DENVER — A new school year is quickly approaching for Colorado’s largest school district.
Denver Public Schools superintendent Alex Marrero gave teachers joining the district a warm welcome Tuesday morning, speaking and hosting a panel discussion for about an hour at an event on the Auraria Campus.
▶️ Dr. Alex Marrero spoke to new teachers at a Tuesday welcome event
The district is welcoming roughly 400 new educators this school year, which a district spokesperson says is typical.
However, the spokesperson said, Marrero was not available for an interview Tuesday.
Tension has been simmering between the superintendent and the DPS Board of Education. Our partners at the Denver Post report several directors tried, but failed, to set a meeting last week to further discuss Marrero’s future, after a long meeting last month discussing his contract.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: School board for Denver Public Schools responds to concerns raised by Superintendent Alex Marrero
In a June email, Marrero claimed that while he has gone through multiple evaluations, the board still needs to conduct a self-evaluation required by policy. He also alluded to the board overstepping and getting involved in his responsibilities as superintendent.
In the past year, Marrero has been publicly linked to jobs in Chicago and Miami. DPS has told Denver7 his contract runs through June 2028.
Brandon Bolden is going to be a first-year teacher at Stedman Elementary. He is not only new to the district, but also the profession.
“I’ll be transitioning from a career as a licensed mental health professional into teaching,” he told Denver7. “I see a lot of parallels between teaching and mental health, and so it felt really important for me to infuse both of those passions. And the leap and the runway to education was wide open, so I took it with a lot of resources and connections from the community, and now here I am.”
The first day of school for DPS students is Aug. 24, now less than two weeks away.
“I consider myself a quick learner; I like to dive into things right away,” Bolden said. “I’m really excited to just get on the ground running, get up to speed about what's needed, and see how I can plug in my passions from there.”
