The latest unsettling news about Denver Public Schools reaffirms the need for a change of elected leadership at Colorado’s largest and most prominent school district.

It seems the Denver school board’s reigning embarrassment, first-term member Tay Anderson, has stepped in it yet again. And school board candidate Scott Esserman stepped in it alongside him.

The union-endorsed, union-funded Esserman is Anderson’s pick for another seat on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education in this November’s election. And, it turns out, he is also Anderson’s client.

Gazette columnist Jimmy Sengenberger reported Friday that Esserman has paid Anderson $5,000 for social media work on his campaign since Aug. 15. Never mind, for the moment, the serious ethical questions that relationship raises – for both of them. Just consider the awkwardness.

As Sengenberger pointed out in his column after uncovering the money trail through campaign records, it was Anderson’s abuse of social media that has landed him in hot water for much of this year. It was on social media where an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Anderson turned up his inappropriate and “flirtatious” exchanges – with minor students. It’s also where investigators found instances of intimidation by Anderson of witnesses during the investigation. It’s what led the board to censure him last month for this “unbecoming” behavior – though many wondered why the board didn’t demand his resignation.

Even before that controversy, it was clear Anderson was unfit for service. He won his at-large seat in 2019 as part of a teachers union strategy to “flip” the board more to its liking. Since his election, the self-styled activist and all-purpose protest organizer has displayed far more interest in showboating for assorted causes than in tackling education policy or attending to his actual board duties

Most of his board colleagues have stood by and averted their gaze politely in cowed, pathetic silence. Board President Carrie Olson and Vice President Jennifer Bacon were almost apologetic in meting out their slap-on-the-wrist censure.

Meanwhile, the district has steadily continued to melt down. Particularly over the course of the pandemic and on the heels of last year’s disastrous bout with “remote learning,” student achievement has plummeted. At the same time, campus crime has been soaring following the ouster of Denver police resource officers from DPS campuses. For that, too, Denver parents have Anderson to thank; he led the call for kicking out the cops in the name of equity.

It all speaks as poorly of most of the other board members as it does of Anderson himself – and it cries out for a big change in elected leadership.

We’ll take the opportunity to reaffirm our endorsement of three compelling and highly qualified Denver school board candidates on the fall ballot:

Vernon Jones Jr., for the at-large seat;

Karolina Villagrana, for the District 2 seat;

Gene Fashaw, for the District 4 seat.

Jones is well known in the Denver education community. He is a pastor and the former executive director of the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone, a group of six semi-autonomous DPS schools. Villagrana is the daughter of immigrants and grew up in southwest Denver. She has served as a principal-in-residency, an assistant principal, an instructional coach and a classroom teacher at DPS charter schools as well as neighborhood schools. Fashaw is a career educator with local roots who grew up in northeast Denver’s Montbello neighborhood. He now teaches eighth-grade math and coaches sports in Denver Public Schools.

As we’ve noted here recently, this election offers Denver parents and other voters an opportunity to turn the corner on DPS’ disarray since the current aimless and oblivious board majority took over following the 2019 election. There has been a noticeable lack of support from the board for important – sometimes even life-changing – alternatives like DPS’ pioneering charter and innovation schools. There also has been an alarming lack of direction and focus on tackling campus crime and ensuring kids’ safety.

Here’s a chance to hit the reset button and launch a new beginning. While the election of all three of the candidates we recommend won’t assure a new majority right away, it will inject fresh thinking and new vitality, setting the stage for bigger change down the road.

When you fill out your mail ballot, please remember to vote Jones for at large; Villagrana for District 2 and Fashaw for District 4 for the Denver Public Schools Board of Education.

The Gazette editorial board