The president of the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education has reprimanded Superintendent Dan Snowberger for inappropriately using his school email account to air his “personal agenda” about several incidents that have occurred over the past few months.
As a result, the school board has ordered that all sensitive emails Snowberger intends to send from his school email account first be reviewed and approved by select 9-R staff.
“We are saddened to have to do this, however, you seem to be struggling to control your emotions and your words,” board president Nancy Stubbs wrote in an email to Snowberger on Dec. 27. The Durango Herald obtained the email through a Colorado Open Records Act request.
“You continue to address past unhelpful actions in a very public forum.”
Stubbs’ rebuke came in response to an email Snowberger sent Dec. 21 to 9-R staff that said he intended to take legal action after members of a citizens group recently released a “white paper” report that questioned alleged inaccuracies and misleading information on his résumé.
“Sadly, I have personally engaged an attorney to address the libel and defamation of character that some individuals in our community felt appropriate. This will be a personal issue from this point forward and will be handled by me as a private citizen,” he wrote.
The email does not make clear who Snowberger intends to sue, but in a meeting with the school board Dec. 19, in which the superintendent defended his résumé, he said he is likely to sue the Herald for defamation for publishing a story about the white paper.
Stubbs email to Snowberger
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Also, Stubbs and the board took issue with Snowberger’s email that goes on at length about his recent relationship with the Herald regarding its coverage of the résumé report, as well as an incident at Needham Elementary, where a district employee had the police called on her for reportedly trespassing.
“After each of us on the Board read your (Dec. 21) memo, we became alarmed that you would use the 9-R email account for your personal agenda where it is not appropriate for you to refer to your plans for litigation or your relations with the media,” Stubbs wrote.
Stubbs wrote that Snowberger must “cease and desist” using the 9-R account for emails to staff concerning these recent issues. Instead, communications related to those issues should be referred to Stubbs, Deputy Superintendent Andy Burns or the district’s attorney, Darryl Farrington.
“Also, any replies to emails where you feel you are being baited or second-guessed should go through one of the three designated people – because it appears you have lost perspective in how to address those (issues),” Stubbs said. “All ‘normal’ working emails you should, of course, answer.
“To sum it up, please just do your job as it relates to running the district,” Stubbs wrote.
Stubbs concluded: “This is, hopefully, a stop-gap solution that will be discussed and resolved at our meeting January 15.” (That meeting has been moved to Jan. 22.)
Snowberger did not respond to a request seeking comment for this story.
In his Dec. 21 email, Snowberger characterized the white paper written by a group of about 40 residents, employees and former employees of 9-R as an “attack.”
