February 18, 2022

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY

Mary Kay Klimesh, Esq.

General Counsel
Douglas County School District
Mary.Klimesh@dcsdk12.org

RE: CORA Records Request and Preservation of Evidence

Dear Ms. Klimesh:

The law firms of Allen Vellone Wolf Helfrich & Factor P.C. and RATHOD | MOHAMEDBHAI LLC
represent Corey Wise with respect to the termination of his employment by the Douglas County School
Board. This letter serves as a record request pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”) and
notice of your duty to preserve evidence related to this matter for future litigation.

Records Request

Please consider the following a request pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act. If you are not
the proper custodian of records for this request, please forward this request on to the appropriate designee.
For the purpose of these requests, the term “records” refers to any recorded information, whether kept in
written, electronic, or any other form, as defined by C.R.S. §§ 24-72-202(7) & 24-72-302(1) & (4).1 We
request to receive copies of the following records:

1. All records, emails, or other digital communications received or sent by current or former Douglas
County School Board members discussing or referring to the Board’s Equity Policy entitled Board
File: ADB between October 1, 2020, through February 17, 2022.

1
This includes, but is not limited to all documents, notes, books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes,
recordings, digitally stored data or records, electronic mail messages, or other documentary materials, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing for every form of
communication or representation.

2701 LAWRENCE STREET  SUITE 100  DENVER, CO 80205  303.578.4400 (t)  303.578.4401 (f)  www.RMLawyers.com
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2. All records, emails or other digital communications received or sent by current or former Douglas
County School Board members relating to the lawsuit Douglas County School District RE-1 v.
Douglas County Department of Public Health (121-cv-02818) October 1, 2021, through February
17, 2022.

3. All records, emails or other digital communications received or sent by any Douglas County
School Board member regarding Erin Kane between October 1, 2021, through February 17, 2022.

4. All records, emails or other digital communications received or sent by any current or former
Douglas County School Board members regarding the termination of former Superintendent Corey
Wise between October 1, 2021, through February 17, 2022.

5. All records, emails or other digital communications received or sent by any current or former
Douglas County School Board members regarding former Superintendent Corey Wise’s
performance between June 1, 2020, through February 17, 2022.

If the records are in electronic form or can be scanned and sent by email, we request to receive
those records solely by electronic means sent to hr@rmlawyers.com. If the copies cannot be transmitted
electronically, and any anticipated charges will be less than $200.00, please mail the copies to this office
with any invoice for copy charges, which shall be promptly paid.

If the anticipated charges will be in excess of $200.00, or if your office requires prepayment for
copies, please first contact me at 303-578-4400. If the estimated charges will be in excess of $200.00, we
may elect to first inspect the records, and then designate only certain records for copying.

If you deny this request for records in whole or in part, I ask that you provide forthwith a written
statement of the reasons for the denial that cites the law or regulation that you rely on. C.R.S. §§ 24-72-
204(4) & 24-72-305(6).

If you have any questions about this request, please do not hesitate to give me a call or send me
an email. I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience, and no later than three business
days, as required by Colorado law.

Preservation of Evidence

We also write to inform you of your duty to preserve and retain all records relating to this matter,
including but not limited to, all electronically stored information (“ESI”) within the possession, custody,
or control of the Douglas County School District, including but not limited to Douglas County School
District administration and management personnel, and Directors Peterson, Winegar, Williams, Myers,
Hanson, Meek, and Ray. This includes preservation of all the following records not only on County issued
communication devices (computers, laptops, cellphones, photography cameras, video cameras etc.),
accounts (email accounts, facsimile accounts, etc.), and pages (social media, information forums, chat
groups, etc.), but also those found on private communication devices, accounts, and pages owned,
managed, or used by Douglas County School District administration and management, as well as Directors
Peterson, Winegar, Williams, Myers, Hanson, Meek, and Ray. See generally Helmert v. Butterball, LLC.,
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Civ-No. 4:08-cv-042, 2010 WL 2179180, *9 (E.D. Ark. May 27, 2010) (private and professional accounts
and devices of upper management subject to ESI search).

