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In a cut up vote, the Denver faculty board prolonged Superintendent Alex Marrero’s contract Thursday for an extra two years, a contentious resolution at a key time for the college district.
Marrero’s contract was set to run out on June 30, 2026. It should now be prolonged till June 2028.
“We need to have conversations about transferring our college students ahead? That’s what this man is doing,” board member Scott Esserman mentioned at Thursday’s assembly. “You don’t have to love the best way he’s doing it. You don’t have to love him in any respect. However he cares about our college students and our households and our communities, and he reveals it each day.”
The board additionally amended Marrero’s contract Thursday in order that he can now not earn efficiency bonuses, which have induced friction with the lecturers union and others. Marrero earned an $8,200 bonus in 2023 and a $17,300 bonus in 2024 for assembly a sure share of his efficiency targets. His base wage this yr is $346,529.
Board members additionally modified the method and timeline for terminating Marrero’s contract. They raised the variety of votes wanted to fireplace Marrero from a easy majority of the seven-member board to a supermajority and prolonged the timeline for giving him discover from 60 to 90 days.
Esserman was considered one of 5 board members to vote to increase Marrero’s contract. The opposite 4 had been President Carrie Olson, Vice President Marlene De La Rosa, Michelle Quattlebaum, and Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán. Board members Kimberlee Sia and John Youngquist voted no.
Neither Sia nor Youngquist elaborated a lot on the rationale for his or her vote.
“I don’t imagine it’s applicable at this level to increase the contract,” Youngquist mentioned.
The timing of the board’s resolution to increase Marrero’s contract has been controversial. Critics have argued that since 4 seats on the board are up for election in November, the brand new board members ought to get to determine on Marrero’s contract.
Marrero’s superintendency has been tumultuous at occasions on account of points that many massive city faculty districts are going through. Marrero, who was employed to steer Denver Public Faculties in 2021, has advisable a slew of college closures on account of low enrollment, prompting fierce pushback. In whole, the board has agreed to shut 10 faculties and partially shut three extra throughout his tenure.
A spate of gun violence in and round faculties reignited a debate about pupil security and led to the controversial reintroduction of law enforcement officials in faculties in 2023.
Academically, DPS achieved its highest-ever commencement price final yr. However the district’s restoration from pandemic-era studying loss has been uneven, with the check scores of scholars of shade and people from low-income households lagging behind outcomes for white and wealthier college students.
Many lecturers are mad that they had been denied greater cost-of-living raises whereas Marrero received a bonus. DPS has additionally discovered itself within the crosshairs of the Trump administration over an all-gender restroom, and it has sued the federal authorities to guard immigrant college students.
“Within the age of President Trump and the goal he has placed on Denver Public Faculties’ again, we all know that defending our college students and households is of utmost significance,” Olson mentioned. “And stability in management is in the perfect pursuits of our district and our college students.”
Critics have decried the board’s means of deciding on the contract extension as secretive and rushed. The board beforehand met in a closed-door session to debate amending the superintendent’s contract, however didn’t have any public dialogue till Thursday.
When Marrero turned superintendent almost 4 years in the past, some group members questioned whether or not he was skilled sufficient to steer the 90,000-student district. However the faculty board members who employed him lauded his willingness to pay attention and his private experiences as a bilingual pupil and educator in New York.
5 months into Marrero’s tenure, the board voted to increase his contract from two to 4 years with an automated one-year extension. Two years later, the board voted to increase his contact for one more yr and lift his pay by 10%. Underneath that contract, the board had till Jan. 1, 2026 to determine whether or not to resume Marrero’s contract or enable it to run out and seek for a brand new chief.
Newly elected or reelected board members are usually seated in December, which might have left a brand new board a couple of weeks to determine on the superintendent’s contract earlier than Jan. 1.
If a brand new board had been to fireplace Marrero with out trigger — which means he hadn’t dedicated fraud or embezzlement, been convicted of a felony, or deliberately failed at his job — his contract says the district would owe him a severance cost equal to 12 months of his wage. The district would even be required to supply him with household medical health insurance advantages for a yr.
A number of group members spoke at Thursday’s assembly, some in favor and a few towards extending Marrero’s contract.
Longtime DPS educator and chief Darlene LeDoux mentioned Marrero is a rarity as an award-winning, Afro-Latino superintendent and deserves the possibility to proceed main the district.
“Dr. Alex Marrero is phenomenal,” LeDoux mentioned. “He leads with braveness, readability, and coronary heart.”
Denver dad or mum Lynne Ly, who co-founded a bunch that advocated for some board members to resign, mentioned there hadn’t been sufficient group enter on the contract extension or a brand new efficiency analysis to indicate the enhancements Marrero had made.
“Should you really imagine this extension is deserved, then present us the proof,” Ly mentioned. “Don’t anticipate the group to quietly sit again whereas choices are made at nighttime.”
Marrero’s subsequent efficiency analysis, based mostly upon a set of targets the board accredited late final yr, is scheduled for October.
Jason Gonzales contributed to this report.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
