Superintendent Tom (Harry) Burris on June 24 announced to the Montezuma-Cortez Board of Education that his attorney has filed a defamation lawsuit against social worker and former school board candidate Jonathan (JJ) Lewis.
Burris said lawyer David Illingworth filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and the RE-1 school district. The lawsuit focuses on Lewis’ role in a police investigation that began in 2023.
The Cortez Police Department charged Burris in 2024 after receiving allegations that reports of sexual relationship between a Montezuma-Cortez student and teacher had gone unreported. The charge was a Class 2 misdemeanor on suspicion of failing to report alleged sexual abuse of a student by a teacher.
It was later found that no sexual abuse occurred, although the teacher was fired in May 2024.
According to police reports, Burris because aware of the accusation in June 2023. On July 15, 2024, police officer Jacob Bourdon met with Montezuma County Child Protection Services’ Chris Veach, who provided an assessment summary with the allegations of the abuse from Lewis.
Lewis said the allegations were shared in an executive session of the Board of Education, and police reports noted that the child’s mother brought the allegations to Burris’ attention and asked him not to report it.
On July 18, 2024, former district HR director Cynthia Eldredge provided the police a recording of a phone call between her and Burris. Eldredge said that Burris had called her at 10 p.m. on June 13 to talk about things going on in the district, which included allegations about the relationship between the student and teacher. The call occurred before her position was terminated.
In his statement, however, Burris alleged that Eldredge had called him, leading to what he called a “witch hunt” against him.
On Aug. 14, 2024, Burris was given a summons for the charge of person required to report child abuse or neglect.
After going through the legal process and the scheduling of a trial in the 22nd Judicial District, Burris was given a diversion agreement in February 2025.
The court agreement required Burris to create a reporting safety plan for the district, as well as receive additional training on the mandatory reporting law. If Burris met all the requirements, the court said that the charges against him would be dismissed.
As of Thursday, The Journal has not received a response from Lewis after a request for comment.
“It has been a year ago that Cynthia Eldridge called me late at night with the intent to record a conversation between she and I. That conversation concerned personnel and student matters, and so was required by law and district policy to remain confidential. Cynthia was leading in the conversation, and she did get snippets about these confidential matters she then shared with JJ Lewis. JJ used that confidential conversation as the basis to launch a police investigation, which turned into a witch hunt.
There began the great lie and conspiracy that I have lived for the last year. There was never an allegation of misconduct against the teacher because there was no evidence of any actions on her part nor even any claims that misconduct had occurred. There were only worries of a concerned mom, worries which I took very much to heart. Much like all parents worry about their children as they grow up and experience the world.
But, JJ’s statements to the authorities were false and they were defamatory. We as public officials are subject to condemnation and ridicule, we make decisions that cannot always be fully divulged to the public, and we must stand behind those decisions. Case in point was my decision to release a baseball coach midseason and the aftermath has been a constant onslaught of Facebook attacks. But when you defame someone out of malice with false and outrageous lies, you cross a line.
All of this has been a distraction to the administrative team, the district and the community. In addition, there has been financial loss incurred by the district due to statements that JJ has made.
Attorney David Illingworth has today filed a defamation lawsuit against JJ Lewis on behalf of the district and myself. The defamation lawsuit will establish his motive, disprove his absurd allegations and expose the truth at last.
I have been in this arena over four decades and I understand people like JJ, but for him and Cynthia to use a student, and a minor, for revenge or politics, and to do so by leaking and misrepresenting confidential information involving personnel decisions and student information that was obtained without permission, must be condemned and there must be accountability. I hope with this lawsuit people will learn the truth and justice will be done against those who don’t care who they hurt or who they destroy, not just to me and my reputation, but more than anything to that of an innocent student and his family.”
