Antwan Wilson no longer working as a consultant for Denver Public Schools

Antwan Wilson, who was forced to resign this year as head of Washington, D.C. schools, is no longer working as a consultant for the Denver school district.

That’s according to a statement from Denver Public Schools spokesman Will Jones. Here’s the entirety of the statement, which Jones emailed to Chalkbeat Friday afternoon:

“Antwan Wilson will not be working as a consultant for our CareerConnect team. He has informed us that he has other contracts that require his full attention.”

Wilson was contracted to work as a consultant for CareerConnect, a district career and technical education program, from April 9 through June 30. His contract specified that he’d be paid as much as $60,000 to work two days a week for 12 weeks.

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat in an open records request indicate that Wilson was to be paid as much as $45,000 in per-hour fees and as much as $15,000 in travel expenses.

The $15,000 was based on an assumption of 10 trips at $1,500 each, though Wilson’s final pay would have depended on the number of hours he ultimately worked and the number and cost of trips he ultimately took, Jones said.

Wilson lives in Washington, D.C. but was planning to travel to Denver to do the consulting work, Jones said. The cost of his airfare to and from Washington, D.C. was to be paid by the district, as was the cost of his lodging in Denver.

The district is “working through the procedures to formally terminate the contract and determine what amounts are due under the contract,” Jones said in response to a question about whether Wilson will be paid for work he’s already completed.

Asked if the district canceled Wilson’s contract, or if Wilson informed the district he could no longer fulfill it, Jones said, “We received Mr. Wilson’s written notice.”

The hiring of Wilson was widely criticized, including in public comments from students and community members at school board meetings. At a meeting Thursday night, student Joe McComb, a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School, blasted the district for agreeing to pay a consultant $60,000 at a time when teachers are asking for more funding.

At the same meeting, school board president Anne Rowe said board members were aware of concerns about an independent contract agreement. But she didn’t specify which agreement she was referring to, and she was not available for comment Friday.

“We are aware and we are addressing those concerns with the superintendent,” Rowe said at the meeting.

Wilson worked for years as a principal and administrator in Denver Public Schools before leaving to become superintendent of the Oakland, California, school district. He was tapped for the high-profile Washington, D.C. chancellor job last year.

Wilson resigned in February after it came to light that he skirted Washington, D.C.’s competitive school lottery process so his oldest daughter could transfer to a high-performing high school.