wo school board candidates who agree with the direction of Denver Public Schools and two who want the district to change its trajectory were leading in a hard-fought election for control of the state’s largest school district.
Four seats on the seven-member Denver school board were up for grabs in Tuesday’s election. As of early Wednesday, only one of the races remained close: a two-person contest in central-east Denver’s District 3.
After additional ballot counts posted at 2 a.m., challenger Carrie A. Olson, a teacher at West Leadership Academy, grew her lead over incumbent Mike Johnson, 51.9 percent to 48 percent — with 831 votes separating the two candidates out of 21,410 cast. Olson was endorsed by the union, while Johnson was supported by pro-reform groups.
In the most heated race, a three-candidate contest to represent northeast Denver’s District 4, challenger Jennifer Bacon was leading incumbent Rachele Espiritu, 43 percent to 33 percent.
Bacon was endorsed by the teachers union, while Espiritu was backed by pro-reform groups that support the districtap embrace of school choice and collaboration with charter schools. The third candidate, recent high school graduate Tay Anderson, had captured 24 percent of the vote.
