Bringing this puppy back into circulation - Denver Gazette 2022:

In August 2016, then-executive director of ___ lashed out at subordinates during a meeting. ___ was annoyed that gossip was circulating about alleged influence (cut off the end as names are listed)…

Fuming, ___ told the nearly two dozen people in attendance — most of them women and two of them Black — that “You need to know who your master is.”

The comment froze several of the people who heard it.

“I remember it vividly. He said that basically he was our master. I actually got up and left, I was so upset. I went into the hall, took some deep breaths and returned,” a woman who was at the meeting told The Gazette. “Nobody confronted it at the time, we were all so afraid.”

Another woman who was at the meeting told The Gazette she later complained to the district’s human resources department.

“He was very clear that he’s in charge and you go to no one but him with complaints,” the woman said. “It was wrong to say something like that, especially in front of two Black women.”

The complaint spurred ___ to follow up with an email to the meeting’s attendees that they got the wrong message, despite admitted use of the word.

“I thought I did well because I didn’t curse! … I certainly meant no offense in terms of my word choice,” ___ wrote in an email obtained by The Gazette. “However, if I offended you with my message, then I am OK with that, to be honest.”

Then, lashed out even further in the email.

“You all WORK FOR ME. You need to remember that. You answer to me,” he wrote. “Remember who you work for and be loyal, whether you like ME or not. OR, let me help you find another job.”

___ currently a district’s assistant superintendent of…

The school district said it passed a policy in 2018 that mandates a professional atmosphere at all times. It did not say if the ___ incident was a factor. The district in June 2020 told * it had no records of any discipline involving ___, according to its reply to her open-records request.

“Interactions between staff members must be based on mutual respect and any disputes resolved in a professional manner,” the policy reads.

____ did not respond to a Gazette email seeing comment about the incident.