Merida, AndreaFollowing a “heated” meeting of the Denver Public Schools board earlier this week, a marriage counselor will meet with members to deal with the rifts exposed following the election of new members.

The open meeting, to be held today at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, follows Monday’s rancor, when Andrea Merida (left) took her seat earlier than expected and questioned whether reforms at a troubled middle school were legal (via Fox 31).

The board is holding its retreat in advance of the annual convention of the Colorado Association of School Boards to discuss plans, policy, core beliefs, and district goals, according to The Denver Post. Part of the meeting will focus on board relations in the wake of Merida’s action.

The board had already contracted $2,400 for the session with therapist Susan Heitler, but the focus has shifted away from team building and leadership after Monday’s meeting, says board member Theresa Peña: “After Monday, we were thinking: ‘There is some tension. How do we approach this? How we learn to work together.'”