Sparks flew at a State Board of Education meeting Thursday after some members claimed Commissioner William Moloney reneged on a promise to resign.
Board member Karen Middleton said she was surprised when she read in a recent newspaper article that Moloney said he had no plans to resign from his job as the top official at the Colorado Department of Education.
Moloney was responding to comments by Jared Polis, a board member who said in Wednesday’s Denver Post that Moloney’s leadership has been lackluster and that he needs to leave.
Middleton said Moloney told the board in a December meeting in Colorado Springs that he would be leaving the board but read in Wednesday’s Post that “he has no intention of resigning.”
“That was not my understanding,” said Middleton,who is seeking re-election this fall to the 7th Congressional District seat on the board.
Her comments come as the board, which hired Moloney to run the department in 1997, is facing criticism about poor customer service, a slow response to school districts that seek information and operating inefficiently. Moloney has said the department is understaffed.
Moloney said Thursday that he told board members in an executive session in December that he would get them through the transition of a new governor, elections on the state board and other changes this year but that he never committed to resigning.
The Colorado Association of School Executives presented the state board with a paper Wednesday in which they called for more leadership from the board, Moloney and the Department of Education.
Middleton said the board has discussed a need for leadership and wants the public to be involved in that discussion.
The board also clashed on which priorities should guide them.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
