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Scott Esserman
Scott Esserman is an at-large member of the Denver Board of Education in Colorado. He assumed office on November 30, 2021. His current term ends in 2025.
Esserman is running for re-election to the Denver Board of Education to represent District 3 in Colorado. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Biography
Scott Esserman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in 1991.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: Denver Public Schools, Colorado, elections (2025)
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education District 3
Incumbent Scott Esserman, Caron Blanke, and Donald Torres are running in the general election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education District 3 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Scott Esserman (Nonpartisan) | |
| Caron Blanke (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Donald Torres (Nonpartisan) | ||
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2021
See also: Denver Public Schools, Colorado, elections (2021)
General election
General election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education At-large
Scott Esserman defeated Vernon Jones Jr., Jane Shirley, Marla Fernandez, and Nicky Yollick in the general election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education At-large on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Esserman (Nonpartisan) | 40.1 | 54,964 |
| Vernon Jones Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 23.5 | 32,172 | ||
 | Jane Shirley (Nonpartisan) | 15.9 | 21,714 | |
 | Marla Fernandez (Nonpartisan) | 14.7 | 20,166 | |
 | Nicky Yollick (Nonpartisan) | 5.8 | 7,953 | |
| Total votes: 136,969 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jorge Hernandez (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2021
Scott Esserman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Esserman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I have centered relationships, teamwork, and fundamental skill-building in all of my work. Recognized for honoring students’ lived experience, I have prioritized culturally relevant curricula everywhere I taught.
I received my B.S. in History from the University of Missouri, emphasizing African American Studies, and a Certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University. My wife and I are the proud parents of two DPS children. Our daughter is a graduate of Manual High School and our son is a student at DSST Montview Middle School.
- Community Schools. Through my experience assisting Denver Discovery School faculty and families reimagining what had been labeled a failing school into a Community School, I gained new, unique and invaluable knowledge of the benefits and challenges of implementing the Community School model. The Community School design is one of the most effective models of education for the whole child. The National Education Association guides the six pillars of a community school, which are: strong and proven culturally relevant curriculum, high-quality teaching and learning, inclusive leadership, restorative, positive behavior practices, family and community partnerships and coordinate and integrated wraparound support.
- Students First. We have an obligation to fulfill the promise of public education to ensure that every child is prepared for their next steps in life after high school graduation whether that be college, career, or professional apprenticeship. My work is focused on empowering all children to explore their strengths in a healthy environment. Putting students first means all students addressing the needs of those we continue to predictably fail. I am committed to working in a co-governance model with our leaders including students, parents, educators, and elected officials to establish authentic community engagement around kids’ best interest.
- Covid recovery. The safety of our students, staff, and families is paramount. I support our medical professionals and plan to follow the recommendations of the experts at the American Pediatric Association and the CDC as well as local health officials. I recognize the outsized impact the pandemic has had on our BIPOC communities, and that is one reason why I support the recommendations for all community members to wear masks in schools. This year in DPS vaccine and mask mandates have kept our students in school.
Our families are significantly impacted by the preschool to prison pipeline and housing, food, healthcare and job insecurity. As a result it’s of essential interest to me that we pursue justice system reforms, reasonably affordable housing, living wages, universal healthcare and job services. What affects DPS families affects students' ability to learn. The trauma and grief and loss inflicted upon our families on a regular basis and even moreso during COVID requires increased and improved mental health supports.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Esserman's campaign website stated the following:
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PRIORITIES Students Community Transformation Scott's perspective on policies are inspired by his work in classrooms and with communities. First and foremost, Scott will prioritize student needs. He firmly believes student well-being tied to improved learning outcomes is rooted in the Community School Model, which emphasizes collaboration and healing. The Community School Model is designed to serve our students and their families better. Scott is ready to lead with the community to transform the system that exists now and create one that will ensure every student will have the needed tools to be successful. STUDENTS FIRST Empowering every student to pursue their path to success Scott’s work and advocacy are about empowering all children to explore their strengths in a healthy environment. Every child’s path to success is different, and it all starts with access to a high-quality education. We have witnessed our public education system fail to adjust to our children’s needs for far too long. Putting students first means looking at the science behind how we support our kids. For example, studies strongly support later start times for high school and middle-school students. Scott is ready to have these conversations and create a system that meets our student’s needs first. As a concerned parent, Scott is willing to work in a co-governance model with our educational leaders including students, parents, educators, and our elected officials to establish accountability at every level to ensure we are meeting every child's needs. COMMUNITY SCHOOLS Emphasizing education for the whole child Community Schools are the