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.
In a split vote, the Denver school board extended Superintendent Alex Marrero’s contract Thursday for an additional two years, a contentious decision at a key time for the school district.
Marrero’s contract was set to expire on June 30, 2026. It will now be extended until June 2028.
“We want to have conversations about moving our students forward? That’s what this man is doing,” board member Scott Esserman said at Thursday’s meeting. “You don’t have to like the way he’s doing it. You don’t have to like him at all. But he cares about our students and our families and our communities, and he shows it on a daily basis.”
The board also amended Marrero’s contract Thursday so that he can no longer earn performance bonuses, which have caused friction with the teachers union and others. Marrero earned an $8,200 bonus in 2023 and a $17,300 bonus in 2024 for meeting a certain percentage of his performance goals. His base salary this year is $346,529.
Board members also changed the process and timeline for terminating Marrero’s contract. They raised the number of votes needed to fire Marrero from a simple majority of the seven-member board to a supermajority and extended the timeline for giving him notice from 60 to 90 days.
Esserman was one of five board members to vote to extend Marrero’s contract. The other four were President Carrie Olson, Vice President Marlene De La Rosa, Michelle Quattlebaum, and Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán. Board members Kimberlee Sia and John Youngquist voted no.
Neither Sia nor Youngquist elaborated much on the reason for their vote.
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate at this point to extend the contract,” Youngquist said.
The timing of the board’s decision to extend Marrero’s contract has been controversial. Critics have argued that since four seats on the board are up for election in November, the new board members should get to decide on Marrero’s contract.
Marrero’s superintendency has been tumultuous at times due to issues that many large urban school districts are facing. Marrero, who was hired to lead Denver Public Schools in 2021, has recommended a slew of school closures due to low enrollment, prompting fierce pushback. In total, the board has agreed to close 10 schools and partially close three more during his tenure.
A spate of gun violence in and around schools reignited a debate about student safety and led to the controversial reintroduction of police officers in schools in 2023.
Academically, DPS achieved its highest-ever graduation rate last year. But the district’s recovery from pandemic-era learning loss has been uneven, with the test scores of students of color and those from low-income families lagging behind outcomes for white and wealthier students.
Many teachers are mad that they were denied higher cost-of-living raises while Marrero got a bonus. DPS has also found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over an all-gender restroom, and it has sued the federal government to protect immigrant students.
“In the age of President Trump and the target he has put on Denver Public Schools’ back, we know that protecting our students and families is of utmost importance,” Olson said. “And stability in leadership is in the best interests of our district and our students.”
Critics have decried the board’s process of deciding on the contract extension as secretive and rushed. The board previously met in a closed-door session to discuss amending the superintendent’s contract, but didn’t have any public discussion until Thursday.
When Marrero became superintendent nearly four years ago, some community members questioned whether he was experienced enough to lead the 90,000-student district. But the school board members who hired him lauded his willingness to listen and his personal experiences as a bilingual student and educator in New York.
Five months into Marrero’s tenure, the board voted to extend his contract from two to four years with an automatic one-year extension. Two years later, the board voted to extend his contact for another year and raise his pay by 10%. Under that contract, the board had until Jan. 1, 2026 to decide whether to renew Marrero’s contract or allow it to expire and search for a new leader.
Newly elected or reelected board members are typically seated in December, which would have left a new board a few weeks to decide on the superintendent’s contract before Jan. 1.
If a new board were to fire Marrero without cause — meaning he hadn’t committed fraud or embezzlement, been convicted of a felony, or intentionally failed at his job — his contract says the district would owe him a severance payment equal to 12 months of his salary. The district would also be required to provide him with family health insurance benefits for a year.
Several community members spoke at Thursday’s meeting, some in favor and some against extending Marrero’s contract.
Longtime DPS educator and leader Darlene LeDoux said Marrero is a rarity as an award-winning, Afro-Latino superintendent and deserves the chance to continue leading the district.
“Dr. Alex Marrero is exceptional,” LeDoux said. “He leads with courage, clarity, and heart.”
Denver parent Lynne Ly, who co-founded a group that advocated for some board members to resign, said there hadn’t been enough community input on the contract extension or a new performance evaluation to show the improvements Marrero had made.
“If you truly believe this extension is deserved, then show us the evidence,” Ly said. “Don’t expect the community to quietly sit back while decisions are made in the dark.”
Marrero’s next performance evaluation, based upon a set of goals the board approved late last year, is scheduled for October.
Jason Gonzales contributed to this report.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.