An impartial investigation discovered Board of Training member John Youngquist exhibited “belittling, dismissive and condescending conduct” towards Denver Public Schools staff, and that he confirmed biases when interacting with employees of shade, in keeping with a report launched Monday night.
Regardless of these findings, the report acknowledged that the investigation was unable to find out whether or not Youngquist intentionally discriminated in opposition to staff, stating that there was no proof that the college board member confirmed overt racism towards employees, equivalent to using slurs.
“We’re unable to achieve a conclusion as as to whether Mr. Youngquist intentionally acted in a biased method in direction of some district leaders of shade based mostly on the accessible proof,” wrote attorneys David D. Powell Jr. and Sara R. Bodner with the Denver-based agency Garnett Powell Maximon Barlow and Farbes.
Youngquist couldn’t instantly be reached Monday night.
The attorneys had been employed by the college board in June to conduct the investigation, which price at the very least $78,045 as of Oct. 10, in keeping with invoices reviewed by JS.
The college board launched the investigation after Superintendent Alex Marrero requested administrators to censure Youngquist, whom he accused of hostile conduct towards employees, particularly staff of shade. The elected physique is scheduled to carry a public assembly Wednesday to debate Marrero’s request.
“I wish to state clearly that I’m not shocked by these findings, although I stay deeply upset,” Marrero wrote in an e-mail to the college board. “The small print outlined within the report affirm what many have skilled firsthand: a sustained sample of conduct that’s each damaging and unacceptable in any skilled setting. Nobody needs to be anticipated to work below such situations.”
Youngquist, a former East Excessive College principal, has discovered himself at odds with district employees and different faculty board members since his election to the governing physique in 2023.
On Friday, Youngquist accused DPS leaders, together with Marrero, of repeatedly retaliating in opposition to him as a result of he tried to sound the alarm about faculty security earlier than the 2023 East Excessive capturing.
Board members took a uncommon step and publicly criticized Youngquist in a January assembly after he accused them of violating the state’s open assembly legislation.
Throughout the assembly, his colleagues scolded Youngquist for his therapy of DPS staff, however didn’t particularly reveal how his conduct was improper past noting he was persistent in making an attempt to obtain full compensation for his official duties.
Three administrators — Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán, Michelle Quattlebaum and Scott Esserman — particularly accused Youngquist of “conduct unbecoming of a board member towards DPS employees” in 2024.
Youngquist advised The Publish earlier this yr that he was conscious of offending at the very least two senior district employees members: DPS Chief of Workers Deborah Staten and Basic Counsel Aaron Thompson.
Emails beforehand reported by The Publish confirmed that Youngquist and Thompson butted heads because the director didn’t really feel that the legal professional adequately answered his questions. Thompson, in his responses, implied that Youngquist’s scrutiny stemmed from “unexamined biases” and famous that the director largely interacts with staff of shade, together with himself, Staten and Marrero.
However tensions between Youngquist and DPS employees reached new heights — at the very least publicly — this spring after Marrero despatched a scathing e-mail to board President Carrie Olson, which laid out quite a few grievances in opposition to Youngquist.
Within the e-mail, Marrero accused Youngquist of wanting his job, making a poisonous work setting, undermining DPS leaders, and exhibiting racial insensitivity towards employees. (Youngquist has denied wanting the superintendency and known as Marrero’s e-mail a “private assault, which I don’t perceive.”)
Youngquist’s conduct “constitutes a critical menace to the well being, performance and integrity of our college district,” Marrero wrote within the e-mail.
The college board not often censures its members, which is the strongest step it might probably take to formally rebuke a director. The board doesn’t have the authority to take away a member.
A DPS board final censured a member in 2021 after an out of doors investigation discovered former director Auon’tai Anderson flirted on-line with a teenage pupil and made intimidating social media posts.
The college board spent greater than $190,000 on the Anderson investigation, which didn’t substantiate probably the most critical allegations, of sexual assault, made in opposition to the previous board vp.
It is a creating story and will likely be up to date.
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