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Denver school board member Michelle Quattlebaum announced Monday that she will seek reelection in November.
Quattlebaum, 54, was first elected in 2021 to represent District 4, which encompasses northeast Denver. A Denver Public Schools graduate whose three children also graduated from DPS, Quattlebaum was endorsed by the Denver teachers union when she ran for her seat in 2021.
Union-backed board members continue to hold the majority of seats on the seven-member board. That could shift in November, when four of the seven board seats are up for election.
“There’s still work for me to do,” Quattlebaum said, “and I want to be able to do that work.”
In announcing her candidacy, Quattlebaum said one of her key accomplishments was voting to raise the minimum wage for DPS employees to $20 an hour. She also highlighted her advocacy for immigrant students and her “commitment to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.” In board discussions, Quattlebaum often asks her fellow members to think about equity.
Quattlebaum’s campaign website notes that DPS’ graduation rate is now the highest it’s ever been. Last spring, 80% of DPS students graduated within four years of starting high school, up from 70% seven years ago. In an interview, Quattlebaum said she’s most proud of a board mandate to screen students for dyslexia. But, she said, “we can’t end there.”
“The conversation has to be, ‘What is the data telling us? What percentage is that? What demographic?’ So then we can begin doing something with it,” she said.
If reelected, Quattlebaum said she would focus on expanding mental health resources, diversifying the teacher workforce, and “cultivating educational environments that prioritize cultural responsiveness, inclusivity, and holistic safety.”
More specifically, she has been pushing for DPS to assign special education staff to schools based not on how many students at a school have disabilities but on the number of service minutes those students need.
Denver school board members serve four-year terms and can be paid up to $33,000 per year. Quattlebaum has not been eligible for that higher pay rate because it was adopted after she was elected. In addition to serving on the board, Quattlebaum works as a community engagement manager at a community-based mental health center in Denver.
The past four years have been tumultuous at times for the Denver school board. Quattlebaum’s tenure began at a time marked by personality conflicts and power struggles among some board members, though she was not involved in most public disagreements.
The board has been more congenial in recent years. Quattlebaum said disagreements still happen “because we have diversity of thought.” But “it’s just not done publicly,” she said.
“I do have the ability to see all sides,” Quattlebaum said. “It doesn’t mean I agree with one, the other, or any of them. But I can understand different perspectives and then it’s figuring out, ‘Well, where’s the commonality? What’s the thing that we can come together and work on?’”
School safety has been a top concern for the board and community after a string of high-profile gun violence incidents. Quattlebaum was not on the board in 2020 when it voted to remove police officers from schools. But she was on the board in 2023 when it voted 4-3 to bring them back. Quattlebaum was one of three board members who voted no. She said her vote was informed by a diverse group of students who said they didn’t want school resource officers.
Declining enrollment and school closures have also been hot topics. The Denver school board has voted to close or partially close 13 district-run schools due to low enrollment in the past two years. Nearly all of the votes were unanimous, and Quattlebaum voted yes on all of them. The board also voted to close a charter school because of low test scores.
Quattlebaum has also voted against school closures. She was among five board members who rejected a recommendation to close a different charter school with low test scores. And she voted against an initial recommendation to close two district-run schools with low enrollment because she felt the district hadn’t done enough community engagement.
“Community is important to me: community input, community voice,” Quattlebaum said.
Recently, Quattlebaum proposed pausing school closures until the closures that are underway are executed. The board is expected to vote on the pause next month.
Quattlebaum is the first incumbent to announce a reelection bid. The seats held by Scott Esserman, Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán, and Carrie Olson are also up for election. Olson can’t run again due to term limits. Esserman and Gaytán have not said whether they will seek reelection.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
