Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.
A day before Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero told the school board that he had applied for another job, he sent a four-page email of concerns about the Denver board.
“Respectfully, I can no longer ignore these concerns,” Marrero wrote in the June 8 email to board President Xóchitl Gaytán. He added that “the current trajectory” is “increasingly untenable.”
The email, which Chalkbeat obtained in a public records request, shows Marrero believes the board is overstepping its bounds. It could also shed light on why he’s looking to leave Denver Public Schools after five years at the helm of Colorado’s largest district. Marrero is a candidate for the top job in Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Marrero declined an interview for this story. But his email lists several concerns, including:
- The board is getting too involved in administrative matters. Under DPS’ framework, the board sets policy and the superintendent carries it out. Marrero referenced several instances that he said blurred that line, including a proposed board policy that would require schools to use a certain approach to teach reading.
- The board violated his contract. The example Marrero cited is from February, when the board voted to go into a closed-door executive session without him, which would have been against his contract. The board reversed its vote, and he was included.
- He and his staff are in the crosshairs of disputes among board members. “Board members not speaking to each other, canceling 2×2 meetings because of who they are paired up with and a litany of ongoing interpersonal issues amongst board members puts me in a no-win situation,” Marrero wrote. The 2×2 meetings consist of two board members meeting with district staff so as not to violate open meetings law.
- The board isn’t holding itself accountable. Marrero wrote that while he has had four formal evaluations, the board hasn’t done any self-assessments.
- The board is trying to create “a parallel legal advisory system.” Some board members have been pushing for the board to hire its own attorney.
Other emails obtained in a public records request show that board members have recently accused each other of violating board policy and open meetings law, though none of the recent accusations have resulted in a public discussion or censure. The board last censured one of its members — John Youngquist — in November.
In interviews and written statements, some board members said they agreed with Marrero’s concerns, while others said they aren’t true. Two of the seven board members, Kimberlee Sia and Amy Klein Molk, declined to comment.
Gaytán, who was first elected in 2021, said in a statement that she hopes the board recommits to its governance model, which says members should stay out of day-to-day operations.
“Superintendents of the highest caliber choose districts where governance is predictable and professional,” she said. “When boards undermine that framework, we risk driving away the visionary leaders our students and families and families deserve.”
Marlene De La Rosa, who was elected in 2023, said she is committed to working with her colleagues to address Marrero’s concerns. As for the board’s dynamics, De La Rosa said, “Collectively, there’s room for improvement. It would benefit us to do some self-evaluation.”
Youngquist, who was also elected in 2023, had a different take.
“Any representation that our current board is grounded in dysfunction is false,” he said in a statement. He said recent accusations between board members are “fabrications.”
Board Vice President Monica Hunter, who was elected in November, mentioned one board member in particular but didn’t name them. She said in a statement that the member has “struggled to move beyond the dysfunction of their past, and that has been reflected in the many 6-1 votes, but the rest of us remain united in our work and clear about who we serve.”
Board minutes show at least three 6-1 votes this year. Gaytán has been the sole no vote each time. This is Gaytán’s second stint as board president. Her first, from 2021 to 2023, was also marked by personality conflicts among board members.
Gaytán said her votes have consistently reflected her values.
DJ Torres, who was elected in November, said he wasn’t surprised byMarrero’s email, because the superintendent alluded to these concerns before. Torres said some board members are also frustrated with the way the board conducts business. But Torres added that it’s opportunistic timing for Marrero to send such an email just as he’s applying for another job.
Policy governance is at the center of the tension between Marrero and the board. A previous board adopted the framework, which is meant to set clear expectations for both sides, in 2021 to help attract a new superintendent amid accusations that it had micromanaged the last one. Marrero was hired that same year.
Policy governance is written into Marrero’s contract. It says that the board sets goals but “will avoid telling the Superintendent or staff what to do or how to do it.”
In his email, Marrero wrote that he has “observed repeated efforts by individual Board members to become involved in academic implementation, instructional decisions, school operations, and administrative matters that fall squarely within the Superintendent’s delegated authority.”
He also raised concerns about board members questioning his recommendations. In April, the board rejected his recommendation against expanding the district’s innovation zone, which is a semi-autonomous group of schools. Marrero said adding another school to the zone would amount to self-segregation, because the zone students are whiter and wealthier.
The board voted to expand the zone anyway. Some board members were sympathetic to parents and educators who said they’d carefully followed the application process. Marrero asked if that meant he had to recommend a yes vote — a point he also raised in his email.
“The answer to that question has significant implications not only for Innovation applications but for every area where the Superintendent is expected to exercise professional judgment,” he wrote.
Marrero’s contract says that if the board materially alters its governance policy, he can deem it a termination of his contract. It says he should first provide the board president a written notice of his concerns and enter into good faith discussions to resolve them.
If the board terminates Marrero without cause, his contract says he receives 12 months’ salary. He earned $346,529 this past school year.
In a statement, Marrero said the board has not informed him that it has materially altered its governance policy, “nor has it responded substantively to the concerns I raised.
“Before discussing hypothetical remedies, it would be appropriate to first ask whether the Board believes its actions are consistent with the governance model it adopted and the contractual commitments it made,” he said. “I have honored my commitments and will continue to do so.”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
