Denver’s first teachers strike since 1994 enters its second day Tuesday with negotiators from the teachers union and school district scheduled to go back to the bargaining table for the first time since contract talks collapsed over the weekend.þþMonday’s opening of the strike saw more than 2,600 teachers walk out of their classrooms in the name of better wages, according to Denver Public Schools. The union disputed that figure, saying more than 3,700 educators walked the picket lines.þþTo make up for those striking teachers, DPS on Monday said it had enlisted approximately 400 substitutes and used 1,400 central-office staff in city classrooms.þþTeachers and their supporters picketed at schools across Denver, and students reported disorder at some schools and dissatisfaction with the classwork offered by substitutes.þþ“It was chaotic,” said Matt Pence, an 18-year-old senior at East High School. “There wasn’t much control. The substitutes were trying as hard as they could, but there was just too many people.”þþDPS announced Monday night that class would be in session at all of its schools Tuesday.þþNegotiators from DPS and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association are scheduled to resume talks at 10 a.m. The two sides have reached a point where they’re both proposing the same starting base salary for teachers, but other areas of contention remain — namely DPS’ desire to pay bonuses to teachers in high-poverty schools.þþThe union last month voted to authorize a strike after its negotiations with DPS failed to secure a new contract governing educator compensation through the district’s 20-year-old ProComp system. At the time, the two sides were about $8 million apart in their respective compensation proposals.þþOnce the union authorized a strike, DPS officials formally asked Gov. Jared Polis to intervene, a move that delayed any strike until the state government weighed its options. The governor ultimately declined to step in — something that could have further delayed a strike by up to 180 days.þþOnce Polis made his decision last week, union officials declared they’d strike on Monday, setting the stage for a final burst of bargaining. Representatives of DPS and the teachers met on Friday night and much of Saturday afternoon, but, in the end, the union walked out, setting the stage for Denver’s first teacher strike in 25 years.þþSaturday’s 11th-hour session grew increasingly contentious as union representatives rejected a new DPS proposal that would cut 150 central office jobs in an effort to free up $20 million to help with teacher pay. But it also increased incentives to teachers working in high-poverty schools, which has been a sticking point with the union.þþThe latest offer from DPS included:þþEliminating 150 positions in the district’s central office over the next two years, freeing up $20 millionþPutting $22 million in new funds into teachers’ base salaries next year, and a total of $55 million over the next three yearsþIncreasing teachers’ base salaries by nearly 11 percent next yearþEliminating performance bonuses for central administration staffþIncreasing annual incentives for teachers working in high-poverty schools to $3,000 from $2,500þ“Teachers were stunned when DPS proposed hiking incentives instead of putting that new money into base pay where it could make the entire district more competitive,” Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said in a statement Saturday.þþThe district countered that its latest proposal would result in a nearly 11-percent increase in teachers’ salaries next year.þþ“Obviously, I’m incredibly disappointed,” DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova said when the union ended negotiations Saturday. “We are ready, willing and able to continue working. It’s not even 8 p.m. We have all day tomorrow.”þþCordova and her team made themselves available to continue bargaining on Sunday, but the union did not accept their invitation. Union officials said they won’t come back to the negotiating table until Tuesday.
Source: The Denver Post
