The Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted 6-1 Thursday to approve Superintendent Alex Marrero’s firing of McAuliffe International Middle School Principal Kurt Dennis.

But not without board members sniping at one another.

Director Scott Baldermann was the lone dissenting vote.

The board voted to accept Marrero’s actions for all the employees, unnamed, in what’s called a “Personnel Transaction Report” with new hires, layoffs and terminations, including Dennis.

It is unknown, as a personnel matter, how many employees comprise what’s called the “Personnel Transaction Report.”

In explaining his no vote, Baldermann took aim – without mentioning by name – Vice President Auon’tai Anderson for holding a news conference to discuss the investigation of a “seclusion room” under Dennis’ watch at McAuliffe in which Black students were locked inside.

“I can’t support the process,” Baldermann said, reading from a prepared statement.

Other members rushed to Anderson’s defense.

“It’s troubling that we have a board member who chooses to make accusations about things that didn’t happen,” said Director Scott Esserman.

Even Director Charmaine Lindsay, who is notoriously quiet during board meetings, weighed in on Dennis’ firing, saying the whistleblowers’ accusations were “certainly horrific and appalling.”

“I had plenty of information before the seclusion room to vote to terminate,” Lindsay said.

At least seven whistleblowers have stepped forward with concerns over a monitored “seclusion room” with photos that show a latch on the outside of the door to room 121E and a padlock on a window at McAuliffe.

Anderson and others have characterized room 121E as an “incarceration room.”

Typically, the personnel report is included in the consent agenda, which contains a number of items board members can vote on with a single motion.

The board, however, opted to discuss Dennis’ termination.

A popular principal among many parents, Dennis’ July 3 firing has generated public outrage and a petition with more than 6,200 signatures demanding his reinstatement.

Roughly a dozen parents and students spoke in support of reinstating Dennis during public comment in front of the board on Monday.

The majority of his supporters publicly were white, something that wasn’t lost on board members Thursday.

Dennis’ attorney, David Lane, has said the firing stemmed from an interview the then principal gave the Denver Gazette’s news partner 9News, after two administrators at East High School were shot in March. In that 9News interview, Dennis said the district pressured him to accommodate potentially dangerous students.

Under state law, students in seclusion rooms must be continually monitored either through a window or video camera.

The district widely uses what’s referred to as a “de-escalation” room as a sort of time out for agitated students to calm down.

Lane has previously said that the seclusion room at McAuliffe was used for a couple of students last academic year and was approved by the district, a school psychologist and the students’ parents.

The incident is being investigated by DPS and was referred to the Denver Police Department, Anderson has said.