In just six weeks, voters will head to the polls to decide who will represent the families of 90,000 students on the Denver Public Schools Board of Election.

The field of nine candidates includes at least three former teachers and a principal, a security expert, a business owner and a long-time district volunteer.

This year’s election could be the most consequential since voters “flipped” the board to all-union backed members in 2019.

Intense public interest – and discontent – in the board could boost turnout in a race that historically sees very low turnout, election watchers have said. In addition to a recall effort, at least two polls show fewer than three in 10 voters regarded education officials positively.

From school closures, gun violence, an illegal executive session to discuss returning armed police officers to campus, an innovation zone controversy and the firing of popular principal, the board has faced withering criticism for months.

To better know the candidates, The Denver Gazette posed a series of questions to each on a variety of topics including school safety, declining enrollment and academic achievement, among others.

Each week, The Denver Gazette will publish a number of the responses from each candidate.

Here are the questions for this week:

Why did you decide to run for the DPS school board?

Scott Baldermann (District 1): I am running for reelection because every student needs the maximum resources and opportunities to meet their full potential. This starts with identifying our values and priorities through policy and holding the superintendent accountable for the results. When I joined the board, no by-laws existed, and there was no vision due to the Denver 2020 Plan expiring – it was the true definition of chaos and dysfunction. I partnered with my colleagues to vote in 40 new policies, which shifted us to policy governances.

Paul Ballenger (At-large): I am running because our schools are often times not safe for staff and students. I believe the board should function far better and exemplify servant leadership. We need to do a better job collaborating with the city and stakeholders to leverage resources available in Colorado for our educators and students. We need to bring the world to them so they can thrive. Successful organizations start with great leaders. We must do much better. Like many, my family have felt the repercussions of poor leadership and bad policy and we must do better as a city.

Marlene De La Rosa (District 5): I am running for school board to continue to serve the students and families in DPS, which I have been serving for the past decades. Our district needs change, collaboration with families, students and teachers. There remains a significant achievement gap in our district. My highest priority is what I can do to ensure the needs of the students are met, especially those who need it the most. We need to focus on the various academic needs of every student.

Editor’s note: The Denver Gazette reached out to candidates via email and phone, including Director Charmaine Lindsay, on multiple occasions to ensure we had responses from all nine candidates. Lindsay provided her responses on Monday Sept. 25, 2023.

Charmaine Lindsay (District 5): I am running for school board because I am one year into being chosen to replace Brad Laurvick and I feel that I have a great deal more to accomplish. During the past year I have focused on making well-informed, intelligent decisions, always with the goal of doing what I believe to be in the best interests of the students of DPS. I have made these often-difficult choices without caving into political pressure.

Kimberlee Sia (District 1): As an educator and leader with over 25 years of experience working with schools and districts and the mother of two DPS students, I believe we can ask for more from our education system. I am running for the DPS school board because the board needs to prioritize academic success and well-being of our students. Our community wants a return to a student-centered focus, increased transparency from the board, and accountability for board actions. I believe as a new member of the school board, I can bring leadership, a collaborative spirit, and a student-centered focus back to the board.

Adam Slutzker (District 5): I left classroom teaching in 2014 to focus time on raising young children as my wife was in grad school and working. I’ve always wanted to get involved at a local level to help make my community a better place and I believe serving on school board is the best opportunity for me to have a meaningful impact. My experience as both an educator and parent provide a unique lens into the challenges facing the district. Trying to navigate the small schools closure as chairperson of the Columbian Elementary CSC led me to file my candidacy.

Kwame Spearman (At-large): I am the son of a DPS teacher and a DPS graduate. I know two things about DPS: Its role is to support our students, teachers, and community, and, at its best, DPS can positively transform lives and outcomes. The latter is what happened to me.

DPS is at an inflection point. We need new leadership to help us address safety, teacher compensation, and our achievement gap. I see a future where 100% of our third graders can be at reading level, 100% of our high school students can graduate, and 100% of our students can feel safe in school.

John Youngquist (At-large): I am running for the DPS school board because our school district is not currently fulfilling the promise that every student thrives. The focus on children has become distracted by the selfish interests of board members and gaps in the basic work of the district. Parents are unsure of the safety of their students and schools are not receiving the support they need. I have a proven track record leading schools and districts to greater success and I look forward to applying my experience to the work of this board.

