DENVER — Nine days after the FOX31 Problem Solvers first exposed a potential new Denver school board member as a child abuser, the interim superintendent has finally spoken.
Susana Cordova read prepared remarks Friday afternoon, apologizing to parents and to the school board for failing to conduct a thorough background check on the chosen candidate for a vacant board seat.
The FOX31 Problem Solvers were first to discover board member MiDian Holmes had been arrested for “wrongs to minors” in 2005, then arrested again and convicted of child abuse in 2006.
Cordova told the media her staff knew part of Holmes’ criminal past, but not all of it.
“My staff did not take the additional step of obtaining the full police record and that was a mistake,” she said. “We placed our board in the untenable position of having to make a decision without having all of the information that they had requested.”
Cordova also said the district in the future will implement stricter background checks for volunteer positions such as school board members.