Denver Public Schools administrators have been acting predictably poorly regarding the impasse between the local teachers union and management over a new contract. First, the superintendent made the veiled threat that potentially striking teachers could be replaced by “furloughed” government workers looking to make some money while Donald Trump soils his pants over his wall. Now, as Denver TV station KUSA 9 News reports, the veil has been removed from those threats. Denver teachers that are working on the basis of immigration visas were sent a letter by the DPS threatening to report any strikers to immigration officials. Yes, you read that right. DPS is quickly trying to damage-control the fact that it SENT TEACHERS A LETTER THREATENING THEM WITH DEPORTATION.
[DPS spokeswoman Anna Alejo] told 9NEWS it was “an incorrect communication.”
[...]
“We will work to correct this misunderstanding immediately,” Alejo said. “DPS does not inform the government of the names of employees who are participating in a strike.”
It’s pretty hard to see how that was simply a clerical error. Maybe they were sending a letter to those teachers, in this xenophobic political climate, saying they wouldn’t report them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and instead, someone dropped the contraction? Final grade: F.
The teachers have voted to strike anyway. The first walkouts could begin as soon as Monday.
