Denver Public Schools is currently negotiating a new contract with http://www.denverclassroom.org/.
Currently, the main issues are:
* Addressing professional issues of time to teach and learn, time to plan, time to implement instructional regimes effectively, and
meaningful professional development;
* Promoting an orderly school and classroom environment that allows teachers to spend more of their time on instruction and not on classroom management;
* Attracting and retaining qualified teachers in Denver which includes catching up on economics with other metro area districts;
* Establishing a peer assistance and review program to help raise standards and expectations and provide help to teachers who are struggling;
(Emphasis mine -please follow me over the fold)
Locally, there has been little Megaphone Media coverage of The Negotiations. Therefore, I am asking that if you are near the Denver, Colorado, area on Thursday, May 1st or know of anyone who is/will be, please attend a rally in support of Denver Public Schools teachers. The rally will be held at 4:00 pm at Denver Public Schools Headquarters.
In addition to the above mentioned issues, many DPS teachers are upset and frustrated with DPS as they continue down a path of privatization:
The New Schools Office provides monitoring and support for charter and contract schools. This includes new applications, renewal of schools, technology support, special education services, and budget assistance.
"Contract Schools" is a code phrase for privatization. DPS already contracts with Edison Schools. You may have read about Edison Schools in Naomi Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism". Here is the CEO of Edison Schools talking about New Orleans. I would like to offer an excerpt from The Shock Doctrine :
In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid was brough back online, the auctioning off of New Orleans' school system took place with military speed and precision. Within nineteen months, with most of the city's poor residents still in excile, new Orleans' public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools. Before Hurricane Katrina, the school board had run 123 public schools; now it ran just 4. Before that storm, there had been 7 charter schools in the city; now there were 31. New Orleans teachers used to be represented by a strong union; now the union's contract had been shredded, and its forty-seven members had all been fired. Some of the younger teachers were rehired by the charters, at reduced salaries; most were not.
Please help stop the privatization of our nation's public schools. Denver Classroom Teachers Association is doing their best to plug the dike, will you please help?
Here is a link to a petition you can sign online (Anonymously if you wish) to let Denver Classroom Teachers Association know that they have your support. And if you or someone you know can attend the rally on Thursday, May 1st here, that would be great also.