The Denver district attorney’s office is not filing charges against the Denver school board president following a complaint from a vocal district critic that she poked him in the chest.
A district attorney spokesman cited no evidence and “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
Brandon Pryor, a parent who has emerged as a lead critic of Denver Public Schools, said school board President Anne Rowe poked him during a heated exchange at a community meeting last Tuesday. (Anne Rowe is married to Frank Rowe, Chalkbeat’s director of sponsorships. That position is separate from Chalkbeat’s news operation.)
On a video recorded by Chalkbeat, Pryor can be heard calling Rowe a racist and a white supremacist, and saying the policies she helped enact have negatively affected students of color. Because of the angle, the video does not show any physical contact between the two.
Shortly into their conversation, Pryor can be heard saying, “Don’t touch me.” Rowe said she did not poke Pryor but rather unintentionally tapped him while gesturing with her hands.