Former McAuliffe International Principal Kurt Dennis’ wrongful termination lawsuit against Denver Public Schools will continue, a judge decided, denying a request for dismissal the school district sought.

United States District Court Judge John Kane denied the district’s motion, based on arguments implicating student privacy and confidentiality laws, to dismiss Dennis’ case. The court granted the district’s motion to dismiss property interest claims based on a Fourteenth Amendment argument the former principal had raised in court.

Dennis and his attorney, David Lane, filed the lawsuit in federal court on Sept. 5, 2023, claiming his July 2023 firing was unlawful and was based in retaliation of “whistleblowing” against the district’s security measures.

In its motion to dismiss, the school board denied those claims, saying Dennis’ actions went against the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), leading to his termination, among other reasons.

Lane said Dennis is grateful for the judge’s ruling.

“He wants Denver Public Schools to be held accountable for what they did,” Lane told The Denver Gazette.

The interview

Dennis, the principal of the middle school since 2012, gave an interview to The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, in March 2023 in the wake of the East High School shooting, in which a 17-year-old student shot two deans.

During the interview, he said the district pressured him to accommodate potentially dangerous students.

Dennis said he requested that the district remotely educate a McAuliffe student, who had been charged with attempted murder, until the pending criminal case was resolved, according to the initial complaint.

Under state law, a district’s school board is tasked with determining — in executive session — whether a juvenile student charged with a violent crime has exhibited behavior detrimental to school safety and whether to suspend or expel the student.

District officials denied Dennis’ request.

Instead, the district directed Dennis and McAuliffe staff to conduct what’s called a “threat assessment,” which found the student accused of entering a liquor store to rob it and then shooting at the clerk behind the counter was a “high level of concern.”

The safety plan for the student — who wore a visible ankle monitor — required daily weapon pat-downs and a staff escort at all times while on a campus of 1,500.

“I was a whistleblower and I came forward to share concerns about a policy that jeopardized the safety of my staff and students,” Dennis previously told The Denver Gazette. “My goal in doing that was to facilitate a discourse and educate parents. My hope was that it was cause the district to reflect … It didn’t.”

The principal was fired around four months after the interview. Both Dennis and Lane believe the interview was the direct reason for his termination, which they said is a potential violation of his First Amendment rights.

In Dennis’ termination letter, the school board noted that the interview included confidential information and documents, including a juvenile justice charging document and a DPS threat assessment.

“Your public disclosure of confidential information allowed the reporter, the student’s peers and the larger McAuliffe International community to ascertain that the information you provided to channel 9News was about him, causing the student to be singled out by faculty and staff and ostracized by his peers,” the district wrote in the letter.

Along with claiming that Dennis shared confidential information, the school board also insisted it has qualified immunity.

Ultimately, Judge Kane disagreed with the district, saying the disclosed information did not violate FERPA.

“After reviewing the record before me, I find that Mr. Dennis’s speech was not illegal and was not made in the course of his official duties,” he wrote in his order. “I also find the Individual Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity at this juncture.”

“We agree with the judges ruling that appears that Kurt Dennis’ First Amendment free speech rights were violated by the defendant,” Lane said. “He has a right to speak to the media. They punished him for speaking with the media.”

DPS did not respond for comment by press time.

The seclusion room

Following the firing, a petition circulated by McAuliffe parents to reinstate the principal reached more than 6,100 signatures.

The school board eventually affirmed Superintendent Alex Marrero’s termination decision in a 6-1 vote on Aug. 24, 2023.

After Dennis’ firing, then-Denver Board of Education Vice President Auon’Tai Anderson said at a news conference that seven whistleblowers came forward with concerns about a monitored seclusion room at McAuliffe.

Anderson claimed that the “incarceration room” was where predominantly Black and Latino students were locked inside following charged or violent behavior.

The McAuliffe room was modified with a lock on the door, and students were locked alone in the room, Anderson said, adding both actions are against Denver Public Schools policy.

Under a state law, seclusion rooms are allowed in schools as long as there’s at least one window or video equipment to monitor a student at all times. The law also says the room must be free of items that could injure a student and that it can’t be used by school staff for storage, custodial equipment or office space.

In McAuliffe’s room, students were locked in by themselves until they calmed down.

A district investigation found that Dennis did not engage in “discrimination, harassment, or retaliation” when putting McAuliffe International students into the de-escalation room.

“They were throwing anything that they could grab against the wall to justify firing him,” Lane said of the information about the seclusion rooms coming out after Dennis was fired and a petition was formed.

“I think there were kids that were violent and aggressive,”  Jessie Hawthorn, a parent of a with two Ethiopian children at the school under Dennis’ tenure, told The Denver Gazette at the time. “But because Black kids are disproportionately placed in these behavioral programs, it’s likely those were the kids in that room. It’s being made out to be premeditated and made to harm certain students of certain backgrounds. That I don’t agree with.”

Hawthorn, like the thousands of petition signers, believes the accusations to be baseless.

“Without Dennis’ leadership, the school wouldn’t be so excellent when so many Denver Public schools are failing,” Hawthorn said.

“I want an apology. I want the district to own the fact that they retaliated against me and attacked my character,” Dennis told The Denver Gazette. “More than anything, I want my good name restored as well as possible.”

Dennis said that it was hard to find a job over the past two years due to the alleged defamation. He eventually started working as a paraprofessional and rejoined school administration in another district this year.

“Now the starter’s pistol has gone off and this case is going to start rolling quickly,” Lane said.

The Denver Gazette reporter Nicole C. Brambila contributed to this report.