The state’s second-highest court Thursday affirmed a judge’s order to disclose video surveillance footage showing three Woodland Park school board members talking with a candidate for superintendent after a public meeting in December 2022.

The school district had appealed the ruling by Teller County District Court Judge Scott Sells, contending the recordings would reveal “specialized details” of security arrangements, “such as a security camera’s field of view, quality of picture, or times of operation.” The footage “could be used by someone — perhaps years in the future — to plan harm,” its lawyers argued.

But that argument “would essentially mean that, as a matter of law, all security camera footage is exempt from inspection under” the Colorado Open Records Act, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals determined. “We are aware of no authority — and the School District does not cite any — that suggests CORA includes a per se exemption for security camera footage.”