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The Denver school board has decided how it will fill a vacant board seat — a process that until recently was the subject of speculation and confusion, even among board members themselves — after 13 people applied for a single opening.
Twelve applicants remain after one was disqualified.
The vacancy was created when DJ Torres resigned last month from his seat representing central-east Denver’s District 3, saying the board spent too much time on “internal conflict.”
The board decided this week that the appointment process will work like this:
On Monday, the board is set to narrow the 12 applicants down to three finalists. It’ll do so with two rounds of voting. The first round will winnow the field to as many as six applicants. The second round will select three finalists.
In round one, each board member will be called upon in alphabetical order to announce their top six picks out of the 12 applicants. The most popular applicants will be tallied, and the board will vote to advance a slate of up to six people to round two.
The board will repeat the process in round two, with each member announcing their top three picks. The board will vote again on a slate of three finalists. During voting, board members can amend the proposed slate to swap applicants in or out.
Before the voting on Monday, the board will host a special public comment session at 4:30 p.m. for community members to share their thoughts. The board will also rely on information gathered from applications and resumes, a student-led forum that happened last week, and individual conversations that some members said they’ve had with the applicants.
On Thursday, the board will publicly interview the three finalists, one by one, starting at 2:30 p.m. Each interview will last 20 minutes, and the board will ask the finalists the same questions.
The question topics range from how applicants would approach setting the district’s budget, to what they believe every student should learn before they graduate, to what experience they have advocating for racial, LGBTQ, or disability justice.
One question — “What is the role of a school board member in relation to their colleagues and the superintendent?” — has been a hot-button issue for the board, which has long struggled with infighting and has clashed with the superintendent.
The three finalists will be allowed to bring two supporters on Thursday to give two minutes of testimony each about why that finalist is the most qualified for the job, a process the board likened to when a booster introduces a political candidate at an event.
After the finalist interviews, the board may take a break to come up with a set of follow-up questions that it would pose to all three finalists together.
After that, the board is set to vote on the appointment. To be appointed, an applicant must win a majority vote. Torres’ resignation left just six board members, and it’s possible they could deadlock 3-3. In that case, state law says the board president, Xóchitl Gaytán, decides.
Under state law, the board has 60 days to fill the vacancy, which gives it until Nov. 29. The new board member must be sworn in within 10 days after that. Both timelines are complicated by the Thanksgiving holiday, when the district is closed and many people are traveling.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
