Are good veteran teachers still guaranteed jobs in Colorado, provided they don’t mess up?
The Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on that issue and others related to a landmark 2010 state law that changed the rules for teacher evaluations and assignments. Lawyers for Denver Public Schools squared off against lawyers representing individual teachers in two separate lawsuits.
One case was brought on behalf of seven current and former DPS teachers. It challenges a provision of the 2010 law that allows school districts to, under certain circumstances, put effective teachers who’ve earned job protections on unpaid leave.The other case was filed by a single teacher, Lisa Johnson, who was put on unpaid leave.
In both cases, lawyers for DPS argued that putting experienced, effective teachers on unpaid leave is not the same as firing them — and thus doing so doesn’t violate their due process rights. But lawyers for the teachers said unpaid leave is essentially “an end run” around those rights.
Read the full story at
