Teachers take autonomy case to union's doorstep
By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published May 31, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Nearly two dozen teachers from Denver's Montclair Elementary took a field trip of their own Friday - to their union headquarters to urge a vote on the school's six-week-old request for autonomy.
Montclair is the third Denver Public School, and the first elementary, to seek freedoms from district and union rules in budgeting, hiring and scheduling.
Bruce Randolph School in north Denver paved the way for school autonomy requests earlier this year, and Manual High School soon followed.
"This is a special place, and I want to make sure it continues," said third-grade teacher Kyle Kimmal. "We want to have control of our building at this time."
Montclair teachers voted 22-1 in favor of seeking autonomy, and the staff sent the request to DPS and to the teachers' union on April 18. DPS board members unanimously approved the request on May 15.
But Kimmal and his principal, Shannon Hagerman, say they've had no response from the union. So Friday, the last day for teachers in DPS, Hagerman, four parents and 21 teachers went to union headquarters downtown.
"We don't want to go through the summer without any agreement with them," Kimmal said.
Union leaders, including Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Kim Ursetta, were out, attending a Teachers Union Reform Network conference in Vail. Hagerman said they were told by a staffer that the union would not consider any autonomy requests until the district-union contract is resolved.
"We submitted this before negotiations began," Hagerman said. "Don't use us as your pawn."
Ursetta, from Vail, said she has tried to schedule meetings with Montclair staff, but they've not responded to her e-mails.
"We want to set down and meet with them," she said.
Hagerman, similarly, said the union has not responded to the school.
Typically, schools seek district and union approval for autonomy since they are asking to be freed of contract rules worked out by DPS and the union. But Hagerman said Montclair will move ahead.
"We have the (school) board's unanimous approval, this is the direction we're headed," she said. "I would like to have some conversation and agreement with DCTA because I certainly don't want to be adversarial."
Just fewer than half of Montclair's staff, including Kimmal, are union members.
Montclair has thrived in recent years, with its enrollment nearly doubling. It serves an economically and ethnically diverse enrollment of about 370.
"We have kids from very privileged, very well-to-do, highly educated backgrounds, and we've got kids who have never set foot in a traditional American school," Hagerman said. '
To serve that span of needs, the staff has created unique programs. Hagerman and Kimmal said they fear, without autonomy, the school could be forced to hire teachers who don't buy into the mission. They also want to be able to make decisions about what kind of training teachers receive, and when.
"Who knows better what happens in this building and in this block of this city than we do?" Hagerman asked. "We have this forward momentum, and we just want to keep it going."
mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245
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May 31, 2008
7:03 p.m.
Suggest removal
jacka writes:
Vote YES on Amendment 47, shouldn't all people have the right to decide for themselves?
Even UFCW president and union skull Ernie Duran says 50% of his members want to unaffiliate, 50% need the Right-to-Work to avoid forced compulsary unionization
It says so right here...hit the link http://www.freeuploadshare.com/DOWNLO...
June 1, 2008
5:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
jane writes:
I wish you'd stop cluttering things with that spam. There is no compulsory union in any public school in Colorado.
As to the article, I have no idea what they want autonomy from. This is the last year of direct-placement and it's all already been done. The union already voted to an open hiring process and ending direct placement/transfers for the whole district. It's all done...? The school's SLT already makes decisions regarding professional development uniquely for each school. I can't imagine from what regulations they are seeking autonomy?
June 2, 2008
11:22 a.m.
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jacka writes:
...and I am sure that unions would agree that since federal law prohibits compulsory unionization that Amendment 47 is a do nothing ballot measure that they won't strongly oppose.
Vote YES on Amendment 47 to extend to all Coloradans their maximum rights under federal law.
June 2, 2008
1:02 p.m.
Suggest removal
BetterEducated writes:
Heads up:
There ABSOLUTELY IS compulsory unionization to the extent that school district workers must accept their assigned union as their exclusive representative.
There is no requirement to pay for that representation.
In the context of this article, teachers at the school are being burdened by the union for free.
June 3, 2008
11:33 a.m.
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Denver1212 writes:
Not so fast, do not be in a huge hurry to eliminate the unions in public schools. Principals have a huge impact upon the school and the teachers, given too much power to themselves, they can run a school aground. While Montclair can boast of encreased enrollment, Montclair's CSAP scores have shown little improvement. The Montclair march to Union headquarters may be strongly spured by the DPS management team at the highest ranks. All the teacher support mentioned may be teacher fear, fear of not following in lock step with the dictates of DPS and its management team. Trust us, there is always more and more to one story such as this one...