Almost a year after winning election to the school board, the new majority continues to have to wade through the Nevada Open Meeting law violations racked up by their predecessors.

Public commenters on Oct. 16 urged trustees Katherine Dickerson and Susan Jansen, who along with David Burns and former trustee Doug Englekirk were named in the violations, to take responsibility for them and provide public apologies for their conduct to former trustees Linda Gilkerson and Carey Kangas.

Burns was not present during the meeting.

Mae Hiatt stated during public comment that she would like to see some accountability by the board, especially those who were named.

“We need to show this community, and we need to demonstrate to our children, that when the law is broken, there are indeed consequences,” she said. “Here we’ve been talking about stuff as minor as student dress code violations, and yet there are people on this board who broke the law, and nothing is to become of it. We need to take accountability.”

Dickerson stated she relied heavily on legal counsel.

“I relied heavily, for better or for worse on legal counsel, and I never intentionally tried to hurt children or anything else,” she said.

The motion to acknowledge the conclusions of Law for Open Meeting law violation was ultimately made by President Yvonne Wagstaff and seconded by trustee Markus Zinke.

The Douglas County School Board has had 18 Open Meeting Law violations since 2023 and six of those violations resulted in Finding of Facts and Conclusions of Law issued by the Office of Attorney General, including Lehmann v. Douglas County School District on June 7, 2024, Hokenson v. Douglas County School District on April 16, 2025, Hiatt v. Douglas County School District on June 23, 2025, McGuffin v. Douglas County School District on July 23, 2025, and most recently two violations filed by Minden resident Adrienne Sawyer and Gardnerville resident Jennifer Wilson.

During the Oct. 16 school board meeting, trustees were directed to discuss and take possible action by acknowledging two Open Meeting Law Violations Findings and Facts from the Attorney General Office.

Sawyer’s complaint addressed events that occurred between the July 19, 2023, and Aug. 8, 2023, school board meetings, which alleges that the board approved a contract with Joey Gilbert Law at its July 19 meeting, but the contract signed in August was materially different.

The original copy brought before the board when Joey Gilbert was hired had information, specially Exhibit A, which included a cap of $300 for outside legal counsel, that information was missing from the contract signed in August and Gilbert did hire outside legal counsel for the records lawsuit.

Sawyer also noted that that during the discussion of the contract, there was debate over who could sign the contract. 

“Mr. Gilbert, and Ms. Sears stated on the record that it was against statue for the superintendent to sign,” said Sawyer. “However, when a third (might have been the fourth) legal contract was finally approved in May 2024, it was signed by the acting superintendent.”

The Attorney General concluded that the board approval and execution process or the board’s contract with Joey Gilbert Law did not follow proper OML procedures and violated OML when the board agreed to changes to the contract without further discussion or action by the board.

Wilson’s complaint alleged that several communications occurred outside board meetings between at least four members of the board regarding whether to terminate the superintendent. The superintendent ultimately resigned.

During the records lawsuit emails and text messages were discovered that three board members communicated and created a quorum outside of a public meeting when they attempted to convince a fourth board member to vote to terminate then Superintendent Keith Lewis’ contract. 

Findings of the Lehman v. Douglas County School District violation found that the board violated Open Meeting Law by failing to meet the clear and complete requirements in connection with Agenda Item 11 during the Board’s Feb. 14, 2023. The agenda failed to state that the grant funding term to be discussed and topic related to Critical Race Theory.

In the Hokenson v. Douglas County School District violation, Jansen was named in the complaint filed by Minden resident Leslie Hokenson regarding an incident which occurred during the Dec. 12, 2023 board meeting where Hokenson felt her First Amendment right was violated and she felt threatened.

The Hiatt v. Douglas County School District violation found that the board improperly narrowed the superintendent applicant pool between Jan. 9 and Feb. 6, 2024. This was the same applicant pool that led to the failed attempt to hire John Ramirez Jr. as superintendent following the Feb. 6, 2024.

McGuffin v. Douglas County School District accused the trustees Burns, Jansen, Dickerson, and former trustee Englekirk met outside a board meeting to discuss who would be the new board members during meeting on Jan. 10, 2023. Emails were uncovered with Jansen and Burns names discussing board matters.