It's also worth remembering that Sam Altman is also seeking to get out of this with
his reputation and ego in one piece. Definitely in his interest to be able to portray the board as coming crawling back to him after kicking him out the door, even if that is, well, less than candid communication of what has happened.
And the evidence that we've seen so far doesn't refute the idea that the board isn't seriously considering taking him back on. The statements we've seen are entirely consistent with "there was a petition to bring him back sent to the board and nothing happened after that."