Former Denver Public Schools communications director encourages transparency, accountability

Former Denver Public Schools Executive Director of Communications Will Jones spoke to reporters on Thursday, a few days after he claimed the district's superintendent is trying to keep information from the public. Jones left DPS in February after nine years with the district, serving under several superintendents. 

On Monday during public comment at a Denver School Board meeting, Jones said DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero should not be instituting policies that shield information from the public when the mission of the district is to serve children. 

On Thursday, Jones once again called for transparency and accountability. He also said that he was not a disgruntled employee, but a concerned grandfather. 

He believes information is a great thing. Jones said he recently spoke to two DPS board members and told them about some information within the district they didn't know about. 

Jones urges the board to reconsider executive limitations and asks the board to reconsider confidentiality agreements for employees. He also urged them to work on building an environment where transparency is not just encouraged, but required. 

"Every day, for all of our 88,000 kids, every day it matters. We adults, we can't be asleep at the wheel because this kindergartener is going to be in the 5th grade tomorrow. And this 5th grader, they're going to be graduating next week, so we need to get it right, right now. I believe that the leadership deserves to have as much information as possible so they can make informed decisions as they move forward," said Jones. 

During the news conference, Jones had a message for staff working in DPS, to encourage them to call him if they feel afraid or constrained, and assured them that the message would get to the Board of Education.