BOULDER, Colo.—Dozens of teachers picketed Boulder Valley School District schools or failed to show up for classes Friday because of a labor contract dispute.
The teachers are asking for permanent cost-of-living pay increases but school district officials say they can’t afford that. The district offered a 1-percent pay raise for one year.
Almost three quarters of Broomfield High School’s 84 teachers did not show up for classes during Friday’s one-day protest. Dozens of others protested outside schools.
Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin said officials hired substitutes, combined classes, and had administrators teach classes at Broomfield High School because of the absent teachers.
The Boulder Valley Education Association, the union representing the teachers, says they want to continue the negotiations that broke down Tuesday.
“They said they cannot find any ongoing money, so we are going to tell them that we want to get together and continue mediation,” said union President Mark Chavez. “Even though it’s discouraging … we want to meet and continue the process.”
School officials are offering to bring an outside expert to analyze both sides’ interests and make a recommendation.
Chavez said a strike was unlikely but that “there are a bunch of very mad teachers out there.”
Broomfield High School teacher John Costello, one of the teachers who missed classes to protest, said he and other teachers plan on returning to school Monday and that they don’t want to be a distraction for students taking final exams next week.
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Information from: Daily Camera,
