The board of Cripple Creek-Victor School District RE-1 is levying 13 charges against its suspended superintendent, including intimidating and threatening board members with accusations of election fraud, verbally attacking staff and parents, improperly hiring employees and giving raises, lying about his whereabouts and computer issues.

But Superintendent Les Lindauer contends none of the charges are legitimate and he is being scapegoated by an “unprofessional, defamatory and unethical” board that is covering up real election fraud. Lindauer has requested a judicial hearing, as his employment contract allows, to respond to the claims.

A document The Gazette obtained through an open-records request details the charges that allege Lindauer repeatedly has violated district policies.

The accusations were compiled to make a case to terminate him “for cause.” Firing Lindauer for cause would impact a potential buyout of his contract, which has two years left.

The five-member board, with one seat vacant, suspended Lindauer from his job duties last month pending an internal investigation.

“There’s a lot of real ugly stuff that’s unprofessional, defamatory and unethical, and I think the hearing will prove there’s no cause for my termination,” Lindauer told The Gazette on Tuesday.

Lindauer’s hearing date has not yet been set, according to RE-1’s attorney Kelly Dude. A judge will issue a recommendation, but the board has the final say in whether Lindauer is terminated or not, said board President Tim Braun.

The schism between the superintendent and the district’s governing board has been building for months, as community members have flung accusations of questionable governing practices and a lack of transparency and communication at both parties.

The district has struggled financially, academically and with declining enrollment in recent years, and former board member Bill Arrick said the board is increasingly doing “just the bare minimum to keep the public informed.”

One of the claims against Lindauer involves board member Dennis Jones, a high school teacher and basketball coach whom the board appointed in 2012 to fill a vacant seat.

Jones said this week that the district’s election manager at the time told him he lived in the boundaries of director district E, so that’s the seat he occupied.

Jones was elected to the seat in 2013 and again in November. He was already seated when the board hired Lindauer in July 2014, to replace the previous superintendent, whom the board terminated in February 2014.

In recent weeks, questions about Jones’ residency have surfaced. Former RE-1 Head Start Director Patty Waddle, who challenged Jones in the November 2017 race and lost by 30 votes, said Lindauer called a friend of hers and told her Jones does not live in the correct boundaries for his board seat and that Jones and the board president have known about it.

“The election fraud is real,” Lindauer said. “I found out I was dealing with a crooked board, and these are my bosses.”

Lindauer is accused on the list of 13 charges of using his allegation of election fraud to threaten the board to either reinstate him or settle his contract with a two-year payout instead of a one-year payout on his $108,000 total annual compensation.

Waddle claims she was stripped of the right to a board seat, which she brought up in a public comment period during Monday’s board meeting.

Jones would have faced board president Braun, had he competed in the district he’s supposed to, Waddle said, and she would have run for the E seat uncontested.

“He’s clearly in District B,” she said. “I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been a candidate; he shouldn’t have been a candidate in District E. If Dennis had not lied, I would have been unopposed and automatically elected. This story completely changed the outcome of the election.”

Jones told The Gazette he was recruited to apply for the board vacancy in 2012 and was told by the district’s former business manager and election official what director district he lived in. And that’s the seat he’s filled ever since.

“I didn’t know, and nobody has ever questioned where I live in the district,” Jones said. “I think Mr. Lindauer is upset, and he’s aiming his anger at me.”

Board president Braun said there is no proof that there has been any wrongdoing. Braun said Jones was “legally elected to the office,” and “if someone wants to challenge the election, they need to do it the right way: hire a lawyer and go to court and challenge it.” Otherwise, the board cannot and will not take action, Braun said.

“As far as I am concerned, Dennis was and still is in District E and will remain the representative of that district,” he said.

Lindauer said he contacted law enforcement and election authorities about the matter. The board, however, has not taken up the matter, and the district has not issued an official determination.

The 4th Judicial District found “no basis to open a criminal investigation,” spokeswoman Lee Richards said.

The Teller County Clerk and Recorder’s Officer referred Lindauer to the Secretary of State’s Office.

“We have not received a formal complaint or even an email that directed to us to look into it,” Secretary of State spokeswoman Lynn Bartels said Wednesday.

The wrong-borders conflict may already be irrelevant, however. Voters approved a redistricting ballot measure last November, to change from five board seats based on geographic areas to three at-large seats, and one from Cripple Creek and one from Victor.

The board presented new boundaries at Monday’s meeting. Braun says the at-large designations took effect when they were voted on last November, meaning Jones now holds an at-large seat.

Among the other charges in the document are that Lindauer threatened to terminate Jones’ employment contract when he disagreed with him; made decisions on raises without board approval, violating the confidentiality of executive sessions; and had an inappropriate website on his computer.

“That’s totally misleading,” Lindauer said of the latter complaint.

The website accusation refers to a investigation of a school volunteer whom the police investigated for having a pornographic website, he said.

“The school board, the police, myself and the district lawyer were made aware of it,” he said, adding that he opened the site in view of others who were examining it as well.

“The bottom line is these are false and misleading charges,” Lindauer said of all the charges. “This could have been handled a whole different way, respectfully, honestly and professionally, and they’ve chosen not to do that.”