Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero issued a stern warning to the board of education: Override his decision to temporarily return armed police officers to the district’s high schools and Mayor Michael B. Hancock would step in with an executive order.

“It’s beyond our control,” Marrero told the board during the March 23 executive session released Saturday. 

Hancock’s office has long maintained that no such threat was ever issued. 

The never-heard before conversation is the public’s first glimpse into the board’s early response to the shooting of two administrators at East High School, the district’s flagship campus. 

DPS officials held the conversation in executive session, and then fought the release of the recording, until now. Denver Public Schools Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson, who advocated for the recording’s release, posted a snippet of it on Twitter on Friday after the board unanimously voted to release it.

The recording had already been ordered released by a district judge in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of local news outlets that includes The Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics.

“Even if you all override me, which is going to be terminal, the mayor can enact an executive order … just like he did with the vaccine mandate,” Marrero said. “So, I understand that this is a very problematic conversation to have, but it’s going to happen. It’s beyond our control.”

As his words hung in the air, Marrero added, “I would hope that it can be our decision, but we are going to be tied to an executive order, at least that’s what (Hancock) told me yesterday evening.”

Board President Xóchitl Gaytán then asked Marrero what a potential executive order would entail.

In response, Marrero said they could face “sanctions” similar to the mayor’s vaccine mandate two years ago.

Denver Public Schools superintendent requested secret meeting to discuss policy change

Hancock’s vaccine order in August 2021 was among the first of its kind in Colorado at the time, spurred by the rise in COVID-19 infections. The order required municipal, hospital, long-term care, school, jail and prison, and homeless workers to be vaccinated by the end of September that year.

Under it, every teacher and staff member in Denver at every level of schooling was required to be vaccinated. The order also applied to the city’s roughly 10,000 municipal workers. The order extended beyond people who work directly for the city or for government in general and covered employees at hospitals and nursing homes. At the time, Hancock said the city would work with city employees who have questions but that there “might be some folks who may lose their jobs behind this, we recognize that.”

“Well, then, I think the conversation is moot for the district to be having,” Anderson said in the recording, “because our opinions don’t matter.”

Following a string of violence in Denver Public Schools last academic year, the board held a closed door executive session.

Tom Hellauer
tom.hellauer@denvergazette.comTomHellauer
tom.hellauer@denvergazette.com
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a3dc80c0a9d47d671f1f3da872cc0a06?s=100&d=mm&r=g

At Friday’s special meeting, where the board decided to release the executive session’s recording, Anderson said that, if not for Hancock’s “threat,” he didn’t believe armed officers would be back on campus.

Hancock’s administration had maintained that no threat was issued from the mayor’s office. In response to Anderson’s claim at the time, Denver City Attorney Kerry Tipper told The Denver Gazette that no executive order forcing school resource officers into DPS schools had been discussed, nor would the mayor issue such an emergency declaration.

“To the contrary, DPS approached Chief Thomas and the Mayor about our capacity to reinstate SROs and we scrambled to accommodate the request as much as possible,” Tipper said.

The mayor’s office insisted the decision to put back SROs in schools came from Marrero alone and that “there’s no truth to Director Anderson’s claim.”

“At no point did the Mayor propose an executive order, nor did he threaten to issue one as an ultimatum if the school board refused to act,” Mike Strott, the mayor’s spokesperson, said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “Mayor Hancock does not bully or threaten people.” 

Hancock’s office also said that, despite his public opposition to school resource officers, Anderson asked the Denver Police Department to deploy scores of SROs to schools following the shooting at East High School, and that Anderson made such a request to Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas before the DPS board voted to return SROs to schools.

Anderson – who was reprimanded by Gaytán for disclosing to the press information shared in the executive session – did not dispute that he asked Thomas to return SROs to Denver schools.

Last month, the board reversed its 2020 ban and reinstated SROs in a split 4-3 vote.

It reversed itself again on Friday by voting to release the video.

DPS fights court order to release executive session tape to media coalition

For months the district has maintained that the executive session was properly held in accordance with state law. And they fought its release, despite a ruling by District Court Judge Andrew Luxen, who found the district had violated Colorado’s opening meeting law and ordered its release. 

Marrero had called for the board to meet out of the public view to discuss the district’s policy against school resource officers.

At least three board members – Anderson and directors Scott Baldermann and Michelle Quattlebaum – have said they believe the executive session was improper.

An attorney representing the media coalition said if not for the lawsuit, it is doubtful the public would have access to the recording because the district denied Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests and fought its release in court.

“There’s no doubt whatsoever that, but for this litigation, that Denver Public Schools would not be releasing the recording today or any day,” said Steve Zansberg, an attorney for the media coalition.

Denver judge finds ‘reasonable’ belief DPS executive session violated Open Meetings Law