Board approves legal defense for board president, sued individually over a records dispute

What happened

On March 26, 2026, the board voted 5-1 with one abstention (President Lisa Conrad) to hire the law firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt to defend Conrad in Richard Schultz v. Lisa Conrad (Case No. 4TO-26-00009 CI), a lawsuit naming her individually and as board president. The dispute traces back to a February 2026 records request: a resident had asked, without success for weeks, for a document Conrad said she shared at a January 20, 2026 open meeting.

Why it matters to families

The district is now paying legal fees to defend its sitting board president in a lawsuit tied to how the board handles public records and open-meeting disclosures, a governance and cost question that outlasts any one meeting.

The evidence

The March 26, 2026 special meeting minutes record the roll-call vote approving the engagement agreement and name the case number and law firm; a February 2026 board packet includes the resident's email asking why his records request had gone unanswered since the January 20 meeting.

The source