People showed up in droves Thursday night at the Denver Public Schools Board of Education meeting to push for the retention of a beloved educator whose contract was not extended.

Students, parents and community members told the board that North High School literacy teacher Tim Hernandez pushed students to never underestimate themselves and built a community away from home. 

“We are heartbroken because we were told we won’t have a community to come back to next year,” said North Freshman Veneno Montoya during the public comment period. “When I walk into Mr. Hernandez’s room, I’m no longer at North High School, I’m home. And knowing that I’m not going to have that next year is angering and heartbreaking.”

Junior Leiana Cano said Hernandez was the first teacher who told her she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

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“It never crossed my mind that I could be college bound and that I could strive for greater things until I met Mr. Hernandez,” she said. “Someone finally saw all the potential I could never find in myself.”

Although around a dozen people spoke in favor of Hernandez during public comment, the educator himself was not allowed inside the meeting. He was placed on administrative leave last week after he joined a student walk-out organized to support him.  

There was a second walkout earlier Thursday, prior to the board’s meeting, when students walked from North to the district’s headquarters at the Emily Griffith Campus. 

DPS Board of Education Vice President Tay Anderson wrote on Twitter during the meeting he does not support “any restrictions to public participation at any public meetings.”

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Hernandez was eventually allowed to speak during the public comment period but only from the lobby of the district’s headquarters at the Emily Griffith Campus. Hernandez addressed the board and said eliminating teachers of color goes against everything the district stands for.

“This is governmental oppression,” Hernandez said during the public comment period remotely. “What is happening to our teachers of color is absolutely repressive.”

Sixty-seven percent of North’s students identify as Latinx, according to DPS. But Hernandez was the only such teacher in the school’s English department. 

Hernandez was hired as a traditional teacher at North in 2021 and teaches literature with a specific focus on Latinx books.  He quickly became a student favorite/ However, at the end of his first year he was told to apply for for a one-year contact because the district didn’t have enough funds to hire him as a traditional teacher.

He was given the one-year contract, but the district had the option to either retain Hernandez or let the contact expire. He was informed earlier this month that he was not going to be retained, according to 9News, The Denver Gazette’s news partner.

Elizabeth Campbell, a teacher at North, said during the meeting she was hired in a similar fashion but when it came for her evaluation she was not required to reinterview for her position.

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“I had similar teacher evaluation scores to Mr. Hernandez. I did not have a letter of recommendation from my department like him, and I had lower student perception scores than he did,” Campbell, a white educator said. “He apparently did not interview well enough for a job he’s already doing. An interview I never had to do.”

Hernandez told 9News he had high performing scores based on teacher observations and student perception. He believes he was let go over differences in regards to equity in his classroom with administrators and leaders.

“I was let go for retaliatory reasons. I have clashed with administrators and leaders of my school over what I think equity looks like for my neighborhood,” Hernandez told 9News. 

Those who spoke to the school board on Thursday evening, including Hernandez, said they will continue to push the district. “to do the right thing” and retain Hernandez. 

“Our students are using their voice to demand the rehire of Mr. Hernandez,” said Emely Contreras, a teacher at North. “Our students and staff will keep fighting for him because he’s our community. Tim is North.”