A Teller County District Court judge Friday ordered the Woodland Park school board to comply with the Colorado Open Meetings Law “by clearly, honestly and forthrightly” listing future agenda items pertaining to a charter school’s application to the district.

Judge Scott Sells also barred the board from “rubber stamping” decisions that don’t comply with the law’s notice requirements, but he rejected a claim that board members had conducted illegal, one-on-one “walking quorum” meetings.

The injunction issued by Sells is the first ruling in a lawsuit brought by Woodland Park parent Erin O’Connell that centers on three meetings held earlier this year at which the school board discussed — and voted on — a memorandum of understanding with Merit Academy charter school.

The board first considered the MOU on Jan. 26 under a “BOARD HOUSEKEEPING” agenda item. O’Connell testified during a court hearing Tuesday that she did not expect the board to take up a substantive issue such as Merit Academy when she saw “BOARD HOUSEKEEPING” on the meeting notice.

The phrase, she said, “means to me more ministerial tasks … not something that would drastically change the policies or direction of a district.”

Sells agreed, determining that the “BOARD HOUSEKEEPING” agenda item “was a conscious decision to hide a controversial issue regarding Merit, the MOU and the intent to charter.” The board “cannot demonstrate any legitimate reason for hiding their real Agenda at Board meetings,” the judge wrote, suggesting that future agenda items regarding Merit Academy say “something as simple as Merit Academy Charter School Application.”