DENVER — The Denver teachers union was aware of a sexual misconduct allegation against Tay Anderson prior to endorsing him for a seat on the school board in 2019 and approached another candidate to run in that race, according to two people involved in the discussions.
The unverified allegation surfaced while the union’s political arm, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association Fund, was vetting candidates and deciding who to back, said Priscilla Shaw, a middle school music teacher involved in the endorsement process that year.
Anderson, who won election to the school board in 2019, has been under investigation by a private firm hired by Denver Public Schools since April following an anonymous accusation of sexual assault. He has denied all allegations.
Radhika Nath, who was approached to run as a potential opponent to Anderson in the at-large race in 2019, said she met with a DCTA political operative who told her about the sexual misconduct allegation and who shared concerns it would become public. Nath ultimately chose to run for the seat in her district.
“I never thought that DCTA would endorse him because of the allegations and the fact they were sharing that information. And they spent a lot of time trying to get me to run at-large,” Nath told The Denver Post in an interview.
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