-mail to PSD Director DJ Anderson inviting him to be part of a Legislative Task Force to Study Colorado’s Public School Finance System.
2023-08-03: Calendar entries for Robert Petterson, DJ Anderson, Nathan Donovan, Jim Brokish, Carolyn Reed, Superintendent Kingsley, Chief of Staff Lauren Hooten. The meeting is labeled “Next Steps” and likely violated Colorado’s Open Meeting Law (serial meetings). The topics discussed in the meeting are unknown.
2023-08-09: PSD Director DJ Anderson sends an email to PSD Board of Education asking if there was time on “Monday” that would work to have a legislative committee meeting. One of the topics for CASB resolutions is identified as “Cora update.”
2023-08-16: Director DJ Anderson shares a file with Directors Robert Petterson, Jim Brokish, Kristen Draper, and Jessica Zamora. The file is titled, “PSD 23_24 CASB Resolutions”.
2023-08-18: DJ Anderson emails the Poudre School District Board and others about resolutions submitted to CASB for approval, indicating options for amendment or removal at the upcoming delegate assembly and soliciting any questions or concerns. Robert Petterson also forwards the file “PSD 23_24 CASB Resolutions” to PSD legal counsel Autumn Aspen.
2023-08-20: DJ Anderson emailed the rest of the PSD board asking if the combined CASB resolution with BVSD is a good idea. Additionally, Robert Petterson of the Poudre School District Board of Education expresses concern over time frames in a proposed combined CASB resolution on CORA, suggesting seven days may be too short and proposing a 21-day extension for considering requests from legitimate press, which could include bloggers and social media. This discussion indicates a focus on differentiating between the types of media to establish clear criteria for response times. Given the number of directors included, could raise concerns about compliance with COML, specifically if such discussions are considered a form of informal meeting not open to the public.
2023-08-22: Anderson submits CASB resolutions to the board belatedly, leading to a unanimous 7-0 board vote on the resolutions without public review. DJ Anderson provides a motion to approve CASB resolutions followed by brief remarks from both Petterson and Anderson. Anderson apologizes for the late submission due to word-smithing with unnamed persons. No recusals from the vote were recorded. None of the documents were available for public inspection because they were not prepared in time.
2023-09-05: Robert Petterson forwards the CASB resolutions to lobbyist Anne Barkis.
2024-02-14: Representative Cathy Kipp introduces HB24-1296 – Modifications to the Colorado Open Records Act.
2025-01-23: Representative Cathy Kipp introduced SB-077, a second attempt to modify the Colorado Open Records Act.
2025-04-17: Governor Jared Polis vetoed SB25-077.