Leave it to Denver Public Schools’ superintendent to apply for top jobs in two of the nation’s largest school districts, fail yet again, then declare himself “unapologetically committed” to the students he tried to leave — while engineering a paid exit from DPS. 

Superintendent Alex Marrero’s face is covered in egg. 

On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Schools unveiled its six semifinalists. Of 21 applicants, Marrero didn’t make the cut. 

Three days before Marrero’s Miami candidacy became public, he emailed DPS Board President Sochi Gaytán a letter listing 14 complaints alleging the board violated his contract’s strict “policy governance” provisions. 

“DPS employs an extreme, orthodox version of policy governance, under which the board is required to be almost completely hands-off, and whose main role is to hire the superintendent or fire him if he fails to meet goals mostly of his own design,” Boardhawk’s Alan Gottlieb told me. 

No other Colorado district uses policy governance this way. Yet the DPS model gives Marrero a cudgel against his own employers. 

Marrero’s contract makes him the sole arbiter of whether changes are “material.” Thirty days after notifying the board president that the board “has materially altered” its governance structure, he can walk — and collect full pay as if fired without cause. 

In the letter, Marrero gripes about “departures,” “violations” and “erosion” of policy governance, but he never actually claims the board “materially altered” anything. He concedes the structure remains “currently in place.” His own letter never establishes the trigger for his 30-day exit clock, which would have run out the very day Miami-Dade rejected him. 

Marrero’s grievances are spurious: recasting a board member’s enthusiasm for a new literacy policy as operational meddling; citing a legal memo he admits “stops short of making factual findings,” and claiming a “litany of ongoing interpersonal issues” without names, dates or incidents. 

The closest to a concrete breach is a February executive session he claims excluded him, violating his contractual right to attend. But he admits he participated: “If it were not for my intervention, I would have been excluded.” 

Nearly excluding him from a session on employee benefits isn’t a breach, much less grounds for a payout. 

Where was this letter when ex-members like Tay Anderson actually frequently interfered with district operations? To Marrero, good governance means oversight of the things he wants overseen. 

Marrero now has a board that at least attempts to be accountable. Which is why he was whining on the record, attempting a lawyerly exit — and attaching the invoice. 

This was prepositioning. If Miami-Dade had come through, he would have been able to walk mid-contract. He’d receive his DPS salary, then pass go and collect $370,000 in Florida. 

When the previous board extended Marrero’s contract, they locked in his $346,529 salary before conducting his performance review. General Counsel Aaron Thompson was the go-between, negotiating for both the board and superintendent — presumably including Marrero’s quit-and-get-paid provision. 

Thompson reports to Marrero, not the board. One lawyer effectively represented both sides. It was indefensible. 

Marrero’s griping underscores why the new board sought to allow itself to hire outside counsel — which was one of his 14 grievances. 

The man who demands that the board honor every letter of his contract objects to the board getting independent advice about the contract’s terms, which the board previously lacked. 

Talk about protecting a conflict of interest — and a sweetheart severance clause. 

And the exit clause isn’t the contract’s only gem. Another provision covers unlimited costs for “an executive coach for the Superintendent.” 

DPS shelled out $107,000 for Marrero’s coaching from mid-2022 through this February, per The Denver Post. That month, the FBI raided the home and office of his coach, then-Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, in a fraud investigation. 

Carvalho, who denies wrongdoing, resigned June 21. 

Before LA, Carvalho ran Miami-Dade for 14 years. Denver taxpayers spent six figures on coaching from the former superintendent of the district Marrero tried jumping to. 

Whatever it was for, the coaching didn’t work. Not for Denver’s students, whose proficiency rates remain in the toilet. Nor for Marrero, whom Miami-Dade rejected anyway. 

Last November, Marrero was a finalist for Chicago schools’ CEO. When they rejected him, he declared himself “dedicated to DPS.” 

This June, Marrero applied to Miami-Dade while sending his exit-path letter. Rejected again, he remains “focused” and “unapologetically committed to the students of Denver.” 

Sure, Alex. Nothing says dedication like hunting for another job while failing at your current one. 

Marrero celebrates a “historic” 81.9% graduation rate and “green” accreditation status. But high school achievement under that rating averages just 43.1%. What good is a diploma if you’re not prepared for the next stage? 

Meanwhile, two-thirds of Denver’s K-8 students aren’t proficient in math. Fewer than half can read and write at grade level. 

“Mr. Marrero talks about equity and excellence, but the results tell a different story,” said Theresa Peña, a former two-term DPS board president. Pointing to achievement gaps for Latino, Black and low-income students that are “unacceptably wide,” she said a student-outcomes evaluation would earn Marrero a C-. 

[Text Wrapping Break]“Miami-Dade appears to have done its due diligence,” Peña told me. “Denver’s students deserve a board willing to hold its superintendent to the same standard.” 

Why are DPS board members keeping this guy around? Tolerating his gamesmanship — and getting played by his own contract — indicts the board itself. 

Chicago and Miami passed on Marrero. Denver should, too. Fire him for cause before he leaves first — and sends taxpayers the bill. 

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.