Former McAuliffe International Principal Kurt Dennis on Tuesday filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Denver Public Schools.

Filed in federal court, the 31-page lawsuit alleges that the district acted inappropriately when terminating Dennis’ employment in July.

Dennis’ firing, the complaint alleges, was in retaliation for speaking to the media about policies that allow “violent students to remain on campus and to silence him from further criticizing” the district.

The lawsuit provides a rare glimpse into district practices when dealing with students accused of violent crimes.

Public interest in school safety has intensified in the wake of a student shooting two administrators in March at the district’s flagship campus, East High School. Authorities said the student later killed himself. 

A popular principal, Dennis’ July 3 firing generated public outrage and a petition with more than 6,200 signatures demanding the district reinstate him.

His attorney, David Lane, said Tuesday that Dennis wants to be reinstated but not under the current board.

“He loves McAuliffe,” Lane said. “He loves his students and whole staff and faculty and would like to go back.”

Despite widespread, public criticism, the school board affirmed Superintendent Alex Marrero’s termination decision in a 6-1 vote on Aug. 24.

Director Scott Baldermann, the lone dissenting vote, said he couldn’t support a very public termination process, which has since included racism allegations and the supposed inappropriate use of a “de-escalation” room. A district investigation found that Dennis did not engage in “discrimination, harassment, or retaliation” when putting McAuliffe International students into the de-escalation room. 

In addition to Marrero, Board President Xóchitl Gaytán, Vice President Auon’tai Anderson, Treasurer Scott Esserman, Secretary Michelle Quattlebaum and Directors Carrie Olson and Charmaine Lindsay were named in the suit.

Baldermann was the only board member not named.

Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Gaytán and Anderson did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

‘High level of concern’

Lane has said for months that the firing stemmed from an interview Dennis gave The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, in which he shared the district had pressured him to accommodate potentially dangerous students.

District officials have denied this.

The federal lawsuit lays out the following claims against the district and school board.

Dennis requested – prior to the March 23 shooting at East – that the district remotely educate a McAuliffe student, who had been charged with attempted murder, until the pending criminal case is resolved.

Dennis’ safety fears were amplified by Denver Police, who said, in a statement captured in a recording, that “they felt this student posed a danger to the McAuliffe community and should not be on campus.” 

Under state law, a district’s school board is tasked with determining, in executive session, whether a juvenile student charged with a violent crime has exhibited behavior detrimental to school safety and whether to suspend or expel the student.

District officials, however, denied Dennis’ request.

Instead, the district directed Dennis and McAuliffe staff to conduct what’s called a “threat assessment,” which found the student accused of entering a liquor store to rob it and then shooting at the clerk behind the counter was a “high level of concern.”

The safety plan for the student – who wore a visible ankle monitor – required daily weapon pat-downs and a staff escort at all times while on a campus of 1,500.

“If this student brought a weapon to school and attempted to use it, the administrators had no training on how to prevent that or a method for stopping it if shooting began,” the lawsuit says.

‘It’s a stupid balancing act’

In the aftermath of the East High shooting, the district endured criticism for compelling unarmed and untrained administrators to conduct pat-down weapon searches.

Marrero has since reversed his stance on this.

But this was not the case while Dennis was principal at McAuliffe.

Critics also blasted the district for a perceived too-lenient discipline matrix, which is used to determine how to respond to problematic student behaviors, such as firearm possession, a criminal offense for minors.

The district’s discipline matrix makes a distinction between on and off-campus behaviors. For example, when a firearm is discovered on a student off campus, “there must be a sufficient nexus to school” to proceed with a discipline, such as expulsion.

Board members have vigorously defended the discipline matrix in an effort to balance what they described as their commitment to educate all students with the safety of everyone on campus.

Lane called into question, as parents have, the appropriateness of policies that appear to pit the educational rights of one against campus safety.

“It’s an absurd policy,” Lane said Thursday. “If a kid is violent with a gun, would you want your kid in school with them?”

Lane added: “It’s not a delicate balance act. It’s a stupid balancing act.”

Last updated two years ago, the discipline matrix is undergoing a review, according to district officials.