Three months into her second stint as president of the Denver Board of Education, it’s becoming clear that Xóchitl Gaytán’s leadership skills have not improved since her tumultuous first tenure, and that she bears sole responsibility for the strife that has begun plaguing this new board.
Gaytán’s dysfunctional board leadership is sowing discord, damaging DPS Read More »
As we enter a new moment in Denver Public Schools governance, I intend to remain hopeful that the bumpy days of the past several years could be behind us. I will observe the new board carefully (the name Boardhawk remains relevant), and with respect and goodwill.
Yet I’d be foolishly naïve if I were pretend that the ghosts of the recent past don’t threaten to haunt the board and its three new members. There has been a lot of acrimony, pettiness, and ideologically rooted foolishness that has hampered the board and district’s progress in recent years.
Here, then are a few hopes and worries I carry in my mind as the new DPS board settles in.
Hopes and worries as the new DPS board takes office Read More »
This is a perfect example of what is known as a star chamber investigation. A star chamber investigation” refers to an inquiry or legal proceeding that is seen as arbitrary, secretive, and grossly unfair—often conducted without transparency, due process, or the right for those accused to defend themselves. The term is used pejoratively to criticize procedures that lack openness and seem designed to persecute rather than fairly adjudicate.
The star chamber investigation of John Youngquist is a travesty Read More »
I’m sure it’s tough being any one of the three Denver school board incumbents right now, staring defeat in the face as they are. But that doesn’t excuse the desperate, dishonest drivel put out in a statement this week by candidate Scott Esserman, trying to tie four candidates to Donald Trump’s Project 2025.
DPS candidates respond to desperate smear by incumbent Esserman Read More »
The Denver school board majority’s newly revealed effort to hide deliberations about the superintendents contract extension could be about to backfire. It should.
Once again, the Denver school board’s shameless majority disrespects the public Read More »
At a time when the country is run by a president and administration who are demonstrably racist, savaging people on racial grounds with whom you have minor differences is self-destructive in the extreme.
There’s no other way to describe the tone of Marrero’s letter than paranoid in the extreme. That board members had it in their possession for more than a week before voting to extend Marrero’s contract and yet voted to give this man an extra two years on the job provides yet further evidence that this board is breaching public trust egregiously.
Marrero’s unhinged tantrum against board member Youngquist is shameful, embarrassing Read More »
The five-member majority that voted for the extension displayed an arrogance that made members blissfully unaware of the idiocy of their action and the transparent dishonesty of their stated rationale.
The stupidity and arrogance behind DPS board’s Marrero contract extension Read More »
Marrero is a polarizing figure, beloved by some and disliked by others. Extending his contract before an election that could shift the board’s position on his tenure would be a brazen move to tie a new board’s hands, making it difficult/expensive to remove him
For many years, DPS has boasted stellar scores among its more affluent, white, and Asian students. Why the district has struggled more than other urban school systems to transfer that success to the students who need it most remains a puzzle that needs solving.
DPS’ NAEP boasts tell less than half the story Read More »
