An overflow crowd of Denver teachers packed the school board meeting Thursday to voice displeasure over low pay and stalled contract talks.
For almost two hours, teachers implored administrators and board members to raise their pay – which they say is among the lowest in the Denver area.
“You are not going to have quality schools without quality teachers,” said Joe Ploplys, a teacher at Denison Montessori. “You won’t get quality teachers without proper compensation.”
Teachers said they were having to work weekend jobs, they are watching talented colleagues leave for better-paying districts and they are insulted by the lack of progress in contract negotiations.
“We need our contract issue settled,” said Laurel Trasky of Henry Middle School. “Like our students, we all feel safer if the rules are there.”
Negotiations at impasse
The teachers union and Denver Public Schools have been at odds over a contract for this school year since the spring. A federal mediator last month declared the negotiations at an impasse.
The district is offering a 3.6 percent cost-of-living increase, and the union wants a 4.47 percent raise.
District officials say their offer, plus yearly step increases that eligible teachers receive, amounts to an average increase of 6.2 percent.
Lincoln High School teacher Mark Harmon said the money for the pay raise could be found in the savings from older teachers who are quitting.
Teachers on Thursday also urged DPS to give them more time to implement reforms and to involve them in decision making.
“You are losing leaders, department heads and facilitators,” said teacher Erin Stutelberg, who likened the district’s dilemma to a wound that will not clot.
“You are losing experts,” she said. “They are handed a canned curriculum and told what to teach and when to teach it. You are losing idealists. … Be platelets. Stop the bleeding.”
Engaged “at every step”
Superintendent Michael Bennet spoke to the crowd only at the beginning of the public comment period, disagreeing that reforms have been top down.
“We have engaged teachers at every step,” he said. “The hardest- working people I know are the teachers in this district. … I hope we don’t make this political dispute and contract dispute spill over into the work we are doing.”
Bruce Dickinson, executive director of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said the evening was about letting the teachers have their say.
“(The board) got to hear from the people who do the job every day and what’s going on,” he said. “It’s a different way of talking instead of over a negotiation table.”
The union also brought in Mike Billirakis, a member of the National Education Association’s executive committee, from Ohio.
“Teachers want to be respected,” he said. “Negotiate the salary issue. Set it aside. Negotiate the reform. Set it aside. Give the teachers the time to teach. Let them become your partner again.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
