School boards association sues former leader

The Arizona School Boards Association has sued a rival education policy provider, headed by its former executive director, for copyright infringement after finding that policy guides provided to school districts plagiarised ASBA’s policy manual.

In its lawsuit filed in federal court, ASBA alleged that the policy guides created by the Copper State Education Alliance, a provider of district policy, legal and lobbying services headed by former ASBA director Devin Del Palacio, “brazenly copied verbatim at least a significant portion” of the ASBA Model Policy Manual in violation of federal copyright.

“This action is necessary to preserve the quality and exclusivity of the services we provide to our members,” ASBA communications director Heidi Vega said in a written statement. “ASBA’s resources are designed to support the important work of school boards across Arizona, and we remain steadfast in our obligation to ensure that these assets are not inappropriately used or diluted.”

Del Palacio, who was briefly appointed to serve as a state lawmaker in 2022, was hired as ASBA’s executive director in July 2023, but his tenure was marked by controversy after an external investigation at the time of his hiring found he had falsely stated on his resume that he had a bachelor’s degree.

A majority of the ASBA board voted to keep Del Palacio, but the discovery divided members and led to dissension within the organization until Del Palacio’s resignation in December.

Del Palacio announced her name as executive director of the Copper State Education Alliance, a new provider of education policy, legal and government relations services, in a presentation to school districts considering cutting ties with ASBA in June.

Prior to the Copper State’s founding, there were only two education policy providers in the state: ASBA and the Model Policy Program operated by the Arizona Risk Retention Trust.

Del Palacio was joined by Nick Maddox, a Texas-based attorney whom he appointed as general counsel for the Copper State during his tenure at ASBA, although Maddox is not licensed to practice law in the state, according to the state bar association.

Maddox’s job at ASBA was to “advise policy service subscribers on policy questions” and that at the time he had “unrestricted access to the entire contents of the ASBA Model Policy Manual,” ASBA said in its complaint.

The Copper State Education Alliance offered its services to Washington Elementary School District, Creighton Elementary School District and Cartwright School District in June.

Creighton Elementary School District became the first district to contract with the organization, severing ties with ASBA in early June. On July 31, the board adopted policy guidance issued by Copper State.

On August 5, ASBA attorney Dennis Esford sent a cease and desist letter to Creighton, the Creighton board, and Copper State and Creighton school board president Sophia Carrillo.

Maddox, acting as Copper State’s legal counsel, eventually removed the guide from Creighton and Copper State’s websites and promised to issue a statement saying it “immediately ceased use of the Guide and removed any links to the Guide from any school district, Copper State or third-party websites.”

Del Palacio later sent a statement confirming that Copper State has full control and ownership over its content, that no school district has access to the guide through Copper State, and that Copper State has “discontinued any use of the ASBA (Model) Policy Guide and has not removed or exploited the use of the ASBA (Model) Policy Guide from any school district or third party or third party website.”

But Esford alleged that Copper State and Del Palacio contravened the affidavit when they offered their services to the Phoenix Union board that same night.

Del Palacio told board members to go to a link regarding Copper State’s policy. The link, which was initially removed from public view in accordance with the affidavit, has since been made public and is available to the Phoenix Union board, Esford said in the complaint.

ASBA filed suit on September 19, alleging copyright infringement and tortious interference with Copper State’s future economic interests.

The organization is asking a federal court to order Copper State to stop using the copyrighted material and to award actual damages or, in the alternative, up to $150,000 per violation. Copper State has not yet responded to the complaint.

Del Palacio did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Maddox.