Some Denver school board members speak out ahead of vote on superintendent's contract
Some members of the Denver School Board are speaking out ahead of a controversial vote Thursday on whether the board will extend the contract for Superintendent Alex Marrero.
The contract for Marrero doesn't expire until June of 2026. DPS Board of Education Director Xochitl Gaytan and board member Scott Esserman say the board has until the end of the year to decide if they want to offer the superintendent a new contract. On top of that, four of seven seats on the board are up for grabs in November. Another big concern for the community is Marrero's annual salary, which sits at $346,000 plus a performance bonus.
On Tuesday night, Denver school board members told Your Reporter in Denver Jasmine Arenas that if the board wants to pay less, they'll get less quality leadership.
"He earns the value that he brings to the district as an Afro-Latino bilingual superintendent," said Gaytan. "We realized he was actually underpaid (for a) district of about 90,000 students with 20,000 employees that he has to manage or oversee."
The board members went on to say they believe progress the district has made, like the district's graduation rate, will be lost with a new superintendent.
"So in addition to creating community hubs, in addition to showing up for communities that are under threat from ICE and other government agencies, Dr. Marrero has the direction of the district in terms of academic improvement going in the right direction," Esserman said. "He's got the right materials, he's got the right people in place and we're seeing that."
"We've seen a historic graduation rate of 80%, which is unheard of in Denver Public Schools and he's focused on the right things."
Meanwhile, several Denver Latino community members have written a letter to the DPS board members, asking them to pause any consideration to re-evaluate his contract. See that letter below:
