After four new directors swore in earlier than expected, the new-look Douglas County school board met for the first time Tuesday night to elect a new board president and discuss issues addressed by the previous board.

Douglas County voters in November elected a group of progressive-leaning directors, flipping the once conservative Douglas County School District Board of Education.

New DCSD directors include Kelly Denzler, Clark Callahan, Tony Ryan and Kyrzia Parker. Returning board members are Brad Geiger, Valerie Thompson and Susan Meek.

On Tuesday night, the DCSD board elected Meek as its new president, Callahan as vice president, Parker as secretary and Thompson as treasurer.

“I look forward to serving with each and every one of you on this board,” Meek said upon being named president Tuesday.

The school board president largely controls board meeting agenda planning.

“I’m asking the community to hold us accountable,” Meek said.

The four new DCSD directors all swore in prior to Tuesday’s special meeting, when oath of office was originally scheduled at the DCSD Legacy Campus in Parker. New directors still took their oaths in a ceremony with a 23rd Judicial District judge.

Outgoing board members, including former board President Christy Williams, accused incoming directors of “secretly” swearing in, effectively kicking out departing directors earlier than expected. Under Colorado law, it is legal for school board directors to swear in after election certification.

Ryan was the first to swear in on Nov. 25. The other new directors followed.

“I do know that there were some headaches that resulted from that,” Ryan said of swearing in early.

Williams previously claimed Ryan did so first to avoid revisiting a contentious vote to extend charter school renewal contract timelines. Ryan rejected that claim.

“I do think that I made the right decision by getting sworn early,” Ryan said, “especially given the light in light of former President Williams’ choice to block something that people were asking for as part of this agenda.”

In a notable first course of action, the board added a discussion item Tuesday to address rescinding a previously approved measure requiring parental consent to “opt-in” for the Healthy Kids Colorado survey. Directors said Williams disagreed with adding that item to Tuesday’s agenda, despite there being no vote or action taken.

During public comment, DCSD parents touched upon the survey and charter schools. Some spoke against new directors swearing in early.

“We heard tonight that some trust has been broken with some community members,” Meek, the new board president, said.

“I am confident that this board can live up to rebuilding any trust that has been broken,” she added.

DCSD, Colorado’s third largest school district, has over 61,000 students across 92 schools.