Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat’s valuable education coverage at the top of your feeds by clicking here and checking the box next to our name.An external investigator will have just a week to look into an allegation that Denver school board Vice President Monica Hunter used antisemitic language, with a report due next Thursday. The board is set to decide that same day whether to censure Hunter.That’s the result of a series of votes Thursday by the board, which first undid a previous vote that several members said they misunderstood. That vote, from two weeks ago, did two things: ordered an investigation into the antisemitism allegation and dismissed a slew of other allegations against Hunter. Three board members said they hadn’t meant to do the second part.“I think it’s important that we start over,” board President Xóchitl Gaytán said Thursday.In restarting, the board put a new time limit on the investigation, ordering that it be completed by the board’s next meeting on Oct. 8. A proposal to limit the scope to interviews with just four people was expanded at Hunter’s request to include interviews with “any witnesses necessary,” though Gaytán pushed board members to keep the investigation narrow.“You’re not necessarily a bystander in this,” Hunter said to Gaytán. “You are the accuser, and so it benefits you to encourage folks to vote no. In any other kind of due process, no one would limit witnesses. When they don’t have anything to hide, they welcome that.”Gaytán said she was concerned that widening the investigation would cost more money and take more time. In the end, she voted to allow investigators to interview other witnesses.Gaytán accused Hunter last month of a long list of policy violations. The most serious is that Gaytán and Superintendent Alex Marrero claim Hunter allegedly called Jewish board member Amy Klein Molk a “Zionist bitch” in separate conversations with them in December and January. Hunter has denied it. “I absolutely don’t talk like that and would never say that about her,” Hunter told Chalkbeat.Gaytán also accused Hunter of allegedly disparaging other board members in a social media post, allegedly contacting employees in the school choice office to advocate for another family and her own, and allegedly failing to review the superintendent’s weekly email to the board.Gaytán also alleged that Hunter’s job with the Colorado Education Association, the statewide teachers union, is a potential conflict of interest. Hunter is a former Denver Public Schools teacher and current DPS parent who works as the union’s director of human and civil rights. Hunter has said the accusations are false.Gaytán also levied several accusations against DJ Torres, who resigned from the board about three hours before Thursday’s meeting. Torres was elected in November 2025 with backing from the Denver teachers union and served as treasurer of the board.In a written statement, Torres said “too much of my time and energy have been consumed by internal conflict.” In his 10 months on the board, Torres repeatedly clashed with Gaytán, who accused him of missing meetings and refusing to communicate with her by phone, among other allegations. Torres denied violating any board policies.The board voted to accept Torres’ resignation Thursday and declared a vacancy for the District 3 seat representing central-east Denver. Under state law, the board has 60 days to appoint someone to fill the seat. The board will also have to appoint a new treasurer.The board approved the week-long investigation into the antisemitism allegations after meeting in a closed-door executive session with its new attorneys from law firm Holland & Knight, which can charge the board as much as $1,000 an hour for its services.An initial motion, made by Gaytán, would have authorized investigators to speak to just four people: Gaytán, Hunter, Klein Molk, and Marrero, with a report due by Oct. 7. Klein Molk said she favored a short timeline.“It has been my desire to do this in a way that brings people together and that stops dividing us,” she said. “I ask that we move quickly and swiftly, and that we do this with as much dignity and respect as humanly possible.”Board member Kimberlee Sia suggested changing the date to Oct. 8 because she said Oct. 7 “feels a little tone deaf” to be receiving a report related to alleged antisemitic remarks. It was on that date in 2023 that Hamas attacked Israel.Hunter advocated for an amendment to allow investigators to talk to additional relevant witnesses as well. “Otherwise, it’s literally going to boil down to hearsay,” she said.At first, some board members seemed skeptical.“I don’t see the reason to bring others into it because, as far as I know from the statements, there were no witnesses who were present in those conversations,” board member Marlene De La Rosa said, referring to written statements by Gaytán and Marrero.But Hunter said De La Rosa was making an assumption that the conversations between herself and Gaytán, and between herself and Marrero, even happened at all.“I deserve due process,” Hunter said, “and anyone who thinks I don’t needs to kind of be examined for their bias.”Board member John Youngquist, who was the subject of a board-ordered investigation into bias allegations last year, pointed out that the board didn’t limit the scope of his investigation. Youngquist said one difference is that he is a white man and Hunter is a Black woman.Eventually, the board voted unanimously to allow investigators to talk to witnesses. The vote to allow investigators to deliver their report a day later was also unanimous.Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
