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Cartwright board directs attorney to send investigation of superintendent contracts to state and county prosecutors
Summary
After an attorney-investigator told the board he found possible open-meeting violations tied to actions that led to an appointment of an interim superintendent and a three-year superintendent contract, the board voted to forward the investigative report to the Arizona Attorney General and/or the Maricopa County attorney.
The Cartwright Governing Board on June 25 directed the district's attorney to submit an investigative report into contract-related board actions involving the superintendent position to the Arizona Attorney General and/or the Maricopa County Attorney for review.
Attorney Aaron Brown, retained by the district, told the board he had reviewed public records, recordings and interviewed witnesses in a probe focused on contracts and related board actions beginning in October 2024 and continuing through December 2024. Brown summarized that agendas and notices for certain meetings were insufficient and that several actions "were not properly agendized," leaving the potential that legal actions taken at those meetings could be "null and void" under Arizona's open-meeting law.
Brown identified the following items as potentially not properly agendized: the board's October 3, 2024 acceptance of Superintendent Dr. Lawler's resignation (which Brown said was not on the posted agenda), the board's authorization that same day for the board president to negotiate superintendent contract terms, the October 17, 2024 approval of a three-year superintendent contract, and actions at the December 5, 2024 meeting (including an accelerated resignation, a separation agreement and amendment naming the deputy superintendent as interim superintendent). Brown recommended submitting the report to the Arizona Attorney General and/or Maricopa County Attorney for review and possible action.
Board members debated next steps in public. A motion to direct the district attorney to submit the report passed with the following roll-call: Rosa Cantu (aye), Lydia Hernandez (aye), Cassandra Hernandez (aye), Jennifer Romero (abstain) and Denise Garcia (nay); the motion carried.
After the executive-session portion of the meeting, the board returned to public session and voted to send the report to state/county prosecutors. The motion instructs the district attorney to forward the investigator's report for potential review and enforcement by the appropriate prosecutorial authority.