cornerstone of Scott's platform. Through his experience assisting Denver Discovery School faculty and families reimagining what had been labeled a failing school into a Community School, Scott gained new, unique and invaluable knowledge of the benefits and challenges of implementing the Community School model. Communities in Denver have unique needs as we have heard listening to parents and students. The Community School design is one of the most effective models of education for the whole child. The National Education Association guides the six pillars of a community school: Strong and proven culturally relevant curriculum High-quality teaching and learning Inclusive Leadership Restorative, positive behavior practices Family and community partnerships Coordinate and integrate wraparound supports FULFILLING THE DPS PROMISE Ensuring student preparation for college, career and life DPS has promised its students, their families, and the city of Denver that every student will have access to high-quality education, graduate, and be prepared for life. Scott believes it is imperative to move substantially closer to that promise. Life after DPS for our students can include college, military, and/or technical careers. It is critical to identify that preparation also requires critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, and flexibility. Additionally, Scott believes (as he has heard from alumni) in creating comprehensive financial literacy programs. To meet this promise, there are some simple but not easy steps to take. We need to ensure that educators have access to culturally relevant and scientifically proven effective curricula, with structures and supports for success for every child. We need those curricula delivered with outstanding culturally relevant instruction. All students must have access to Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Early College or other proven opportunities to learn at the most advanced levels. We need a proportional representation of students in Gifted/Talented programs and Special Education services. We can't ensure success without focusing on social and emotional growth. We need to work on expanding trauma-informed and social/emotional supports for our students and educators. We must work across governmental lines to ensure that our student’s most basic needs are being met by securing access to wrap-around services for our families that have to be available all day, year-round. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP Engaging students with educators who reflect their lived experiences Historically, we have witnessed far too many Black and Brown educators and leaders leave DPS. While the promise to increase the recruitment and retention of Black and Brown educators in order to cultivate a new generation of leadership has remained a stated goal of DPS, the results over the past four years have remained, at best, uneven. Scott has listened to educators of color who have left DPS talk about not being supported as a primary reason to leave. Studies are clear on students’ emotional and learning benefits when they see themselves in their teachers and school leaders. Furthermore, studies show that diverse and reflective staff benefits every child in their classroom. We see a lot of lip service to equity, but see little policy change to support it. It is time for DPS to prioritize diversifying staff and leadership. We know this is essential in our work of dismantling structures of bias and racism. Scott will work closely with the Black Teacher Caucus, the DPS Senior Leadership Team, and our state legislature to ensure we cultivate an inclusive environment that will foster a robust program of educators, principals, and leaders of varying races, cultural backgrounds, and sexual identities. SCHOOL FUNDING Supporting students with the resources that they deserve Nationally and in Colorado, funding for education is a continued embarrassment. We are too often told to do more with less, which leads to districts and advocates fighting with each other over financial crumbs. As a result, we have to make good with the resources we currently have. In order to achieve that, we must increase budgetary transparency and reconsider and adjust the DPS per-pupil funding model that fails our students and is designed to cultivate a competitive education model. We have to boldly transform any system that doesn't best serve students and create a system that ensures that monies are distributed based on student needs. This will allow us to provide a balance between school autonomy and central office supports. In Colorado, we land in the bottom five states nationally for per-pupil funding and teacher pay. The many restrictions of TABOR exacerbate these struggles. Scott is committed to advocating for increased funding at the state level. He will unite groups who are too often pitted against each other to fight for money. SUPPORTING OUR EDUCATORS Serving students best by valuing teachers Scott has been an educator for over 20 years. He knows our educators’ joys and frustrations in the classroom. It is time to create reasonable and meaningful evaluations for our educators that will foster growth. DPS has lost many senior educators to neighboring districts due to their not being valued. This status is even more alarming for our educators and leaders of color. Scott plans to foster more support for our educators by advocating for their interests. During unprecedented times we see our educators heroically utilizing the resources available. Scott is committing to a listening tour with faculty and staff in order to determine how to ensure that we are best serving students. TESTING Utilizing assessments that improve insight into student progress After decades of testing, our public education systems continue to fail Black and Brown students predictably. These systems are getting the results that they were designed to get. In-fact the only extractable information from our standardized tests is the socio-economic status of a student. As demonstrated through decades of testing, we cannot test our way to academic success. This is why Scott plans to work with law-makers in Colorado to change the current testing requirements and no longer tie educators’ job performance and pay to tests that do not enhance students’ learning. Scott will move DPS beyond test scores to measure learning with ongoing assessments proven to benefit our educators and students.[2] |
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| —Esserman for Denver Kids[3] | ||
See also
2025 Elections
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 9, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Esserman for Denver Kids, "Priorities," accessed October 4, 2021
