Montrose County's school board voted 7-0 Monday night to offer Superintendent Dr. Carrie Stephenson an employment separation, resignation and release agreement, and authorized its president to sign the final version without returning to a public vote.
The public portion of the special meeting lasted about 21 minutes, with two longer executive sessions inserted. After the Pledge of Allegiance and a bond refinancing update, the board went into executive session, came back to vote, and went straight back behind closed doors to discuss the duties and compensation of acting superintendent Dr. Jessica Kalb. The audience was asked to leave the room twice. There was no public comment period on the agenda — a special meeting is not required to hold one.
Board member Jody Hovde put her reservations on the record before voting yes with everyone else.
"I might vote for the outcome of this, but I want it to be on record that I have concerns about the process... and how we came to this decision," Hovde said.
Stephenson has been on paid leave since early June, while a third-party investigator, Denver attorney Sally Roller, examined employee complaints out of Olathe Elementary School and how they were handled. The board has never released her findings. Hovde told the Montrose Daily Press she does not know when or if they ever will be. Stephenson, who filed a grievance against the board in June that was denied on Aug. 11, declined to comment to the Daily Press.
Outside the district administration building, most people left after the vote on Dr. Stephenson. A few waited in the dark to go back in.
Phoebe Benziger, who spent eight years on the school board, was not persuaded by the word "voluntary."
"So to come out and say a voluntary resignation that's not gonna cost the district any more money, that's ludicrous," she said. "They've been very secretive. We're never going to know the results of this investigation that taxpayers paid for."
Dawn Schieldt, who ran for a seat on this board in 2023 and lost to Hovde, saw it the other way.
"They had information and data that we did not have," Schieldt said. "They had the grievance report that we did not have."
John Brown offered a different reason for confidence. "We spent a lot of time and effort in recruiting and getting conservative members of the board elected last year," he said. The board's three newest members were all endorsed for these non-partisan seats by the local Republican Central Committee.
Nothing is signed. The agreement goes to Stephenson and her attorney, and if she accepts within the board's limits, the president executes it for the district.
Three of the seven seats are up in November 2027 — those held by Ted Valerio, Tom West and Hovde. The seats of the four members elected or re-elected in 2025 will be on the ballot in 2029.