8 APRIL 23-29, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | emotionally unsafe.” Parents Didn’t Know Others Had Concerns Kindred didn’t follow through on threats to cancel the season, and the district and the school hadn’t followed through on com- plaints by the time the 2025-’26 cheer season started last fall. But by December, Ahmed was agin reaching out to Kindred regard- ing parent complaints shared by MiDian Shofner, an Aurora racial justice activist and former Denver Public School Board member. As the CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, Shofner had interviewed families with complaints about Kindred. Families had approached Shofner after Vista Peak didn’t seem to be addressing their concerns. According to Shofner, her organization interviewed eleven families and Vista Peak alumni between the ages of fi fteen and 22, as well as six staff members. “The cheerleading coach at Vista Peak was observed engaging in discriminatory behavior towards some of the athletes on the team,” Shofner says. “The families that have come to us have been the families of Black student athletes, and there have been some harsh comments made to some of these student athletes, there have been expecta- tions that go against the CROWN act when it comes to how the girls wear their hair, and there has been intentional divisiveness.” According to one parent whose daugh- ter felt “discouraged and singled out,” she says, “The way Coach K spoke to my child at times felt dismissive and undermining. Watching my daughter go from confi dence to self-doubt because of an adult in authority is incredibly painful.” The team became “a harmful and psycho- logically unsafe space” for the cheerleaders whose families came out against Kindred, Shofner says, “and that’s the reason why we’ve been engaging with the school, the district and the board.” Every family who spoke with Westword says that Vista Peak administrators never mentioned that others had complained about Kindred’s coaching, leading them to believe that they were the only ones with concerns. Carter says that she learned she wasn’t alone after casually mentioning her granddaughter’s issues to Auset Ali, a board member for the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership. “I was talking to the school in isolation, not even knowing what was happening,” Carter said. “I thought it was something I was dealing with in isolation because the school was non-responsive and sweeping it under the rug. I didn’t really know about the other situations.” The families credit Shofner with connect- ing them, and helping to get the school and district to renew the investigation. “Progress began when parents realized we were not alone,” one tells Westword. “When other families and people were being interviewed with the Epitome, that is when we saw things start to happen.” In early January, almost a year after the Florida competition, APS offi cials mandated that Kindred meet with Alyssa Richason, an APS community equity specialist. Kindred complained to Ahmed that Shofner and Richason are friends, and sent screenshots of Instagram photos of them together in a January 6 email, arguing that APS was not “a neutral party” in the meeting. “Thank you for sharing this and we will follow up,” Ahmed responded. In a February 13 text message to the school’s new athletic director, Jordan Ivey (Benedict left for a job at Smokey Hill in July), Kindred asked: “When will this group leave me alone?” Ivey responded by saying that he and Ahmed were considering having “our legal counsel send a cease and desist” order to the parents. Later that day, Kindred resigned as the cheer coach. In an email to Ivey, she blamed “the continued harassment from the parents and community members,” and again threat- ened to shut down the ongoing Vista Peak cheer season.By that point, though, the cheer team’s competitive season had wrapped up, and students were just awaiting their annual team banquet. “I would like to fi nish our season effective immediately. We will not proceed with the banquet or anything else,” Kindred wrote. “My heart is broken for all that I have poured into this program and have done for these girls. I am not okay. I ask that none of these parents or community members continue to contact me; the harassment needs to stop.” Six minutes after she sent that email, Ivey forwarded it to Ahmed, who two minutes later forwarded it to Maclin. Six days later, Maclin responded, asking Ahmed to confi rm Kindred’s resignation, which he did. The school didn’t inform parents, though. Kindred’s resignation came four days before Shofner and Carter planned to share their concerns with the APS Board of Education during the public comments of a February 17 meeting. Out in the Open At that February 17 meeting – not knowing that Kindred had already resigned – Shof- ner, Carter and Dr. Auset Ali urged the APS board and Superintendent Michael Giles to take more action in response to complaints regarding the cheer coach. “The silence of the board and the super- intendent is very loud,” Shofner said. “When we reached out to you and when we do this work, we extend an invitation for you to be a participant in this process, not to onlook.” Carter spurned the district for both poor communication and not stepping