The senior director of bonds and construction at Denver Public Schools – J.T. (James) Allen – has a conflict of interest.

James T. Allen

The school district has a building at 1330 Fox downtown. The city wants the building. DPS proposes to swap the building with the city for nine acres of park land in southeast Denver.

Allen is a manager for the deal.

But Allen is also the school district’s representative on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB).

The PRAB is supposed to make a recommendation to the Manager of Parks and Recreation on accepting the deal. As a member of the Advisory Board, Allen would vote on recommending the same deal in which he is involved.

At best, Allen should take an immediate leave of absence from the Parks Board. At the very least, he should not be involved in either the discussions or the vote on the property swap. Anything less is unethical.