The Denver school board has moved to fire a French teacher at Northeast Early College after a state judge found that classroom skits and personal disclosures crossed professional lines and left some students feeling pressured and uncomfortable.
Following a closed-door executive session, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously on Wednesday to accept the teacher's dismissal, with no public debate before the vote, according to the Denver Gazette. The outlet reports that the board action follows an April 30 recommended decision by a hearing officer. DPS spokesperson Scott Pribble told reporters that the teacher, identified in the report as Honka, has been on leave since a complaint was filed on Feb. 27, 2025. District leaders have not offered additional public comment beyond what has already been reported.
What the hearing found
In the April 30 decision, Administrative Law Judge Keith J. Kirchubel concluded the classroom activities and personal disclosures amounted to "incompetence and neglect of duty," according to the Denver Gazette. Kirchubel wrote that the scripts for classroom role plays forced students, on the spot, to state personal preferences and consent, a requirement he said was inappropriate in a high-school setting. The ruling specifically called out same-gender kissing scenarios used in skits as part of that pattern of concern.
Who issued the recommendation
Kirchubel is an administrative law judge who handles education-related cases in Colorado and whose decisions are reflected in state records. According to Colorado Department of Education materials, hearing officers conduct evidentiary hearings and issue written findings that school boards can either adopt or reject. Those recommendations, while not final on their own, set out the factual and legal groundwork that boards use when making personnel calls like this one.
Legal implications
State law lists "incompetency" and "neglect of duty" as explicit grounds for dismissing a teacher, the same standards cited by the hearing officer, according to the Colorado Revised Statutes. Colorado courts have long treated those statutory categories as specific enough to justify dismissal when supported by the evidence. If the firing is upheld through any appeals, it can affect the teacher's employment prospects and may trigger a separate review of licensure or discipline by state education officials.
School context and what comes next
Northeast Early College is a Denver Public Schools high school in the Montbello neighborhood that offers early-college coursework and serves several hundred students, according to state data. Colorado Department of Education SchoolView records list the campus in northeast Denver with a principal who oversees pathways that let students earn college credit while in high school. With the board now having accepted the hearing officer's recommendation, the district is expected to wrap up its internal personnel process, and the teacher will have whatever administrative appeals or remedies are available in the coming weeks.
