2 administrators at Denver’s Smith Elementary on leave as police investigate report of assault

Denver Public Schools placed two administrators at Smith Elementary on leave Monday amid a police investigation into a report of an assault on campus last week.

Principal Chadwick Anderson and Assistant Principal Catherine Vermeer were placed on leave effective immediately, according to a letter DPS officials sent to parents Monday afternoon and obtained by The Denver Post.

DPS spokesman Scott Pribble declined to provide details about why the administrators were put on leave. The letter to parents also didn’t provide information beyond saying the leave is “standard procedure until a matter is resolved or an investigation is complete.”

But a parent of a 10-year-old student with disabilities told The Post that the child had altercations with Vermeer on two occasions last week — on Wednesday and again on Friday — and that during both incidents the assistant principal became physical with the child, including allegedly stepping on their feet. (The Post is not identifying the parent to protect the child’s privacy.)

School officials suspended the 10-year-old after both incidents and police were called after Friday’s altercation, the parent said. 

The Denver Police Department confirmed that officers responded to a report of an assault at the school Friday, and the investigation remains ongoing. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the agency.

Vermeer declined to comment for this story. Anderson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The parent said the school hasn’t provided the support the child needs at school, including in the form of a paraprofessional, which is a teacher’s aide and a position that often works with students with disabilities. The incidents last week might not have happened had the child had the support of an additional paraprofessional, the parent said.

“I am thankful that the district is doing something,” the parent said. “All of these kids’ safety needs to be looked at and obviously its not.”

A Denver Post investigation published Sunday found that across Colorado out-of-school suspensions jumped 25% in six years as districts struggled to hire enough support staff, including paraprofessionals, since the pandemic to meet children’s needs in the classroom.

Statewide, districts with a shortage of paraprofessionals had about a 40% higher out-of-school suspension rate than those that fully staffed those positions during the 2022-23 academic year, an analysis of state data by The Post found.

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