in to resolve the situation when APS was made aware of it. “It hasn’t been addressed. The girls are humiliated,” Carter said. “This has been circulated. It’s out there. No one seems to do anything.” In response, APS boardmember Anne Keke insisted that “it’s not that the board isn’t doing anything or that it’s completely apathetic....We know it’s been going on for years, but it takes some time to navigate that, There have been multiple meetings, and you all know that it doesn’t take one meeting to fi x a problem.” No one at the meeting mentioned Kin- dred’s resignation, and it’s unclear if even the APS board knew of it. On February 20, Kristen Davis, the as- sistant varsity cheer coach, submitted her immediate resignation to Ivey and Ahmed; she made it clear she supported Kindred. “Unfortunately, the continued out- landish accusations from a small group of parents, along with ongoing harassment regarding matters beyond our control, have created circumstances in which I can no longer effectively support the program,” Davis wrote. “Although the school has made efforts to support us through these allega- tions and frequent challenges, the repeated false and character-defi ning statements have made it clear that remaining in this role is no longer in my best interest. I stand fi rmly behind every decision made regard- ing this team.” Parents were offi cially informed of Kin- dred’s resignation on February 23, a week after the board meeting; in an email, Kindred told Ahmed she’d .informed parents of her decision and planned to tell her team the next day. An hour later, Ahmed sent an email to the families of the cheer team members, letting them know Kindred was no longer the coach. “We would like to thank her for her leadership and service to our cheer team,” Ahmed wrote. “We understand that changes like this can bring questions about the future. At this time, we plan to thoughtfully assess the needs of our student athletes and the program.” That afternoon, Kindred and Davis an- nounced their decision to resign in a Face- book group for parents of Vista Peak varsity athletes. Davis wrote that “standing in full solidarity and respect for Coach K, I will also be stepping down as coach!” Many parents were supportive. “It truly is a case of a few bad apples will spoil the whole bunch,” wrote Damon Jones. “Did anyone take into consideration that there’s a bunch of girls that feel opposite of what’s being portrayed? Parents, this isn’t a time to stay silent!” Another parent, Reneika Johnson, told Kindred that “you’ve been a positive infl u- ence on my daughter and I truly appreciate you. It’s really sad that negativity from a few people is impacting the whole team.” But another parent tells Westword that “empathy for a colleague should not come at the expense of listening to families.” “I understand that people will support the people they work with because they don’t see the same things that my child had to experience,” another parent says. “But stu- dent experiences must be taken seriously.” According to Carter, Kindred’s resigna- tion only “put a band-aid” on the issue. She and her family are now demanding that Kindred be fi red from her job as a teacher for Vista Peak Exceptional Student Services, which assists students with developmental and mental disabilities. “Not only that, I think her license should be revoked,” Carter adds. “For a person to be in a position of trust and carry out these bullying, intimidating tactics on students, there’s just no way to justify that. There’s no reason that person should even still be in the school teaching.” Until Shofner got involved, family mem- bers say that Vista Peak didn’t deal with their complaints. “What I needed most was acknowledgement,” one parent says. “It felt like my concern was being managed rather than engaged.” Other cheer parents want Vista Peak offi cials not just to acknowledge their com- plaints, but talk to their daughters. “I want systems that help my student to recover from what happened,” a parent sug- gests. “Maybe something like a conversation from the principal to the students admitting that what they went through was not okay.” Several suggest that Vista Peak’s response – or lack thereof – is indicative of how the school treats Black families. “What it reveals is that systems sometimes struggle to re- spond quickly enough when Black families raise concerns,” says one parent. Agrees another: “It was mostly Black people who had the issue, and that was kind of shocking. At Vista Peak, it is all about who you know, and if you don’t know the right people, you aren’t going to be treated fairly. So not having the right connections and being Black makes it really hard when you have an issue.” APS has not confi rmed whether Vista Peak will have a cheer team for the 2026- ’27 season. “Over the coming months, we will be engaging with families to plan for the future,” says APS spokesperson Corey Christiansen. “We will be thoughtfully assessing the needs of our student athletes and the program. Our priority is to ensure that any decisions made are in the best interest of our students and the broader school community.” Email the author at [email protected]. The 2025 Vista Peak cheer squad went to Florida for the nationals. APSD News continued from page 6
