DENVER -- The superintendent of Colorado’s third-largest school district has stepped down.
The Douglas County School Board accepted Tuesday the resignation of Dr. Thomas S. Tucker, who cited personal and family reasons for offering his resignation.
Tucker stressed during the online meeting that contrary to some reports, he decided to step down on his own, and the board had not asked him to resign.
The district told Denver7 Saturday that Tucker was on leave visiting his ailing mother in Arkansas. Tucker said Tuesday that taking care of his family was his top priority.
“The members of the Douglas County Federation wish Dr. Tucker the best and our thoughts are with his family and in particular, his mother” said Kallie Leyba, President of the Douglas County Federation on the resignation of the Superintendent. “Fortunately, due to the professionalism of our teachers and staff, our students and community shouldn’t notice any negative impacts on instruction as educators will continue to teach and guide our students with the support of their building leadership.”
Tucker’s superintendent duties will be shared between Chief Assessment Officer Matt Reynolds and Exec Director of Schools Corey Wise until an interim superintendent is selected.
On Sept. 14, the school district said that it had received a workplace discrimination complaint against Tucker from a district employee on Sept. 1. The district said in a statement:
“Per DCSD policy and consistent with best practice, the Board of Education immediately placed Dr. Tucker on paid administrative leave and retained a third-party investigator to conduct a fair and impartial investigation of the allegations.“Because this is a personnel matter regarding an ongoing investigation, we cannot share additional details at this time.”
