Denver board offers Superintendent Alex Marrero $8,000 efficiency bonus

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero met simply over 80% of his targets final college yr, a report that earned him an $8,235 bonus, equal to 2.5% of his annual wage.

That’s in response to Marrero’s second efficiency analysis as superintendent of Denver Public Colleges. The college board unanimously accredited the analysis Tuesday after a number of prolonged closed-door conferences however little public dialogue.

The two.5% bonus is way lower than the 12.5%, or $41,175, bonus Marrero might have earned if he’d met all his targets. In a gently worded analysis, college board members famous Marrero fell quick on a number of targets primarily based on scholar take a look at scores, educator retention, and different areas, and requested him to enhance his communication and do extra to recruit Black educators.

In his earlier analysis final October, the board accepted Marrero’s self-evaluation and made fewer feedback. Earlier this yr, the varsity board accredited a ten% elevate and a brand new contract for Marrero primarily based on that analysis. 

Marrero’s present wage is $329,400 a yr. The $8,235 is a one-time bonus, not a elevate.

Marrero has been superintendent of DPS since July 2021. In that point, the district has confronted a number of challenges, together with pandemic-related disruptions and studying loss, a rise in gun violence in and round colleges, and infighting amongst college board members.

Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson, who referred to as the primary analysis a “rubber stamp train,” stated Tuesday that this yr’s analysis course of was extra strong. Along with Marrero’s 11-page self-evaluation — which is stuffed with hyperlinks to YouTube movies and social media posts highlighting district achievements and excellent news about DPS — the board launched a 12-page abstract of the targets Marrero met, in addition to those he solely partially met.

This yr’s course of “supplied you with areas of development and alternatives for us as a district to proceed to maneuver the needle ahead,” Anderson stated to Marrero earlier than Tuesday’s vote. 

Below its governance construction, the board passes insurance policies that set overarching targets for the district. The superintendent then interprets these targets by way of extra particular metrics or targets, and screens progress towards reaching them.

For instance, the board set a objective that DPS graduates will likely be “prepared to fulfill the world academically and socially.” A method Marrero interpreted that objective is to extend the variety of twelfth graders on observe to graduate, a goal he met for the 2022-23 college yr.

The board’s 12-page abstract is usually stuffed with kudos. It notes that Marrero efficiently negotiated contracts with six worker unions that resulted in increased wages, expanded monetary literacy programs to extra excessive colleges, and made strides towards making DPS extra inexperienced and sustainable — an effort acknowledged in a go to from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

The criticism, which the doc calls “development areas,” is sparse and muted. The board famous that targets round neighborhood engagement and the recruitment of Black educators weren’t met.

“The Board believes addressing the difficulty of retaining Black educators is just not solely an ethical crucial but additionally very important for the success and well-being of our college students,” the abstract says.

The board additionally softly chided Marrero for his communication, writing that “it’s essential that public communications aren’t solely reflective of the Board’s collective place however are additionally vetted to make sure consistency within the narrative we current to our stakeholders.” Marrero has generally criticized the board to the media, together with after they rejected his college closure suggestions.

Board members additionally requested Marrero to incorporate them in “celebratory occasions and college visits.”

“We are going to at all times seem united and collaborative if Board members are current alongside Dr. Marrero at such events,” the doc says.

In distinction to the softer language of the analysis, a sequence of monitoring studies, that are posted on-line, embrace extra arduous knowledge on the targets Marrero met or missed.

Among the many missed targets:

Examples of met targets:

“Throughout Dr. Marrero’s time because the Superintendent of DPS, he has prioritized tutorial achievement, cultivated collaborative relationships inside our faculty district, and championed an inclusive and optimistic academic surroundings for our college students, households, and educators,” the board stated in a press release learn by members earlier than Tuesday’s vote.

Board members additionally thanked him individually.

“I’ve appreciated seeing you develop as a superintendent,” board member Scott Esserman stated. “You will have efficiently carried out a imaginative and prescient primarily based on a sequence of steps that you just stated you have been going to take if you have been employed, and also you adopted via.”

 Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, overlaying Denver Public Colleges. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.