A former East High School principal is the latest to jump into the Denver Public Schools Board of Education race.

John Youngquist has joined an increasingly crowded field to replace the at-large seat held by Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson. Last month, Anderson announced he was dropping out of the race to run for Colorado House District 8, a seat held by Leslie Herod, D-Denver.

With the school board election just four months away, at least three candidates are vying for one of the district’s two at large positions. The other is held by Scott Esserman, which expires in 2025.

Youngquist, who served as principal at East high School from 2007 to 2012, joins former Tattered Cover CEO and Denver mayoral candidate, Kwame Spearman, and Paul Ballenger, a security expert and former Marine.

“A school board director should be a leader, someone who will make hard decisions, own the outcomes, and work to improve our district into the future,” Younquist, 57, said in a statement.

Younquist is the president of PrincipalEd Consulting, which provides problem-solving and strategy development for area school districts and leadership training for schools and nonprofits.

Each candidate competing for the open at-large seat have cited security issues and the ineffectiveness of the current board.

“I’ve seen what a good functioning board looks like (in the private sector) and it’s not what we’ve seen here lately,” said Ballenger, 46.

Ballenger added, “I kinda want to make the school board boring again.”

As a reservist and former Marine, Ballenger said he has always been interested in politics because of its impact on the military.

Ballenger filed in mid-May.

Youngquist filed has filed his intent to run with election officials.

The most recent campaign financial filings show that Ballenger had $3,634 on hand while Spearman had $6,240.

For months, the board of education has nabbed headlines and not always for their work providing oversight of DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero.

Last fall, the board rejected Marrero’s recommendations to close 10 low-enrollment schools leading to months of speculation and uncertainty before shuttering three campuses in the spring. After doing so, the board instructed Marrero not to use enrollment numbers — the sole basis thus far — to determine which schools should be closed.

And then in the wake of two administrators being shot by a student who later committed suicide at East High School in March, the board reversed its 2020 decision to ban police from schools.

The board has also gotten itself embroiled in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of media organizations that include The Denver Gazette, for violating the Colorado Open Meetings Law when holding a five-hour secret meeting — called for by Marrero — to discuss lifting the ban.

Other open seats include the one held by Director Scott Baldermann who is running for re-election in District 1. Baldermann had $3,076, campaign finance reports show.

Adam Slutzker is running for district 5, which is held by Charmaine Lindsay, who has not yet filed her intention to run, according to the Colorado Secretary of State.