Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.
The Denver school board was polite Monday as the seven members and Superintendent Alex Marrero publicly discussed some of the underlying reasons why, in the words of the paid facilitator, “the last month or two has not been super smooth.”
The most animated discussion centered on how the board sets its meeting agendas, a sore spot for some members who said they’ve struggled to get their priorities heard. Board members also talked in general terms about how to restore broken trust, the importance of working together even if they disagree, and the steep learning curve experienced by new members.
No one raised their voice or pointed any fingers. But tension was at times palpable in the silences. Some board members spoke so softly that it was hard to hear them from 10 feet away.
“This is the most collaborative I’ve ever seen the board,” member Amy Klein Molk said near the end of Monday’s eight-hour board retreat. “I am so proud to be here right now and so grateful for this conversation. We need more of this in general.”
The retreat comes after Marrero wrote a letter to board President Xóchitl Gaytán in June detailing several frustrations, including that board members are too involved in administrative matters. Marrero’s letter said he is caught in the crosshairs of a “litany of ongoing interpersonal issues amongst board members,” some of whom he said have canceled two-on-two meetings with his staff “because of who they are paired up with.”
A day after he sent the letter, Marrero told the board he had applied for another job in Miami. He didn’t get the position. Seven months earlier, his name was leaked as a finalist for the top schools job in Chicago. At the time, he said he was committed to Denver.
Marrero and the board met behind closed doors last month to discuss their working relationship. They emerged from that meeting striking a more conciliatory tone, although tensions between board members bubbled up in the brief public portion.
Similar tensions have surfaced at previous board meetings, with some members accusing Gaytán of rejecting their requests to add items to the meeting agendas. The policy framework that the board uses, called policy governance, is often at the center of the disagreements because board members interpret its rules differently.
“Nothing is clearly defined,” board member DJ Torres said. “Everything is up for interpretation.”
Board members noted that the way the Denver school board interprets policy governance is different from the way other school boards do, with some members calling Denver’s version “convoluted,” strict, and too black-and-white. But board members didn’t have a clear answer when facilitator Keith Gruen asked why the board hadn’t changed the framework.
“We skirt around this at every retreat we have,” board member Kimberlee Sia said.
Klein Molk added, “I feel very strongly that we lack trust. And I don’t think we can move forward until we figure out a way to move through that.”
Monica Hunter suggested the tension is because some of her fellow board members want things to stay the same while others are pushing for change.
“I’ve also heard that we’re ‘one voice,’” Hunter said, referring to a principle of policy governance. “No, we’re not. That’s why we’re elected — to be different voices.”
Gruen spent part of the retreat encouraging board members and Marrero to find common ground. They paired up for an activity where they shared details about their lives by finishing the sentence, “If you really knew me, you’d know…” They also did some lighthearted icebreakers, including naming their favorite home cooked meal and the first music album they bought.
Gruen was paid nearly $10,000 to facilitate, according to a district spokesperson.
By the end of the retreat, the board pledged to hold a public study session to workshop Marrero’s latest strategic plan for the district, his second since coming to Denver five years ago. They also discussed revising the board’s policy for agenda setting. Gruen gave them some homework, too: to get coffee or go on a walk with a board colleague, just to talk.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
