A Denver school board member is trying to convene another meeting next week to discuss and potentially take action on Superintendent Alex Marrero’s employment, according to emails obtained by The Denver Post on Friday.
The special meeting, if held, would mark the second time in two weeks that the Board of Education met to talk about Marrero’s employment as tensions rise between Denver Public Schools’ superintendent and the district’s elected school board.
Director Monica Hunter, in an email Friday to school board Secretary Marlene De La Rosa, said that a majority of the seven-member board wants to meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday to discuss Marrero’s employment and “potential future district leadership planning and possible board action.” She copied the other five board members on the email.
But board President Xóchitl Gaytán said she does not believe there are enough directors in agreement to call a special meeting.
“After speaking with a couple board members, I’m not verifying a board majority to post a special board meeting next week,” she said.
In an earlier email, Hunter had tried to schedule the meeting for Friday morning. She accused board Gaytán of not publicly noticing that meeting — as required under the state’s Open Meetings Law — despite a majority of board members wanting to convene, according to the email.
“To date, the president has not acted upon the written request of a majority of the board, and the special meeting has not been publicly noticed and has refused to fulfill her duties as board president,” Hunter wrote in her email.
Now, she wrote, it is up to De La Rosa to publicly notice the meeting for next week so that directors can gather to discuss the superintendent’s employment and DPS’s leadership.
Hunter declined to comment for this story. De La Rosa could not be reached Friday.
Director John Youngquist said he had not yet seen Hunter’s Friday email, but he supports meeting next week if a majority of board members want to convene.
“It is fair to the community to have a public conversation regarding the superintendent,” he said.
A possible meeting of the board next week could be used to either continue the superintendent’s employment or show “a responsiveness if there are particular concerns that board members represented and acknowledge,” Youngquist said.
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Directors Kimberlee Sia and Donald “D.J.” Torres did not respond to interview requests.
A campaign manager for Amy Klein Molk said the board member declined to comment. Molk also did not respond to a text message.
A DPS spokesperson also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Directors met for nearly four hours Monday to discuss the superintendent’s contract and performance, but announced no changes in Marrero’s employment at the end of the meeting.
Board members called Monday’s meeting — which mostly took place behind closed doors — after Marrero sent a letter to Gaytán, complaining that directors are overstepping their authority when it comes to DPS’s day-to-day operations.
Board members and Marrero are struggling to work together because of their different views on how to operate under the district’s governance model.
Some board members have also said they question Marrero’s commitment to DPS after he applied for a job in Miami this summer and was a finalist for a separate position in Chicago last year. Marrero did not get either of the jobs.
Hunter’s email did not go into detail about what board members would specifically discuss about the superintendent if they meet next week.
Marrero was hired in 2021 and earns a salary of $346,529. His contract doesn’t expire until 2028.
Directors have to give Marrero 90 days’ notice before scheduling a public vote to terminate him without cause, according to his contract. They would also have to pay the superintendent an entire year’s salary as well as other benefits if they fire him.
The board and Marrero could also reach a separation agreement at any time, according to his contract.
“Even if there was an interest, there are procedures that are required by the contract,” Youngquist said.
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