Denver teacher strike: Thousands of teachers walk out in hopes of changing teacher pay

DENVER – Teachers from one of the largest school districts in Colorado stood on the sidewalk outside South High School in below freezing temperatures to demand change Monday morning, kicking off Denver Public Schools' first strike in 25 years. 

Thousands of DPS teachers walked off the job Monday after failing to reach an agreement with administrators over salaries and bonuses.

More than half of DPS teachers — 2,631 of 4,725 — didn't report to school Monday, according to the district. According to Denver Classroom Teachers Association sign-in sheets and headcounts, 3,769 teachers and special service providers participated Monday on picket lines.

The strike is the latest of several teacher protests, walkouts and strikes across the nation in the past year. Denver's teachers are frustrated by what they see as chronic underfunding of public education in Colorado, along with uncertainty in their salaries.

DCTA lead negotiator Rob Gould said Monday that teachers "felt we had to use the last tool in our tool chest" after 15 months of negotiating with the district. 

Negotiations are scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

On Monday, participating teachers picketed at their schools before heading to the Capitol building. 

"If they don't pay us, shut it down!" some chanted at South High School following Monday's news conference. "What do we want? Fair pay! When do we want it? Now!"

In the afternoon, thousands gathered at the steps of the Capitol to call on DPS to listen to their demands.

Teachers chanted, "Hey DPS, why aren't you listening?" 

Christopher Ritchie, a special education teacher at South High School, marched outside the school Monday, carrying a sign that read, “We’ve gotta strike for our right for fair pay.”

Ritchie said he came out despite the cold to take a stand. Fair compensation will help keep teachers in the district, he said, which will in turn help students.

As students trickled into the Denver school Monday morning, some stopped to take videos of the picketing. Hundreds walked out to join their teachers.

Senior Dejaune Ellerbee spoke to a crowd of about 400 students before they joined teachers to picket. She called on students to stand up for the teachers who invest in them every day.

The students know that teachers aren’t getting paid enough, Ellerbee said in an interview with the Coloradoan.

“When we found out teachers were going to strike Monday, we knew we wanted to show that we stand in solidarity,” Ellerbee said. “Without our teachers, this world wouldn’t work.”

East High School freshmen Bersabeh Mehari, Samrawit Shewanargaw and Alivia Smith huddled together outside school to show their support. 

"If I come back to school tomorrow, I'll be here to support the teachers," Mehari said. She wasn't impressed with the busywork assigned by the substitute teachers. 

Students told the Coloradoan that substitutes gave them packets to fill out and said many students walked out of the school during the strike.

Though reporters weren't allowed inside schools Monday, videos shared widely by East High School students showed students crowding the hallways, singing, shouting and dancing while school was in session. 

DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova told reporters she visited about a dozen schools during the strike Monday morning. When asked about the safety of students, partially in reference to the videos from East High School, Cordova said she saw a "range of conditions" in schools but didn't see any classrooms "where it felt like students weren't safe." Later in the conference, she clarified that she visited some schools before students were present and that she wasn't personally at East High School.

The district's student absence policy remains unchanged during the strike, she said — if parents excused their students, the absence will be marked excused. If they didn't, the absences will be unexcused. 

DPS is one of Denver's largest employers, with 207 schools and about 90,000 students.

Administrators planned to keep schools open for at least the first few days of the strike. They prepared lesson plans and secured substitutes, but if the strike lingers on, administrators might run out of substitutes and fill-ins.

Cordova said the district will make decisions about whether to have class Tuesday on a school-by-school basis. 

"Safety is the number one concern," Cordova told reporters. 

She said the district would return to negotiations Tuesday with the goal of reaching an agreement to end the strike as quickly as possible. District officials say each day of a strike will cost about $400,000. 

"It is a problem for our kids to not have their teachers in class," she said. 

Jenna Jones, a third-grade teacher DPS, said after she explained to her students that she wouldn't be in class Monday and why teachers were striking, several students at the predominately low-income McMeen Elementary School did their best to step up. 

One student left $2 on her desk, she said. A couple others tried to give her the Chick-fil-A gift cards they'd earned for their perfect attendance record. She didn't take them, she said, but she was moved.

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Because DPS can't quickly meet state-mandated standards for background checks and qualifications for subs in early-childhood classrooms, approximately 5,000 preschool kids won't be able to attend school during the strike. 

The district's student absence policy remains unchanged during the strike, Cordova said — if parents excused their students, the absence will be marked excused. If they didn't, the absences will be unexcused. 

Meanwhile, Denver Public Library announced on Twitter that all library locations will open at 10 a.m. each day during the strike and "will offer active and passive programs" to keep students engaged. 

The DCTA's goal has been to change the district's compensation system, ProComp, which trades a higher base pay for bonuses. A starting teacher in Denver earns $43,255 a year. The district offered to raise that to $45,500, but teachers want $45,800. ProComp bonuses can add up to $7,000 to a teacher's paycheck.

DPS administrators say it's important to pay teachers well, but they tout the bonus system as the best way to reward teachers who are either highly effective or who volunteer to work in the lowest-performing schools.

But Gould said Monday the bonuses "have not been helpful" with retaining teachers.

The two sides met Saturday in a last-ditch effort to come to an agreement but were unable to resolve their differences. The union left the negotiations, declaring the strike would happen Monday. 

Across the nation in the past year, there have been walkouts and demonstrations in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Kentucky, Washington state, Colorado and most recently in Los Angeles.

The LA strike lasted six days in January and threw the city into chaos as many parents kept their kids home and teachers picketed schools.

The strike was resolved by a deal for a 6 percent raise, a decrease in class sizes, and additional support staff, including librarians and counselors.

The strikes could continue. Teachers in Oakland, California, could walk out this month.