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A Denver Public Schools mother who previously oversaw the Jewish Community Center’s early childhood center is running to represent central-east Denver on the school board.
Caron Blanke is vying for the District 3 seat currently held by board President Carrie Olson. Olson can’t run again due to term limits. Blanke will face at least two opponents, including at-large board member Scott Esserman, who is running for reelection in District 3.
Blanke, 50, is the mother of two children who graduated from DPS’ Denver School of the Arts and one who will be a ninth grader in the fall. She said she’s running because students deserve schools that are “equitable, inclusive, and responsive to the unique needs each of them have.”
“I’m not afraid to be courageous and boldly advocate for change,” Blanke said.
Four seats on the seven-member Denver school board are up for grabs in the Nov. 4 election, which comes at a key time. Declining enrollment has led to more than a dozen school closures in the past two years, and a new policy for low-performing schools could lead to more closures.
The district’s graduation rate is up, but some students are still recovering from pandemic-era learning loss. DPS has found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over an all-gender restroom and its support for immigrant students. And the board recently ordered an investigation of one of its members over allegations of racial discrimination.
Blanke said she worked for 15 years as the chief program officer for the Jewish Community Center in Denver. In that role, she oversaw the JCC’s early childhood center and its camps for school-aged kids. Blanke said she’s spent the last eight years as an independent consultant for early childhood educators, school directors, and boards.
Blanke has volunteered to serve on the collaborative school committee at Denver School of the Arts and on the board of the Hebrew Educational Alliance synagogue in southeast Denver. Before her children enrolled at Denver School of the Arts in sixth grade, all three attended the private Denver Jewish Day School.
If elected, Blanke said her priority would be to “create a healthy governance structure” on the Denver school board to ensure strong oversight of the superintendent.
“When I say it’s not working, it feels to me that the board is influenced by the superintendent,” Blanke said. In her view, she said, it should be the other way around.
Blanke said she’d seek to follow the “very objective ways” that previous boards established to monitor Superintendent Alex Marrero’s progress against his goals.
“It’s less about what I think of the superintendent and more about how, as a board member, will I think about constantly monitoring his performance against these outcomes?” she said.
Enrollment in DPS is expected to decline 8% by 2029. While the current board paused enrollment-based school closures after a spate of them this spring, future boards could face the possibility of closing schools again. Blanke said she’s hesitant to say how she would vote.
“Did anyone predict a global pandemic? Did anyone predict the economy crashing in 2008? Or social media taking over the minds of our children?” she said. “There are so many unexpected factors that can influence my decision that I don’t at all feel comfortable committing to I will or I won’t, because I don’t think that’s realistic.”
Any decisions would need to be made with the community, she said, noting that too many DPS families “feel like they aren’t being listened to and their feedback isn’t being valued.”
“We can’t leave families without an option in their neighborhood,” Blanke said. “I’m not coming in with any intention to close schools. And it’s a complex decision that requires conversation and proactive thinking with our community.”
Blanke said another priority would be rebuilding trust between DPS and the families it serves, which should start with the board developing a shared vision and making sure its policies align.
“We have to take this 10,000-foot view of looking at our school district and realizing that each part impacts another,” Blanke said.
Blanke said she supports school choice and that DPS should put to rest the debate over whether traditional district-run schools or independent charter schools are better. She said that if the best educational practice is to tailor teaching to each student’s individual needs, “we have to believe that school choice is essential in serving students.”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
