DENVER – Several community advocacy groups are coming together to protest the Denver Public Schools process for hiring the next superintendent.
On Thursday, representatives from the Colorado Black Round Table, Congress of Hispanic Educators, Auraria Historical Advocacy Council, and Transform Education Now held a news conference to publicly express their concerns regarding the final three candidates for DPS superintendent.
“None of them have really been the head of a district of 90,000 students. The search firm — this is the first time that they’ve done a superintendent search. While I don’t hold that against anybody, I’m a partner. And as a community education partner, partners don’t let partners fail,” said John Bailey, director of the Colorado Black Round Table.
Bailey said the groups do not think that the candidates have enough in-depth knowledge of the unique challenges that DPS currently faces and has faced in the past.
Bailey also said they do not want the next leader to implement a new vision for the district, instead they want consistency and continuity.
“As I looked through their bios and heard what they had to say and compared that against what the district needs right now in terms of the leadership that is knowledgeable, that is committed, that has a continuity value added — they just weren't a fit,” Bailey said.
Bailey said the candidates seem passionate and enthusiastic, but they want the school board to slow down the hiring process to find a better fit.
In the meantime, Bailey said the advocates would like Interim Superintendent Dwight Jones to continue filling the role until more candidates can be interviewed.