Former Denver Public Schools spokesperson warns of district transparency issues
DENVER (KDVR) — Is there too much secrecy within Denver Public Schools? The former executive director of communications for the district is speaking out, sharing exactly why he’s concerned about transparency there.
Will Jones, former head of communications for Denver Public Schools, left his position in February after nearly nine years with the communications team.
On Monday evening at a district public comment and progress monitoring session, Jones spoke publicly for one of the first times since he left his position.
From Monday: Longtime Denver Public Schools employee joins parents in voicing concerns
On Thursday, he held a news conference following the statement he made.
“I have a feeling that I’m going to be painted as a disgruntled employee, which I’m not,” Jones said. “From what I’ve observed over the past three years, new policies such as executive limitations and confidentiality agreements for employees are not aligned with the values that once guided our work at DPS. Executive limitations and confidentiality agreements hinder efforts towards transparency.”
During his time with DPS, Jones worked with different school board members and superintendents.
“Under the current system Marrero is the sole employee and he is the one, he and his whoever he selects to provide information, provides information to the board,” Jones said of Superintendent Alex Marrero. “Talking to board members yesterday and them saying, ‘I didn’t know that’ let me know that the information is not being shared as readily as I think it should be and as it has been in the past.”
FOX31 asked for examples.
“One of the things that I talked with with the board members was about the new security plan. I asked them if they knew how that was created. I asked them if they knew what Murphy Robinson was going to do for the district,” Jones said of the consultant hired to review the district’s safety protocols. “I asked them if they knew how much we were paying. And I’m not saying that all board members didn’t know, but the board members I talked to didn’t know. Maybe that’s by design.”
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Jones talked about the impact he noticed after the board voted for policy governance.
“The rest of us are not supposed to talk to the board unless it’s about something, I think like life-threatening,” he said. “Former board member Anderson is here. He can tell you he came by my office many times and I would have to politely explain to him, ‘I can’t answer that. You have to ask the superintendent.’ And then I would let the superintendent know that, you know, one of the board members came to me and then the superintendent would handle that as he saw fit.”
Parents from the district spoke to FOX31 about their reaction to these statements.
“The district is on fire,” Lynn, a parent with two students in the district said. “The board needs to do something to reverse the executive limitations and start to hold the superintendent accountable. We need more transparency. What’s going on in the district?”
FOX31 emailed and texted DPS for comment. They provided us with the following statement:
“The Denver Public Schools Board of Education adheres to a Policy Governance Model and is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the district, focusing instead on setting strategic goals and maintaining clear operational boundaries. The Board interacts directly only with the Superintendent, their sole employee, to ensure a streamlined management structure. This is done to prevent each of the Board Members from meeting with individual departments and providing their direction to that team. The Board provides direction to me and the departments receive their directions from one voice, not seven. This approach aligns with best practices endorsed by the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) and facilitates accountability and effective communication. This model was implemented by the Board of Education.
“Executive Limitations (ELs) are a part of the Policy Governance Model. ELs have nothing to do with the way the superintendent communicates with the Board. ELs are guidelines that are established by the Board to direct me on how they want the work carried out. You can think of the ELs as bumpers on a bowling alley. Once the policies and guidelines have been established by the Board, the superintendent drafts the Reasonable Interpretation for each policy. This becomes the superintendent’s plan to get DPS to goal completion and accomplishment. The Board provides feedback if they don’t agree with the path, and the Board and the superintendent will come to an agreement on the direction to accomplish the goal.”
Denver Public Schools
At about 5 p.m., DPS issued a second statement.
“Policy Governance (PG) is a model of governance accepted by school districts across Colorado and nationwide. PG is the preferred method of governance endorsed by the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB). The Board of Education voted for the adoption and implementation of its PG model. Under Colorado law, the Board has access to all District information. The previous iteration of the Board, through policy, agreed to limit its information requests to reduce the administrative burden on District staff and resources. If the Board ever believes it is not receiving the information it requires, the Board may revisit and change this policy at any time. As part of its regular duties, the Board regularly revisits its policies to better reflect the current needs of the District, the Board, and its staff.
The Board looks forward to working with the community to promote further understanding and acceptance of Policy Governance and how this governing model better serves all our learners and educators.”
Denver Public Schools
FOX31 will continue to follow this story as it develops.
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