This past weekend, Denver Gazette education reporter Nicole C. Brambila broke a big story about a shadowy committee of the Denver school board formed last spring to hammer out details of Superintendent Alex Marrero’s controversial new contract. We asked Brambila to join the podcast to discuss the story and its ramifications, as well as the overall transparency (or lack thereof) of the current board and Denver Public Schools administration.
Listen to hear why, as Brambila told us, “what attorneys that I spoke to did say was that if somebody sued the school district and won in court, it could negate the contract.”
A bit about Brambila:
Brambila is an investigative journalist at The Denver Gazette, where she has covered Denver Public Schools since 2023. Her reporting revealed a pivotal email in which the superintendent pressed the board to hold a closed-door meeting — later ruled a violation of state open-meeting laws — that became central to a lawsuit joined by six Colorado news organizations.
She has also exposed Superintendent Alex Marrero’s $100,000 bond-funded corner office renovation and uncovered how the district leveraged ownership of two dozen schools in a controversial lease-financing scheme now facing a court challenge.
Brambila joined the Gazette in December 2022 to cover health care, but quickly shifted to education after parents learned of the district’s school closure list.
She has been a journalist for 25 years, reporting in Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Colorado on everything from immigration reform and the death penalty to abuses in nursing homes and guardianships.
