Denver school board dispute involves salaries, misconduct allegations

A dispute between Denver school board members that will air publicly Thursday night follows a year-long attempt by an elected principal to receive full compensation for his official duties and incidents he had with the least two senior Denver Public Schools officials.

Three school board members (Michelle Quattlebaum, Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán and Scott Esserman) publicly accused John Youngquist, who joined the board in late 2023, of “behavior unbecoming of a board member toward DPS staff” last month.

Youngquist, they noted, had come forward with his own allegations, accusing his colleagues of violating Colorado’s open meetings law after he was excluded from an executive session in December.

“Your subsequent threats, accusations of legal violations, and overall unprofessional behavior toward your fellow board members do not align with the respectful and collaborative tone we are all expected to maintain,” Quattlebaum, Gaytán and Esserman wrote in a letter to the board meeting on December 17. President Carrie Olson.

But the three board members stopped short of detailing specifically how their colleague violated board policies when it came to district employees.

Youngquist, who expressed surprise at the allegations, told The Denver Post that he is aware of two instances in which he offended top district officials. The first occurred in February, when he was told he had offended DPS Chief of Staff Deborah Staten, but Youngquist said he was unclear how he did it.

A month later, tensions erupted between Youngquist and Aaron Thompson, the district’s general counsel, during an email exchange in which Thompson noted that the school board member had repeatedly challenged the attorney’s legal advice and suggested that the school board’s reaction Youngquist was due to racial bias, according to emails obtained. by The Mail.

Youngquist, in an interview Wednesday, said that once he realized he had offended Thompson, he asked the attorney for coffee so he could learn more and understand his concerns.

“I didn’t know him well at the time,” Youngquist said. “I was just working with the information I was getting and the information I felt like I wasn’t getting.”

Olson added a public discussion of the dispute to Thursday’s board agenda. He declined to say what exactly will be discussed during the meeting, but acknowledged that he is aware of the two incidents involving Youngquist and senior DPS staff that could “possibly” come up during the meeting.

“I have an idea (of what will be discussed), but we’ll let this process play out,” Olson said.

It is rare for directors to formally air their grievances at a public meeting, as board policy states that any violations must first be addressed in private, although the The DPS board has been known for its infighting in recent years.

The school board’s decision to publicly discuss the allegations against Youngquist is a second step in the process of censuring a board member. Olson said there will be no vote to censure Youngquist during Thursday’s meeting.

“My hope is that this ends here and that we work to build a better working relationship between all of us,” he said, adding: “My vision is that we have this discussion and get back to work right away.”

Quattlebaum, Gaytán and Esserman either declined to comment for this story or did not respond to requests for comment.

A closed session and payment issues

In an email sent by Youngquist to Olson on Dec. 17, the director accused the board of violating state statute by failing to adequately state the topic of a Dec. 12 executive session that addressed board compensation and how it relates to with the rules established by the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Associationor PEAR.

Youngquist said he was told to leave the meeting and could not participate in the closed session.

An older DPS plate voted in 2021 to pay members for their official dutiesand, two years later, the directors increased compensation up to $33,000 per year per person. Board members do not receive automatic pay, but can request compensation based on the hours they have worked.

But two board members, Olson and Youngquist, face the problem of receiving their full pay. Both are retired educators and receive pensions from PERA, which limits the hours retirees can work to 110 days or 720 hours per year.

PERA penalizes anyone who exceeds that threshold by cutting their pension by 5% in a future month for each day they work over the limit.

Olson has not requested compensation for his board duties because he did not want it to affect his retirement benefits. But Youngquist, who has received more than $20,000 in compensation since joining the board, could not claim the full $33,000 he was allowed without it affecting his pension.

“Both Carrie and I have been, throughout the year, really working to try to figure out how compensation can be provided,” Youngquist said. “Neither we nor others simply found a solution.”

Olson said the board met with PERA officials and state legislators about the issue affecting director compensation.

“This is something we’ve been working on for a long time,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be something the district can solve through policy.”

During the Dec. 12 meeting in which Youngquist alleged his colleagues violated state statute, Olson asked board members if anyone wanted to make a motion to vote on whether to reimburse Youngquist $21,291 for PERA sanctions in which he would be incurred for working more than 140 days.

Nobody made the motion.

Allegation of racial bias

In his Dec. 17 email, Youngquist told Olson that if he did not receive a “reasonable response” to his concerns about open meeting violations by 4 p.m. on Dec. 18, then “the letter will be provided accordingly.” more broadly for external review.” according to emails reviewed by The Post.

Olson responded by sending the correspondence to the rest of the board, noting that Thompson recommended it should also be sent to outside counsel. Hours later, in their own letter, Quattlebaum, Gaytán and Esserman called the allegations of open meeting violations “baseless and without merit” and accused Youngquist of violating board policies.

Two days later, an attorney from the firm Caplan and Earnest, which represents DPS, sent a response to Youngquist.

The attorney told Youngquist that the meeting was improperly notified and noted that Youngquist’s absence from the closed session was necessary because the meeting was in response to his request for reimbursement of PERA fines and costs associated with his service on the board.

“Your desire to be reimbursed for penalties and costs you incur as a PERA retiree for Board service in excess of 140 days per calendar year is a personal financial interest to you,” wrote Kristin Edgar of Caplan and Earnest.

He added that under state law and board policy, Youngquist “may not vote or attempt to influence the decision of others by voting on the matter.”

“The district may have a different legal perspective from (the attorney) than others,” Youngquist said in an interview.

While December could have been a turning point in board members’ relationships, Youngquist acknowledged that he had offended at least two top officials earlier in the year.

Emails from March show that Youngquist did not feel Thompson adequately responded to questions he asked during a previous executive session, and the board member said the attorney’s response “represents manipulation regarding shared and unshared information.” and the information that has been represented as provided. but not provided, to me as a board member.”

In his response, Thompson noted that “Historically, stereotypes of deception and manipulation have been unfairly and detrimentally applied to Black people and communities.” He also noted that the district staff members Youngquist interacts with the most, including Staten and Superintendent Alex Marrero, are people of color.

“I feel I must respond on your behalf to avoid any additional distress that may be unnecessarily caused to district staff,” Thompson wrote to Youngquist. “That said, I invite you to explore any unexamined biases you may have regarding interacting with district staff, who are also people of color.”