Preservation of relevant evidence includes electronic documents and communications relating in

any way to the termination of Superintendent Wise, including but not limited to the following:

a. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to Superintendent
Wise made during the political campaigns of Directors Peterson, Winegar, Williams, and
Myers;

b. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to the job
performance of Superintendent Wise;

c. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to the ultimatum
given to Superintendent Wise to resign or be fired;

d. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to the Douglas
County School Board Policy ADB (Educational Equity);

e. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to the Douglas
County School Board policies related to COVID-19, mask-wearing, mask mandates, students
with disabilities, safety measures surrounding COVID-19, or COVID-related legal matters.

f. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to the 1776
Project or any other financial benefactors of Directors Peterson, Winegar, Williams, and
Myers’ campaigns;

g. Email, texts facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos and documents) discussing or referring to race, racism,
the racial demographics of students, the teaching of history or literature, critical race theory
(CRT), white school children, school children of color, lgbtq+ students, religion, recruiting
teachers of color, diversity, inclusion, equity, banning books, or changing/revising curriculum
or programming;

h. Email, texts facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos and documents) discussing or referring to the teacher’s
union and its activities or any other union activity;

i. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to Superintendent
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Wise’s position with respect to COVID-19, masks, diversity, equity, inclusion, discrimination,
the student curriculum or programming, or Douglas County School Board Policy ADB
(Educational Equity); and

j. Emails, texts, facsimiles, messages, audio or video recordings, and electronic memos and
documents (including drafts of memos or documents) discussing or referring to parent or
student complaints about curriculum or any other decisions impacting students made by the
Directors since assuming office.

Please note that the foregoing is a non-exhaustive list of all physical evidence, documents, files,
and ESI that must be preserved. The duty of the Douglas County School District, including but not limited
to Douglas County School District administration and management personnel, and its Board of Directors
to preserve evidence may extend well beyond those items enumerated above.

As you may be aware, this information may be the subject of discovery requests pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 should this matter proceed to formal litigation. Pursuant to this request,
no potentially discoverable data should be deleted or modified from any department systems, files, or
video surveillance systems. Further, please ensure that the standard document retention and destruction
policy or policies of the Douglas County School District is checked for compliance on this matter. See
Broccoli v. Echostar Commc’ns Corp., 229 F.R.D. 506, 510 (D. Md. 2005) (holding that once a party
reasonably anticipates litigation, it must suspend its routine document retention/destruction policy and put
in place a litigation hold to ensure the preservation of relevant documents). The duty to preserve all
records, including but not limited to ESI, encompasses any documents, surveillance videos, or tangible
items authored or made by individuals likely to have discoverable information that the disclosing party
may use to support its claims or defenses. See Zubulake v. UBS Warburg, LLC, 220 F.R.D. 212, 217-18
(S.D.N.Y. 2003).

Accordingly, if the Douglas County School District, its administration, management, and/or its
Board of Directors operate under any procedures or policies during the normal course of business that
alter, erase, overwrite, defragment, or compress ESI, or expunge or destroy any documents not
electronically stored, please immediately suspend these procedures with respect to any data that may
contain any information relevant to the above-referenced matter. This request includes information that
may be retained in network servers, hard drives, backup tapes, audio and/or visual data retention devices,
offsite storage facilities or other media retention devices, or in hard copy stored anywhere. This request
also includes information that may be retained at individual employees’ personal residences on a computer
hard drive, laptop computer, personal computer, cellular telephone, and/or any personal digital assistant
(“PDA”) or other electronic device storing data that may contain information relevant to this proceeding.
Specifically, request that all of the representatives or employees of the Douglas County School District
and its Board of Directors preserve information that may contain discoverable information relevant to this
potential litigation, including but not limited to surveillance or any other videos or photographs, electronic
mail, data files created by word processing, electronic calendars, instant messages, text messages, and any
and all other information within the possession, custody, or control of the Douglas County School District,
including but not limited to Douglas County School District administration and management, and its
Board of Directors (or their agents, employees, and representatives).
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Destruction of any such evidence would be legally sanctionable. The general rule in the Tenth
Circuit “is that bad faith destruction of a document relevant to proof of an issue at trial gives rise to
inference that production of the document would have been unfavorable to the party responsible for its
destruction.” Aramburu v. Boeing Co., 112 F.3d 1398, 1407 (10th Cir. 1997). If Douglas County School
District and its Board of Directors (by and through any agent, employee, and/or representative) destroys
any documents or ESI relating to this matter, we will seek a jury instruction advising that such spoliation
permits the jury to infer that the documents or information would have been unfavorable to them as
permitted in Aramburu and Zubulake, and for other appropriate remedial or punitive measures.

Conclusion

Thank you in advance for your prompt response to our CORA request and Notice to Preserve
Evidence. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Allen Vellone Wolf Helfrich & Factor P.C. RATHOD | MOHAMEDBHAI LLC

s/ Jordan Factor s/ Qusair Mohamedbhai______

Jordan Factor Qusair Mohamedbhai
jfactor@allen-vellone.com qm@rmlawyers.com