Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero tours Garden Place Academy on the first day of school in August 2024. (Melanie Asmar / Chalkbeat)
In a split vote, the Denver school board extended Superintendent Alex Marrero’s contract Thursday for an additional two years, a contentious decision at a key time for the school district.
Marrero’s contract was set to expire on June 30, 2026. It will now be extended until June 2028.
“We want to have conversations about moving our students forward? That’s what this man is doing,” board member Scott Esserman said at Thursday’s meeting. “You don’t have to like the way he’s doing it. You don’t have to like him at all. But he cares about our students and our families and our communities, and he shows it on a daily basis.”
The board also amended Marrero’s contract Thursday so that he can no longer earn performance bonuses, which have caused friction with the teachers union and others. Marrero earned an $8,200 bonus in 2023 and a $17,300 bonus in 2024 for meeting a certain percentage of his performance goals. His base salary this year is $346,529.
Board members also changed the process and timeline for terminating Marrero’s contract. They raised the number of votes needed to fire Marrero from a simple majority of the seven-member board to a supermajority and extended the timeline for giving him notice from 60 to 90 days.
Esserman was one of five board members to vote to extend Marrero’s contract. The other four were 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 much on the reason for their vote.
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate at this point to extend the contract,” Youngquist said.
The timing of the board’s decision to extend Marrero’s contract has been controversial. Critics have argued that since four seats on the board are up for election in November, the new board members should get to decide on Marrero’s contract.
Marrero’s superintendency has been tumultuous at times due to issues that many large urban school districts are facing. Marrero, who was hired to lead Denver Public Schools in 2021, has recommended a slew of school closures due to low enrollment, prompting fierce pushback. In total, the board has agreed to close 10 schools and partially close three more during his tenure.
A spate of gun violence in and around schools reignited a debate about student safety and led to the controversial reintroduction of police officers in schools in 2023.
Academically, DPS achieved its highest-ever graduation rate last year. But the district’s recovery from pandemic-era learning loss has been uneven, with the test scores of students of color and those from low-income families lagging behind outcomes for white and wealthier students.
Many teachers are mad that they were denied higher cost-of-living raises while Marrero got a bonus. DPS has also found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over an all-gender restroom, and it has sued the federal government to protect immigrant students.
