The Douglas County School District must let 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark see a Colorado Open Records Act request that sought the names of teachers who called in sick Feb. 3 to protest actions by majority members of the school board, a judge ruled Thursday.

The district claimed the CORA request is not a public record because it had been withdrawn by the requester.

But Douglas County District Court Judge Jeffrey Holmes wrote, “There is no authority of which this court is aware that permits a requester to remove a CORA request from its status as a public record by simply asking that it be withdrawn.”

“This is especially true when, as here, a CORA request is made for an Original Request prior to any effort at withdrawal and the Original Request clearly remained a public document seeking and triggering government action,” Holmes added.

The judge’s order says Clark must be allowed to inspect the CORA request, “including the name of the requester.”

Clark, who sued the school district last month along with the company that owns 9NEWS, was one of several journalists and members of the public who asked for copies of the CORA request for the teachers’ names, according to an online log published by the district.