Copyright The Denver Post
Superintendent Alex Marrero met almost 74% of his goals during the 2024-25 academic year, a measure that the Denver Public Schools board said reflects a change in policy governance and monitoring “rather than a departure from progress or accountability,” according to his evaluation. Marrero met at least 85% of his goals during the previous academic year, according to his 2024 evaluation. The board unanimously approved the superintendent’s evaluation at a public meeting Thursday after several discussions that were held behind closed doors in executive sessions. Board members did not speak at length about the evaluation beyond praising Marrero. “Your passion really is Denver Public Schools,” board President Carrie Olson. The seven-member school board extended Marrero’s contract through 2028 earlier this year. At the time, directors said they did so because they wanted DPS to have consistent leadership as K-12 institutions face threats to federal funding, but community and political groups criticized the contract extension because members hadn’t yet conducted this year’s evaluation of Marrero’s leadership and because control of the school board could change after next week’s election. In extending Marrero’s contract, directors also stripped Marrero’s ability to earn a bonus and made it harder for future boards to fire the superintendent without cause by requiring a supermajority, or five votes. Marrero, who was hired in 2021, has led DPS through school closures because of declining enrollment, and as the district likely became the first in the nation to sue the Trump administration in an effort to prevent immigration raids from occurring in schools. DPS dropped the lawsuit after the federal government said it hadn’t changed federal policy around immigration enforcement on school property. “(I’m) really appreciative of all that you did to bring your teams together and work really close with us as a board to ensure that, at a time a really tough decision had to be made, that we were on board,” board member Kimberlee Sia told Marrero about his handling of school closures. DPS also met expectations in enough academic performance areas — such as test scores and graduation rates — during the 2024-25 academic year that the district received a “green,” or Accredited rating from the Colorado Department of Education for the first time in six years. Green is one of the top ratings a district can receive on the state’s academic framework. DPS recently celebrated students’ performance on last year’s Colorado Measures of Academic Success, which saw students perform the same or better in almost every grade when compared to the 2023-24 academic year. The school board lauded Marrero for students’ growth on the standardized tests, but noted that pupils’ performance in literacy failed to meet the district’s goals. “Persistent achievement gaps by race and special population status require continued focus, particularly in early literacy and differentiated supports,” members wrote in the 22-page report. Community groups and school board candidates have criticized Marrero, and the district more broadly, for not doing enough to address academic gaps that persist among students of color and their white peers. For example, only 14.4% of fourth-graders who took the Spanish language arts exam showed proficiency in the subject, according to the latest data from the education department. “This past year was difficult because of everything that was brought up to us,” Marrero said when asked by Sia about academic outcomes. “We have an opportunity upon us (to improve academic outcomes).”
