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A Denver Public Schools mother who leads a nonprofit organization focused on food security and urban agriculture is running to represent southwest Denver on the school board.
Mariana del Hierro is vying for the District 2 seat currently held by Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán. Gaytán has not said whether she will run for reelection.
Del Hierro, 43, is the executive director of Re:Vision, which runs a free grocery store, urban gardens, and food and nutrition programs in the predominantly Latino Westwood neighborhood. She said she was motivated to become more involved in DPS after reading the La Raza Report, which was commissioned by the school district and highlighted “serious barriers” to the success of Latino students, who make up more than half of DPS enrollment.
“I was shocked that alarm bells were not rung when that report came out,” del Hierro said. “In a district, in a system, where the majority are Latinx students, we deserve to have a very specialized, tailored, data-informed strategy to make sure we’re changing that reality.”
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 Trump administration’s crosshairs 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.
As executive director of Re:Vision, del Hierro said she expanded the number of families served by the organization’s free grocery store, increased the number of its urban farms, and started an apprenticeship program in which four DPS high school students spend nine months learning about hydroponic farming, starting with the history of Aztec aquaponics.
“We want to ground them in the work and a sense of pride of, ‘This is ours, this is our technology, this is our science,’” del Hierro said.
Before working for Re:Vision, del Hierro said she worked for Denver Health, developing a racial equity strategy for its community-based health centers. She also previously worked for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on its Healthy Kids Colorado survey.
Del Hierro, who is bilingual, has a son who will attend third grade at a district-run Spanish immersion school this fall. She declined to name the school to protect her son’s privacy.
“My child has been in a classroom with 35 kids, and I understand how that is a difficult space for children to learn and teachers to teach,” del Hierro said.
If elected, del Hierro said she would push DPS to be more transparent about its academic achievement data, both with the school board and with parents.
“With a public health background, everything starts with looking at the data,” del Hierro said. “Most important is disaggregating the data by race so that we know where to start from and we know where the gaps are, so we know where to focus.”
She’d also like to create more opportunities for school board members to interact with the community, especially about difficult issues like school closures. Enrollment in DPS is expected to decline 8% by 2029, and district leaders have said more closures could be coming. Del Hierro said she understands that hard decisions must be made but she wouldn’t make them lightly.
As for school closures based on low test scores, del Hierro said she would see her role as “asking the tough questions,” including about how DPS tried to help struggling schools.
“Before we discuss a closure, let’s first discuss what supports were given to this school, the staff, and the educators, to make sure they were reaching their goals,” del Hierro said.
Del Hierro’s son attends a traditional school, but she said southwest Denver has all types of schools, including independently run charter schools, and “we need each and every one of them.”
“I’m no one to tell a parent that they’re making a wrong decision for their child,” del Hierro said.
Del Hierro was one of more than 40 Latino community leaders who asked the board to delay a vote on extending Superintendent Alex Marrero’s contract until after his next performance evaluation in October. The board did not wait. In May, it extended Marrero’s contract until 2028.
Del Hierro said she believes the board and the superintendent should be “strong partners.” As for whether Marrero is doing a good job, del Hierro said, “Let’s conduct the evaluation so that we know. That’s the fair process. Because our students deserve it.”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
