A plea to Gov. Jared Polis
Re: “Teachers agree to strike,” Jan. 23 news story
As a father, a son of a teacher and a former superintendent, I am begging Gov. Jared Polis not to intervene in the possible teacher strike at Denver Public Schools.
The Denver Classroom Teachers Association has been negotiating with DPS for 15 months. All we are asking is for a transparent salary schedule similar to every other school district in the state, not one plagued with unfair bonuses given to some teachers and many administrators. We are asking for deep cuts to central administration where millions of dollars are wasted on positions for non-student-facing employees. We are asking for a salary that will help us pay the exorbitantly expensive health care insurance this district offers.
We have already had a mediator who used to be the head of the Colorado Department of Labor. We have done everything we are supposed to do to make fair proposals and meet the district at the bargaining table in good faith.
We need your support, not your intervention.
We give our lives for our students. But all of us will leave this district — this profession — if we must face a future where we are vilified by the press and our superintendent, where we are not paid adequately, and where our governor doesn’t support us.
Karen Vittetoe, Denver
