A May 1 contract extension for Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, which some critics said was rushed, appears to have been signed with a wording error.

For the Board of Education to terminate Marrero without cause, under the new contract, it will be required to provide 90-day notice, up from the 60-day notice previously required.

The language in the new contract still says the board will have to provide Marrero with at least 60 days. And 90 days.

“The Board shall provide written notice to the Superintendent that an agenda item concerning possible action regarding termination without cause at least sixty (90) calendar days prior to the agenda item being placed on the Board agenda,” the contract states.

Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson, did not explain the apparent discrepancy between “sixty” and “90” days.

The contract changes also include:

• A two-year extension until June 2028.

• The removal of the performance pay structure.

• An added 5-2 supermajority vote requirement to remove the superintendent without cause. (The current contract only required a simple majority vote.)

Marrero’s contract wasn’t set to expire until June 2026.

Those who supported the early extension, and those who didn’t, have speculated that the urgency for the contract — 13 months before expiring — was to lock Marrero in as the superintendent before the board election in the fall.

District officials have said the impetuous for the early extension was a proposal to remove the performance pay structure from the contract that gave Marrero a $17,000 bonus in October.

The board had until January to notify him whether they intended to extend or end his contract — otherwise it would have automatically extended for a year.

After an evening of back-and-forth public comment in support of pausing and extending Marrero’s contract, the board voted 5-2 last week to extend the contract with Directors John Youngquist, a former East High School principal, and Kimberlee Sia voting no on the early extension.

Both were elected in the 2023 “flip the board” wave.

Lynn Ly, co-founder of Resign DPS, has promised to revive her group’s effort to “flip the board” — again. Resign DPS was a movement that advocated for member resignations over the board’s perceived dysfunction and concerns about student safety.

In the weeks leading up to last week’s vote, a growing rift in the community emerged between those who expressed unmitigated support for Marrero and those who had called for a performance review before extending his contract. Over two public comment meetings discussing the contract extension, many more people expressed support for a pause.

Marrero’s base salary is $305,000.

Days before the board’s vote, two dueling letters — one urging a pause, the other backing Marrero — laid bare a deepening divide in the DPS community.

Signed by a cross-section of community leaders, both letters highlighted a number of Marrero’s successes, including the recent hiring of Patricia Hurrieta to lead the Latine Student Success team with the goal of developing a plan to improve Latino student achievement and family engagement.

Before coming to Denver, Marrero served as interim superintendent for the City School District of New Rochelle, which is outside New York City and serves fewer than 10,000 students, according to the district’s website.

Marrero joined DPS in July 2021.

Marrero’s base pay has grown 26% since starting with the district three years ago.

He has since had a string of questionable decisions that include his handling of the East High School shooting two years ago, school closures, a nearly $100,000 corner office upgrade and annual cost-of-living increases he received while teachers were denied the COLA increases.

Marrero’s new contract, as did the previous one, requires an annual, written evaluation.

“This evaluation and assessment shall be based upon the accomplishment of goals agreed to by the Board and Superintendent no later than October 31 of each year,” the contract language states. “For the first Year of this Contract, the Board and the Superintendent shall agree upon the goals as soon as is feasible.”

Marrero is also to provide the board with a written self-appraisal to be considered in evaluating him.