The Denver school board member accused of making antisemitic comments about a Jewish colleague first used the slur more than nine months ago during a conversation with the board’s president and then again while talking to the district’s superintendent in January, the two leaders allege in documents obtained by The Denver Post.
Both Superintendent Alex Marrero and board President Xóchitl Gaytán accuse director Monica Hunter of calling fellow director Amy Klein Molk a “Zionist bitch,” according to written statements they provided to Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education.
But neither Marrero nor Gaytán informed Klein Molk of the remarks until at least August, according to the documents.
“I was disappointed that this was known by district leadership for months before it was disclosed to me,” Klein Molk said in her own statement to the board, provided to The Post via the Colorado Open Records Act.
Hunter has denied the allegations against her, saying on Tuesday that she believed the accusations — which were first made by Gaytán earlier this month — were in retaliation for her efforts earlier this year to “hold (Marrero) accountable.”
“(Gaytán) and (Marrero) have come up with these false allegations without any evidence and they’re baseless claims,” Hunter said.
Marrero and Gaytán both declined to comment for this story. Klein Molk did not return a message seeking comment.
The documents detailing the allegations of antisemitism made against Hunter are part of a trove of evidence Gaytán gathered and sent to her colleagues on Monday, ahead of a board meeting scheduled for Thursday. During that meeting, directors are expected to discuss and potentially take action against Hunter and a second board member — Donald “D.J.” Torres — accused of violating numerous board policies.
Gaytán accused Hunter and Torres earlier this month of not fulfilling their duties as elected board members. She said Torres repeatedly missed meetings and she levied numerous allegations at Hunter, including that she advocated on behalf of a parent on enrollment matters and on the potential transfer of her own son to a different school.
Torres has denied the allegations.
The board will vote on whether to initiate a third-party investigation into the allegations made by Gaytán, according to an email the board president sent on Monday.
“My goal is to ensure that each director has an opportunity to review the relevant information and that the board can approach this discussion thoughtfully, fairly, and in accordance with our adopted governance policies, while also providing our community an appropriate opportunity to be heard,” she wrote.
Documents detail antisemitic allegations
In her statement to the board, Gaytán detailed two interactions with Hunter in which the latter allegedly made antisemitic comments about Klein Molk. The first involved a December phone call in which Hunter — now the board’s vice president — said she would not vote to place Klein Molk into an officer position because she’s a Zionist.
“I remember this conversation because Director Hunter appeared to be communicating to me, as future board president, that her position regarding (Klein Molk’s) potential consideration for a board officer position was based specifically on what she said (Klein Molk) had expressed about being a Zionist,” Gaytán wrote in her statement.
Zionism is the belief that Jewish statehood belongs in Israel. The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitism, states that anti-Zionism is antisemitic when it is used to target, vilify or punish Jews who feel a connection to Israel, according to the
Gaytán alleged that during a second interaction with Hunter in December, Hunter called Klein Molk a “racist Zionist bitch.” Her account is similar to the one described by Marrero in his statement to the school board.
Marrero wrote that he had a conversation with Hunter in January, during which she referred to Klein Molk as a “white Zionist bitch” and said she didn’t want to sit beside her during meetings. The superintendent told Klein Molk of this conversation on Aug. 21, according to Klein Molk’s statement.
“Dr. Marrero appeared surprised by my lack of visible reaction to this disclosure — nearly seven months after the remark was made,” Klein Molk wrote. “I was not surprised given my past personal experience but was obviously very upset and became more so over time.”
A meeting after last’s election
The new documents, along with statements from board members, showed that conflict between directors began shortly after the 2025 election and boiled over this summer after Marrero accused board members of meddling in the day-to-day operations of the district.
At the time she first made the accusations, Gaytán wrote that she had received reports that Hunter allegedly made an antisemitic comment about a fellow board member, but the board president did not detail what was said or who the remark was directed toward, beyond saying that the reference was related to a board colleague not receiving an officer position.
Hunter, in a statement she issued Tuesday, said the discussion of officer positions occurred during a meeting at mayoral candidate Lisa Calderón’s house after the election between the new board members and Gaytán, who was re-elected.
Hunter alleged that Klein Molk didn’t attend the meeting because she didn’t feel safe in Calderón’s home because she believed she didn’t win an endorsement from the Working Families Party because she was a Zionist. Calderón served as grassroots co-chair of the state committee for the Working Families Party.
“The allegation now being made suggests that I opposed Amy for an officer position because she was a Zionist,” Hunter wrote. “That is not my recollection of what happened.”
Hunter alleged that Calderón and Gaytán said during the meeting that they preferred people of color to serve as board officers and questioned whether Klein Molk represented the community. “They also characterized her conduct as demonstrating what they described as white fragility and racism,” Hunter alleged.
Calderón denied Hunter’s allegations in an interview Tuesday.
The newly elected board members met late last year at her house because the — which had backed the directors who won the election — asked her to hold a training on ethical communication, Calderón said.
The new board members were struggling to work together even before they were sworn in — in part because Hunter had expressed concerns about Klein Molk being a Zionist, Calderón said.
“The meeting was to bring together the progressive slate and talk through how they would work together through a productive way,” she said. “(Klein Molk) chose not to come, and that was unfortunate because we really wanted her to be there, and there were several conversations to welcome her. I absolutely refute (Hunter’s) characterization.”
Updated 9:25 a.m. Sept. 16, 2026: This story was updated to correct the date Superintendent Alex Marrero informed board member Amy Klein Molk about director Monica Hunter’s comments.
