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Steamboat Springs — The Hayden School Board will decide tonight whether to accept the termination of former Transportation Director Richard “Festus” Hagins.

Hagins was told he was fired via an Oct. 26 letter from Superintendent Greg Rockhold. Hagins has alleged that the School Board acted illegally by voting to terminate his contract in executive session during its Oct. 21 meeting. School district officials have declined to say who made the decision to fire Hagins and when that decision was made.

Hagins also says the School Board failed to notify him that he was the subject of the closed-door meeting. Colorado’s Open Meetings Law states that the subject of an executive session must be notified to request that any discussion be made public. The law also states that “no adoption of any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation, or formal action,” except the review, approval and amendment of an executive session’s minutes, “shall occur at any executive session that is not open to the public.” It further states that particular matter being discussed must be disclosed “in as much detail as possible” before an executive session is held.

According to the unofficial minutes of the Oct. 21 meeting, the executive session included a “discussion of individual students where a public disclosure would adversely affect that person or persons involved.” The board met for two and a half hours before coming out of executive session and taking no formal action. The board will vote whether to approve the minutes at tonight’s meeting, at which point they will become official.

Rockhold and School Board President Brian Hoza have declined to provide additional details about the subject of the executive session.

The Steamboat Pilot & Today on Tuesday requested the audio recording from the Oct. 21 meeting. The Pilot & Today also requested the audio recording from the Sept. 16 School Board meeting.

At the Sept. 16 board meeting, part-time district bus driver Tammie Mader, full-time driver Sharon Lighthizer and substitute bus driver Laurie Hallenbeck asked to address the board regarding their concerns about the transportation department, according to the minutes. They raised concerns about buses and Hagins but were stopped by Hoza and invited to instead express their concerns in executive session. Only Mader, who had filed a grievance about her job, stayed for the executive session.

According to the minutes, the board met in executive session for four hours. After concluding executive session, board members took no action.

On Tuesday, Judy Parrott, the district’s executive secretary, said the School Board does not record the regular session of meetings and that they therefore weren’t available for review by the Pilot & Today. She said only executive sessions are recorded.

Hagins said he has contacted an attorney.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria.

Also at tonight’s meeting:

■ New board members Tim Frentress and Vance Fulton will be sworn in to their first four-year terms. Frentress replaces Patty Bruchez, who decided not to seek re-election after completing two terms on the board. Bruchez’s board tenure followed her retirement in 1998 as the district’s business manager.

Frentress served on the Hayden Town Board from 1994 to 2006. He is a control specialist at the Hayden Station power plant, part-time rancher and part-time bus driver for the district.

Fulton defeated challenger Laurie Hallenbeck. He was appointed to the board in 2007.

Hoza and board member Kurt Frentress, who both ran uncontested, also will be sworn in tonight.

■ Board members will elect new officers, approve the district’s improvement team member and approve the board’s representative to the Education Fund Board.

■ The board also will hear a report from last week’s Northwest Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services meeting.

— To reach Jack Weinstein, call 871-4203 or e-mail jweinstein@steamboatpilot.com