{"id":97027,"date":"2018-11-20T16:22:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T23:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-school-district-mum-on-why-employee-was-banned-from-needham-elementary-school\/"},"modified":"2018-11-20T16:22:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T23:22:01","slug":"durango-school-district-mum-on-why-employee-was-banned-from-needham-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-school-district-mum-on-why-employee-was-banned-from-needham-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango School District mum on why employee was banned from Needham Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:3e0b478a-4066-46d8-bee0-fbd351d5bd47 --><\/p>\n<p>Durango School District 9-R refuses to release information about an incident last month in which one of its employees, who was reportedly banned from Needham Elementary School, had police called on her for trespassing on school property.<\/p>\n<p>District Superintendent Dan Snowberger denies the employee was banned from the school, and the Needham principal denies the incident, documented in police records, took place.<\/p>\n<p>According to police records, the 911 call was made because the district\u2019s spokeswoman, Julie Popp, was not allowed on Needham\u2019s campus and was trespassing.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">The Durango Herald<\/em> asked Snowberger on Nov. 5 why Popp was banned from Needham and for a comment about the incident that took place Oct. 19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMs. Popp is not banned from any campus,\u201d Snowberger wrote in a Nov. 6 email to the Herald. \u201cI am the only one permitted to make such restrictions in 9-R.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em class=\"ITC ital\">Herald<\/em> also sent a copy of the police call detail report to Snowberger, which says that on the date in question, Popp was prohibited from Needham and that she \u201cis aware she is not allowed on the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the police call detail report and an audio recording of the call, around 5:15 p.m. Oct. 19, Needham administrative assistant Laura Mottershead called 911 to report that Popp was on school property.<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\">&lt;![CDATA[\n<div class=\"pdf-asset-embed\">\n  Needham school call log<br>\n  <iframe src=\"\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369831120.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pdf-download-notice\">If you\u2019re unable to view the PDF document above, <a href=\"https:\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369831120.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a> to view it in a new tab<\/div>\n<p>\n]]&gt;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mottershead said Needham principal Jennifer McKenna directed her to call police about Popp\u2019s trespassing.<\/p>\n<p>The dispatch officer asked Mottershead if Popp knows she is not allowed at Needham and Mottershead said, \u201cShe does. She was informed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mottershead told dispatch that she and McKenna would be outside the school to meet police officers.<\/p>\n<p>Before law enforcement arrived, Popp left school grounds, and Mottershead called 911 again and told police dispatch that McKenna did not wish for Durango police to pursue Popp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she (McKenna) just wants to let it be,\u201d Mottershead told dispatch in this recorded call:<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\">&lt;![CDATA[\n<div class=\"sidebar-left\">\n<div class=\"sidebar-image\">\n    <iframe scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/533051925&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>]]&gt;<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p>Officers were also informed that Popp would \u201c(possibly) be armed if she returns back to Needham tonight,\u201d according to a detail report kept by the Durango Police Department.<\/p>\n<p>That night, Needham was hosting a Halloween party.<\/p>\n<p>The <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> asked McKenna on Nov. 2 why Popp was banned from her school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no knowledge of such an incident at Needham,\u201d McKenna wrote in an email to the <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> on Nov. 5.<\/p>\n<p>The <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> emailed McKenna the police report, which states that she directed her assistant to call 911, but McKenna has not responded, now 11 days after receiving the email with that police call report.<\/p>\n<p>The Durango Police Department provided copies of the police report and audio of the dispatch call after the <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> filed an open records request under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act. But Cmdr. Ray Shupe declined to comment on the incident, saying it is under the jurisdiction of Durango School District 9-R.<\/p>\n<p>Snowberger maintains Popp is not banned from Needham, and questioned the veracity of the police report. He responded in an email:<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\">&lt;![CDATA[\n<div class=\"pdf-asset-embed\">\n  Dan Snowberger emails<br>\n  <iframe src=\"\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369841120.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pdf-download-notice\">If you\u2019re unable to view the PDF document above, <a href=\"https:\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369841120.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a> to view it in a new tab<\/div>\n<p>\n]]&gt;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cYour attempt to slander an individual without evidence is sad and despicable. \u2026 I will not be threatened into providing false information about an incident to feed your desired story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facts are clear. There is no police incident report, which means that despite police being sent to Needham according to the call log you have provided, no incident had taken place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the Herald sent Snowberger and McKenna the audio recording of the 911 dispatch call. Neither responded.<\/p>\n<p>The <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> filed a Colorado Open Records Act request on Nov. 9, seeking any records involving Popp\u2019s ban from Needham.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 14, Sarah Berggren, executive assistant to the superintendent, said those types of records are \u201cconfidential personnel records exempt from disclosure\u201d and also that they constitute \u201ceducation records\u201d directly related to one or more students.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">Herald<\/em> attorney Steven Zansberg, of Ballard Spahr LLP, wrote a letter challenging the district\u2019s denial of the records. As of Tuesday, the district had not responded.<\/p>\n<p>Several members of the Durango District 9-R Board of Directors, as well as the Needham Elementary Parent Teacher\u2019s Organization, said they were unaware of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>Popp has not responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:jromeo@durangoherald.com\">jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369831120.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Needham school call log (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-cjweb.newscyclecloud.com\/assets\/pdf\/CJ3369841120.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dan Snowberger emails (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Superintendent, principal deny facts about 911 call<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1086,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-97027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-durango-school-district-9-r","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97027"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=97027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}