The teachers union in the state’s largest school district has noted a sense of “unrest” and for the first time is asking its members what they think about district leadership.
The Jefferson County Education Association board last week decided to formally gauge teacher attitudes by surveying its 4,000 members, spokesman Dexter Meyer said. The Jefferson County School District has about 5,000 teachers, he said.
The JCEA board wants teachers to tell them whether the leadership is “leading us in the right direction,” Meyer said. “It’s a very general state-of-employee perception.”
The departures of several top-level administrators, a new budgeting system and mandatory training programs have contributed to a general feeling of “uneasiness,” he added.
Cindy Stevenson, superintendent of the 85,000-student district, said Wednesday she was not aware of the survey. Both she and Meyer, who has been on the JCEA staff for 21 years, said the district and union traditionally have had a strong relationship.
The union will negotiate its full contract next year.
Among the concerns, Meyer said, are the district’s new “Budgeting for Results” program that focuses dollars on programs linked to district goals, teacher frustration with district-mandated training programs and turnover among administrators.
Last week, district spokesman Rick Kaufman, who gained national prominence during the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, left the district. He later said Stevenson asked him to resign.
Meanwhile, chief academic officer Sherida Peterson and Pat Olive, a community superintendent who oversees schools in Arvada and Standley Lake, will be retiring, and Ken Hoover, the district’s chief operating officer, has been open about his desire to become a superintendent elsewhere.
Stevenson said Olive and Peterson made decisions to retire and that she supports Hoover’s interest in new opportunities. She would not discuss Kaufman’s departure.
Stevenson said the district has emphasized training for teachers, particularly geared toward getting more students on track for higher education, and that the teachers she’s encountered have been enthusiastic about the training.
Jane Barnes, president of the school board, said she believes education has become more challenging for teachers in general, not just in Jefferson County.
“Expectations are higher than ever,” she said. “It’s a different workplace than it was 10 years ago.”
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