Identify what you consider to be the three biggest issues facing Denver Public Schools and how, if elected, you intend to solve it and in what time frame.

Baldermann: DPS’s largest challenges are declining enrollment, segregation, and chronic absenteeism. My policy proposals would include 1) proactive community engagement to define which schools should be merged in their neighborhoods in the next five years; 2) require that the district analyze and adjust school boundaries every four years to ensure they are not further causing segregation; 3) immediately give students that qualify for free/reduced lunch, students with IEPs, multilingual learners priority school choice. I would also update Ends policy 3.0 (Student Wellbeing) to reference chronic absenteeism so it becomes an annual evaluation metric for the superintendent.

Ballenger: The three greatest issues are safety, teacher and student retention and the education gap.

Safety: Revise the discipline matrix, create security standards, ensure the climate and safety team is effectively led and create a public safety dashboard.

Retention: Create a safe environment so educators can focus on teaching. Build public and private partnerships to generate savings to offset the costs of living.

Education gap: To close the gap, we must replicate best practices and ensure all schools are adequately resourced.

Timeline, one year for safety, up to two years for retention, and housing in four.

DeLaRosa: The board of education will work with the superintendent to refine the safety plan and establish annual timelines, milestones and goals reported to the community. Hiring/retaining diverse educators: The board must work with the superintendent to establish annual goals to improve the hiring and retention of BIPOC teachers. I’d encourage staff to examine best practices of other districts with success hiring and retaining teachers that reflect student demographics. Academic achievement: I will work to establish annual milestones, while encouraging staff to look at urban districts with similar demographics that have successfully accelerate academic achievement for all students.

Lindsay: 1) Reading and Math: I plan on making this a priority by identifying areas where resources are needed by visiting schools, talking to teachers and parents, and researching programs that can close the achievement gap.

2) Safety: I voted to allow (SROs) to return to Denver Public Schools, with safeguards in place and allowing for each individual school to decide for themselves rather than creating a policy that banned officers from all Denver Schools.

3) Declining Enrollment: One of Denver Public Schools biggest challenges. I will work with the community to come up with creative solutions for these situations.

Sia: The biggest challenges facing DPS include improving school safety, ensuring students thrive academically, and providing comprehensive mental health supports. These challenges present an opportunity to improve and invest in our school district for better academic and social-emotional outcomes for all students. The current school board has not made all decisions with student outcomes in mind. It is the board’s responsibility to ensure every school has sufficient resources to support individual student needs. Focusing on these three issues and setting clear metrics for success, I anticipate seeing measurable results by the end of my first term on the DPS school board.

Slutzker: Addressing Declining Enrollment and School Closures: I would work to make sure school closures are well thought out and we are carefully reviewing what communities are being impacted and try and make those hard decisions as equitable as possible throughout the district.

Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Work to limit class sizes to prevent burnout and to make sure we are offering highly competitive pay to all school staff.

School Safety: Make sure we are properly funding and staffing mental health and social services in all schools across the district.

Spearman: By the end of my first term, we must establish a culture of excellence and safety, elevate our teachers through better compensation and resources to successfully educate, and restore faith in the district and its leadership.

We need leaders who can build a vision that inspires and unites Denver. As a DPS graduate and son of a teacher, there is no one who believes in DPS more than me. At the same time, as an outsider, I can offer a fresh perspective, as DPS must evolve to better meet student needs and close our alarmingly high achievement gaps.

Youngquist: 1) Safe Schools and Redesigned Mental Health Services: Require our superintendent to confirm a Memorandum of Understanding with Denver Police in my first 60 days and to create a plan to triple the number of School-based Health Clinics by 2025.

2) Transparent and Strong Organization: Require transparency with district finances so decisions relating to priorities like school closure and teacher pay can be supported by a Board that is informed and knowledgeable (May, 2024).

3) Complete Focus on Teaching and Learning: Support teachers as our most valuable resource (immediately) and redesign teacher evaluation and professional learning systems (November, 2024)

Editor’s note: Candidate Brittni Johnson did not respond to The Denver Gazette questionnaire.