One year ago Tuesday, more than 2,600 teachers walked out of their classrooms, initiating Denver’s first teacher strike in 25 years. The strike would end after three days of walkouts, disrupted classrooms and a bargaining session that lasted all night.
Now, a year later, reporter Elizabeth Hernandez — who covered the strike — revisits the deal that ended the walkout and talks to teachers and district administrators. Did Denver Public Schools fulfill the promises laid out in that final, strike-ending agreement?
On the issue of teacher pay, raises averaging $9,000 a year for educators turned out to be bigger than expected. And district leaders say they still cut more positions from central administration than promised, even with a number of those people being hired back to other jobs in schools or at the district offices.
Read more about the strike’s impacts a year later in today’s Denver Post.
— Matt Sebastian, Denver Post enterprise editor
One year after Denver’s historic teacher strike, what did the walkout accomplish?
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Five of The Denver Post’s best stories this week
Meet Alexis Vasquez, the DU gymnast who beat depression while helping others do the same
On Dec. 16, in an essay on the University of Denver athletic department web site, Alexis Vasquez opened up to the rest of the world what her teammates, coaches and support staff members had known for more than a year: The Arcadia, Calif., native had been battling OCD, anxiety and depression, demons that almost squelched her dreams before they could, literally, take flight. Read more from Sean Keeler.
Showdown over Trump’s plan to overhaul landmark environmental law heads to Colorado
For 50 years, the National Environmental Policy Act has served as an environmental Magna Carta, Bruce Finley reports.
But White House officials, with support from the fossil-fuel industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are moving ahead with a revamp of how NEPA reviews are done and, on Tuesday, they’re holding a hearing at the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional headquarters in Denver.
Aurora officer found drunk, passed-out in patrol car will not face criminal charges
Medical paperwork shows an Aurora officer’s blood alcohol content was five times the legal limit when he was found passed out drunk in his department car. He confessed to internal affairs investigators that he was driving drunk. And officers on the scene noted at the time that he smelled of booze.
But Officer Nate Meier will not face DUI charges — or any other criminal counts — for the March 26 incident. Read more from Elise Schmelzer.
More Aurora news: Police board clears Aurora officers in death of Elijah McClain, 23
Space potatoes, a suspicious van and a farcical task force: Behind the scenes of Colorado’s mystery drone investigation
Reports of mystery drones with 6-foot wingspans flying in grid patterns over eastern Colorado and into Nebraska — first reported by The Denver Post before Christmas — inspired a cacophony of theories and a front-page article in The New York Times.
A trove of internal emails from local sheriff’s offices obtained by The Post shows officials grasping at straws — and gamely playing along with comedic instigators — as they tried to figure out what was flying above them at night. Read more from Sam Tabachnik and Shelly Bradbury.
RELATED: Chasing the mysterious drones of eastern Colorado
Editorial: Cory Gardner must think what Trump did was fine, but itap hard to tell
“U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner either thinks itap OK for a president to pressure a foreign government to investigate a U.S. citizen for personal and political gain or he’s too afraid to criticize this president for doing just that,” The Denver Post Editorial Board writes. “We’re not sure which is worse.”
RELATED: Trump, Gardner to headline Colorado Springs rally
More of our best stories
+ Colorado aims to undo conservation easement tax-credit mess from 10 years ago
+ Tolls up to $6.60 proposed for new C-470 lanes as opening nears
+ Posh proved hot in Denver’s housing market last year. See where your ZIP code ranks in home prices.
+ Makers of electric vehicle chargers teams up with truck stops to bring more than 4,000 charging stations nationwide
+ Trevor Story’s splendid spring training launched Rockies shortstop to stardom
+ You’ll soon be able to earn a degree in cannabis from a Colorado university
+ New ski area without lifts to open next week for backcountry skiers — The Know
+ Gaylord Rockies to expand resort near Denver airport
+ Denver airport terminal construction expected to restart next month
+ Glendale plans to open Colorado’s first marijuana tasting room inside a replica jail cell — The Know
+ Efforts to reboot area around Englewoods’s light rail stop to kick into high gear in 2020
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