DENVER — Teachers and families at dozens of Denver's public schools are worried an upcoming decision from the school board could take away some of the freedoms and flexibility at their specific schools.
A quarter of schools in the district are innovation schools, which have more autonomy than traditional schools.
These schools 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 will vote on two revised proposals. If passed, these proposals would impact innovation schools' ability to waive some provisions of the DCTA collective bargaining agreement, among other things.
These schools 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 two revised proposals. If passed, these proposals would impact 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.
"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.”
"The thing that is concerning for us as innovation schools and innovation leaders – it seems to be a solution in search of a problem," said Frank Coyne, Lead Partner at Denver Green School, one of the city’s innovation schools.
"The data we have is that innovation schools have teacher retention at the same level as traditional run schools," Coyne said. "Innovation schools have higher satisfaction than many of our traditional district run schools, and that we are serving students at our schools in a very highly effective way. The district is thinking about limiting some of our flexibilities in the name of teacher rights. And for us – as innovation schools and leaders – we care deeply about teacher rights. We care deeply about our teachers. So equating innovation schools not being for teacher rights – is a misguided notion."
On the DPS website, the district explains why the board is voting 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.
But after meeting with community members and innovation school leaders for feedback, board members and the superintendent revised the proposal during a Monday night work session this week.
In a letter to the community shared this week, the board said, “The new draft will not restrict innovation or innovative practices. This is a value statement from the Board of Education to ensure protection for all employees in Denver Public Schools regardless of school model or governance structures.”
DCTA leadership said the union "very much" supports 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."
The board meets Thursday night to vote. An announcement on the district website Wednesday said, "The Board has decided to hold the March Regular Board meeting (3/24) virtually. We will be unable to accommodate in-person public attendance at the meeting."
A spokesperson for DPS said the virtual element is not a response to expected crowd size, rather, the district has not resumed in-person public comment sessions at board meetings since the beginning of the pandemic.
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