DPS teachers turn up negotiating heat

Pay at issue; union also seeks more say in school reforms

Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, August 27, 2007

Negotiations between Denver Public Schools and its teachers' union resume today - and the gloves are off.

Saturday, teachers passed out leaflets outlining their bargaining position to all houses within a two-block radius of Denver school board members' homes.

They also left coffee mugs promoting the union, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, on board members' front porches, said DCTA president Kim Ursetta.

"We want to reach a settlement; that's our goal," she said Sunday.

"I think the board of education needs to realize how serious we are."

Saturday's blitz comes after the union sent letters last week to more than 200 civic leaders across the city, outlining its concerns with negotiations and criticizing DPS' current reform efforts.

"DCTA believes the time has come to listen to teachers, not policy wonks in think tanks far from Denver," Ursetta wrote in the letter.

She also stated that the union will release its own "teacher-designed, child-based" reform plan "within the next few weeks."

DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet said Sunday that the district also wants a settlement of the monetary and instructional issues dividing DPS and the union.

He declined to respond to Ursetta's criticisms beyond saying that union leaders are "entitled to their own opinions."

"It's disappointing but not unexpected," he added.

Talks between the district and the union broke down in May, when Ursetta declared an impasse after the two sides were unable to reach agreement.

A mediator will conduct negotiations today and Tuesday. The contract ends Friday.

The two sides disagree on money. The district is offering a 3.6 percent increase while the union wants a 4.47 percent raise.

They also disagree on instructional issues.

Ursetta said teachers want more say in the school reforms, and they need more time to implement numerous new initiatives handed down by Bennet.

DPS and DCTA leaders did not negotiate during the summer break, but Ursetta sent Bennet a stinging letter after DPS added its proferred - but refused by the union - 3.6 percent increase to teachers' paychecks last month.

Ursetta, after learning of the increase, sent a letter to Bennet criticizing the action as "bargaining in bad faith."

The DPS reform plan, called the Denver Plan, is "focused on the mechanics - preprogrammed curricula designed by people far removed from the classroom, picking up on the latest fads," she wrote.

"None of these programs have proven to have a substantial and consistent impact on student achievement.

"Attracting and keeping quality teachers has."

mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245