DPS pushes back as city officials seek to influence policy, board elections
District still has concerns about balance of power on revived coordinating committee
Despite an anodyne name, the dormant Cityschool Coordinating Committee that Denver city officials are seeking to revive has become a flashpoint in a seeming power struggle with leaders of Denver Public Schools.
The intent of the committee is simple enough, as city officials want to establish a formal channel for regular discussion of safety challenges and other school issues of public concern. But debate that played out in public Wednesday between district officials and City Council members — including over who will serve on the new panel and how it will operate — underlined potentially higher stakes, especially as Mayor Mike Johnston this week took sides in the contentious fall DPS board elections.
Johnston previously referred to the fractious school board as “a public embarrassment” during this year’s mayoral campaign. He called for change Tuesday when he endorsed a trio of reform-minded candidates backed by Educate Denver, a civic group that also supports the coordinating committee’s reactivation.
Two of their favored candidates are running against incumbent school board members who have the backing of the teacher’s union.
Deep Badhesha, Denver Public Schools’ government political liaison, on Wednesday lamented what he described as City Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval — a member of Educate Denver — pushing through the proposed ordinance language on an “express timeline,” despite repeated requests by the district to slow down and work more collaboratively.
A council committee that DPS hoped to delay went ahead anyway on Wednesday. The panel advanced the proposal, which would revive and update the City-school Coordinating Committee in the city’s laws, to the full council for potential consideration next month.
The coordinating committee, an advisory body, has been part of Denver’s municipal code since the 1930s, according to Sandoval. But the group hasn’t been convened in years, since the first term of former Mayor Michael Hancock’s 12-year tenure.
In the wake of significant recent school safety challenges in DPS and an affordable housing crunch more broadly, Sandoval said she felt it was time to bring it back. Joining her last week in announcing the move were Johnston as well as former mayors Wellington Webb and Federico Peña, also members of Educate Denver.
But some DPS leaders view city officials’ intentions suspiciously — or worry that DPS critics will latch onto it.
“I believe that there are some folks in community that also would weaponize this ordinance and think of this as the council taking over control of the school board, and that’s just not true,” DPS board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson said during the committee meeting. He went on to defend the current board’s track record and said “this ordinance does need a little bit of work before the council takes a final vote.”
Johnston, a former educator, long has been viewed as a political foe by teachers unions dating back to he time as a state senator, when he championed reform legislation that included a law overhauling teacher evaluations.
Last week, mayoral spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said the efforts to revive the coordinating committee are “not a move to take over DPS, but rather increase collaboration for overall success of kids.”