The recently nominated board director pick for Denver Public Schools announced on her Facebook page Thursday night that she would be stepping down, after her criminal past became "a distraction."
"When I ran for the school board appointment, my intentions were pure," MiDian Holmes said on a message posted to Facebook. "I did so not thinking that my past would be the focus...I did so with my eyes and ambition on the future. The reality is clear that my past has the media and several members of the community mystified and I would be doing a great disservice to the 90,000 students of Denver Public Schools if I continued to allow this to be a distraction."
Court records obtained by Denver7 showed Holmes was charged with child abuse in 2006. That charge was dismissed and she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child abuse, no injury involving neglect.
She was charged with wrongs to minors in 2005, but that case was also dismissed. She was also arrested in 2008 for a traffic misdemeanor, and has a history of traffic violations including speeding and driving with expired license plates.
Holmes is the mother of three children in Northeast Denver and a former DPS student herself. Her resume shows she's a member of Stand For Children, a child advocacy group and currently sits on two district committees.
"We appreciated the fact that she disclosed the information to us, it was a very relatable situation," Frickey Saito, executive director of Stand For Children said. "In no way did it disqualify her in our minds from participating as a Stand member. I don't believe it disqualifies her as a member of the DPS school board either."
MORE: Read Holmes' DPS application
Holmes was scheduled to be sworn in at the Board of Education work session next Monday.
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