Kurt Dennis, former principal at McAuliffe International School, was fired in July three months after talking to 9-News about one of McAuliffe’s students being charged with attempted murder and various gun crimes. DPS fired Kurt Dennis because he had improperly “divulged confidential student and legal records,” and because of the ‘seclusion’ room found in McAuliffe International. 

In March 2023, Kurt Dennis talked to 9-News about how he had to perform daily pat-downs on a student who was charged with attempted first-degree murder and illegal discharge of a firearm. Kurt Dennis tried to warn and speak out to DPS about letting the student perform online classes. Their request was denied. Kurt Dennis then tried to expel the student. This request was also denied. Because of this, Kurt Dennis and his staff members had to perform daily pat-downs to this student. 

In August 2023, there was a police report filed about a de-escalation room that was used for students to have a safe, quiet space to calm down. However, it was later discovered that three students of color were placed in the de-escalation room multiple times. A video that was provided by 9-news shows that locks had been placed on the windows of the room and that a vent in the room was destroyed.  “Locking children into a room where you have locks placed on windows and a barrel latch lock placed on the exterior side of the door is not, in my opinion, supposed to be in any of our learning environments,” 9-news said. 

On August 24, 2023, The DPS School Board made their final decision and terminated Kurt Dennis. Lane says he plans to file a federal lawsuit in the coming days. Director Scott Balderman was the only school board member who voted against the superintendent’s recommendation for termination.