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Thirteen people have applied to fill a vacancy on the Denver school board at a tumultuous time for the board, which has long struggled with interpersonal conflicts and public disagreements.
Among the applicants are a former board member, Scott Esserman, and two former candidates for the seat, Caron Blanke and Mike DeGuire.
The vacancy for the District 3 seat representing central-east Denver was created earlier this month when DJ Torres, who was elected last November, resigned less than a year into his term amid what he called “cycles of accusation” and too much time spent on “internal conflict.”
Torres was one of two board members recently accused by President Xóchitl Gaytán of a long list of policy violations, including that he missed some meetings. Both Torres and Vice President Monica Hunter said the allegations were baseless. After Torres resigned, the board censured Hunter following an inconclusive investigation into whether she had used antisemitic language.
The board is set to appoint a new member on Nov. 19. The appointee will serve for just one year, even though Torres had more than three years left of his four-year term. District 3 voters will elect a new representative in the November 2027 election.
The board will appoint a new member by a majority vote. In the world of Denver school board politics, the six remaining board members are ideologically split — although that ideology doesn’t always inform how individual members vote.
Three of the six were endorsed by the Denver teachers union, which has been critical of charter schools and school reform. The other three were endorsed by Denver Families Action, the political arm of a group called Denver Families for Public Schools, which was originally formed to advocate for charter school families but is now focused on more universal issues.
Esserman, a former teacher and the parent of two Denver Public Schools graduates, served on the board from 2021 to 2025 as an at-large member representing the entire city. He was elected in 2021 with backing from the Denver teachers union.
Esserman ran for reelection last year in District 3, where he lives, but without the union’s backing because leaders said they weren’t happy with the way he voted on a few issues. Esserman lost to Torres, who was endorsed by the union.
Blanke, a DPS parent who previously oversaw the Jewish Community Center’s preschool, ran in District 3 last year against Torres and Esserman. She was endorsed by Denver Families Action.
DeGuire, a retired DPS principal and outspoken school reform critic, ran to represent District 3 in 2021. He lost to Carrie Olson, a former teacher who had the teachers union endorsement.
Pat Donovan, who previously worked for Denver Families for Public Schools, also applied to fill the District 3 seat. Donovan still serves on the Denver Families board and on the board of homegrown charter school network Rocky Mountain Prep. He said Monday that if he were appointed, he would resign from the other boards to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
The other applicants for the District 3 seat, as posted on the district’s website, are Emily Bussey, Shannon Carson, Pete Fey, Veronica Figoli Fleischer, James A. Foglio, P. Barclay Jones, Erin Phelan, Sean Precious, and David Scudamore.
The applicants are set to attend a meet-and-greet at the Mosaic Campus, 1900 Olive St. in Denver, on Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m., which will be followed by a community forum at 6 p.m. The board will select finalists on Nov. 16 and vote to appoint a new member three days later.
The appointee must live in District 3, have been a registered voter for at least 12 consecutive months, and never have been convicted of certain crimes against children.
The last board vacancy, for northwest Denver’s District 5 in 2022, drew just five candidates. After several rounds of voting and a tense discussion, the board appointed family law attorney Charmaine Lindsay to fill that seat. Lindsay ran for reelection in 2023 but lost.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
