DENVER — The Denver Public School Board voted 5-2 just before midnight Thursday to adopt a proposal that will limit some of the autonomy afforded to innovation schools within the district.
A quarter of schools in the district are innovation schools, which can opt out of some policies that traditional district schools follow, or even parts of the collective bargaining agreement between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) and the district. Those “opt outs,” or waivers, are subject to a majority vote by each innovation school’s educators.
Thursday night, the Board of Education voted on a revised proposal. It impacts innovation schools' ability to waive some provisions of the DCTA collective bargaining agreement, among other things.
"Executive limitations" (EL) are basically directives to the board’s one employee, Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero.
There was a lot of opposition from the innovation school community during Thursday's meeting.
"We do not support this EL. We are not clear on why it was created, what it attempts to solve for, and what data was used to indicate there was a need for this EL," said Innovation School Principal Jessica Buckley.
"To make change, to make a difference, we have to be in the center of our work. We have to have ownership and autonomy," said Jennifer Kent, Beacon Network Academy Director.
During the meeting, director Tay Anderson pushed to have the vote delayed until June, but that effort failed and the board ultimately approved the changes just before midnight.
"We’re seeing a growing concern across the nation where we're finding that the teaching profession has been disrespected in different ways, including compensation being tied to how students score on tests or not being able to resolve an issue with a complainant in a fair and equitable manner," Board President Xochitl Gaytan said during a community feedback session earlier in March.
"In developing the EL, it will limit specific waivers within innovation plans that do not reflect the values of the school board regarding the teaching profession," Gaytan said. "This is not about the destruction of innovation status of any school, nor is it about disavowing the creative curriculum. We are showing the community that we respect the teaching profession.”
DCTA leadership said the union "very much" supported the proposal.
In an email, DCTA President Rob Gould said:
"For years, we have been hearing from our educators in these [innovation] schools about their frustration around the loss of their statutory and contractual rights. This was due to the corporate reform policies that influenced DPS for over a decade. The revised proposal reinstates these rights to over 1,400 of our educators."
On the DPS website, the district explained why the board voted on this issue now.
"Select Board members felt it was important to introduce this policy proposal to end inconsistent employment procedures and limit compensation decisions, such as what bonuses could not be used for. The proposal originated from many conversations with teachers over the past two years. Some members of the Board felt it was important to have this discussion prior to the start of the 2022 DCTA Master Agreement negotiations and the renewals of approximately 50 innovation plans next school year."
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