The law firm hired to investigate whether a Denver school board member acted with “racial insensitivity” toward district staff did not conclusively find bias.

The district retained Garnett Powell Maximon Barlow & Farbes on June 26 to investigate the allegations brought by Superintendent Alex Marrero, which included a claim that Director John Youngquist was vying for his job.

Marrero, in a letter to board President Carrie Olson, requested that Youngquist be censured.

“In reaching our conclusions, we acknowledge and carefully consider the fact that the majority of Dr. Marrero’s senior staff members are persons of color,” the report said. “We recognize this creates a natural skew in the findings, given there are few comparators towards whom Mr. Youngquist’s conduct can be analyzed.”

“We are unable to reach a conclusion as to whether Mr. Youngquist deliberately acted in a biased manner towards some District leaders of color based on the available evidence,” the report said.

The report also noted that “the investigation did not uncover any evidence of overt or intentionally biased conduct by Mr. Youngquist. Moreover, it is conceivable that Mr. Youngquist’s conduct — in particular, pushing back on data and asking critical and/or repetitive questions — is consistent with what he views to be his mission as a board member.”

Marrero declined to comment.

But in an email Monday to the board and provided to The Denver Gazette, Marrero said the findings of the investigation were troubling.

“The details outlined in the report confirm what many have experienced firsthand: a sustained pattern of behavior that is both damaging and unacceptable in any professional environment,” Marrero wrote. “No one should be expected to work under such conditions.”

In a statement to The Denver Gazette, Youngquist said his attorney last week sent a letter to the investigator expressing concerns about the investigation and what he called its “retaliatory” nature. Youngquist said he intends “to take legal action at the appropriate time.”

Youngquist declined to comment further.

The board is expected to discuss the report during a special meeting Wednesday.

‘It’s a real attack on me’

In April, Marrero wrote a letter to Olson outlining seven complaints about Youngquist, who was seated on the board two years ago in an election that saw none of the incumbents reelected.

“Over the past year, Mr. Youngquist has consistently demonstrated a pattern of hostility, policy violations, racial insensitivity, and at unethical conduct that is created at toxic working environment undermined district leadership and distracted from our core mission, observing all students equitably,” Marrero wrote Olson in an April 22 letter.

“Most troubling, it is increasingly clear that Mr. Youngquist is not invested in the success of Denver public schools. Instead, his behavior signals an intent to cause harm — in pursuit of personal ambition.”

Youngquist was elected in a campaign to shift control of the DPS board by electing new members aligned with reform-minded or anti-Marrero factions.

Before running for the at large seat in 2023, Youngquist was a longtime educator who served as an area superintendent for DPS and as principal at East High School — the district’s flagship campus.

Marrero’s two-page letter to Olson in April also alleged that Youngquist violated district norms by contacting and directing staff without board authorization, disclosed confidential information and challenged the validity of student assessment outcomes.

Academic outcomes — particularly the achievement gap between students of color and their White peers — have become a central issue on the campaign trail, raised by all the candidates vying for the four open board seats.

Youngquist has previously said that he was blindsided by the complaint.

“It’s a real attack on me,” Youngquist said in May. “I don’t understand the intent or motivation behind this.”

The 29-page report highlighted excerpts from more than two dozen interviews with current and former district employees, including Marrero’s leadership team, as well as board members.

As of September, the investigation has cost nearly $80,000, said Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson.

‘Not good enough’

The investigation probed just two of Marrero’s allegations, specifically whether Youngquist was hostile and demeaning toward staff and if his behavior reflected racist or oppressive undercurrents.

The report’s findings were mixed.

Some members of color staff reported a perceived unfavorable treatment. Others didn’t.

“It is more likely than not that Mr. Youngquist exhibited bias in interactions with some District leaders of color,” the report concluded.

Examples cited in the report include a witness who said Youngquist called the district’s graduation rate “not good enough”; his failure to clap when Marrero was named superintendent of the year; refusing to shake a staff member’s hand; referencing another employee’s accent; and questioning the legal advice from an attorney representing the district.

“No witness interviewed described Mr. Youngquist as saying or doing anything that exhibited overt racism, such as the use of racial slurs,” the report said.

None of the witnesses was named in the report.

While the report also detailed Youngquist questioning the legal advice of an unnamed attorney for the district, DPS has faced scrutiny over the guidance it has received from General Counsel Aaron Thompson.

In the wake of the shooting at East High School in 2023, Thompson advised the board during an executive session that was later ruled illegal by a Denver District Court. Public bodies in Colorado are permitted to meet privately for specific legal purposes — such as receiving legal advice or discussing personnel matters — but not to debate or decide public policy.

That session — a recording of which The Denver Gazette and other media outlets successfully sued to obtain — involved discussions about changing the district’s policy on returning armed police officers to schools.

More recently, First Amendment attorney Steve Zansberg has said the board likely violated the state’s open-meetings law when Olson formed a two-member committee to review Marrero’s contract extension and routed draft language through Thompson outside of public view.

Neither Pribble nor Thompson could be immediately reached for comment about the legal strategies adopted by the district.

The findings come amid a broader climate in which accusations of racism have become increasingly common, often leveled against those who question or challenge district leadership. Community leaders have warned that overusing such accusations can dull its meaning and derail real conversations about equity.

It is unclear, beyond discussing the report, what action — if any — the board may take.