Denver: Another Strike Versus The Background Of Bad Education Reform

By Anne Rowe for DPS board, February 5, 2019

Now that Los Angeles instructors have settled their agreement, we can turn our attention to the coming strike in Denver, Colorado. While the disagreement is mainly about incomes, like the L.A. strike, this is about more than just the money. Denver’s labor discontent occurs against the background of more than a years of education reform fiddling.

Back in 2005, the district employed Michael Bennet, who had no background in education but was the mayor’s chief of personnel with a background in turning around stopping working business for an financial investment company. Bennet brought in other outsiders to form a community group (A+ Denver) along with some other education philanthropists to “pressure” the district. The chosen design was a portfolio model. Think of this type of design as a forced merger in between public and charter schools, with the resulting entity run by charter viewpoint. Or, offered the portfolio focus on continually closing bottom-ranked schools, you can believe of the portfolio model as trying to fire your method to quality on the institutional scale. Since 2005, Denver has closed 48 schools and opened 70; most of the brand-new schools are charter schools. Denver under portfolios is a slow-motion design of turning a public school system personal, a New Orleans without a Katrina to clean out the public system in one fell swoop.

To keep the ed reform model in place requires a Denver school board that is reform-friendly, and so the politics and loan surrounding Denver school board races have actually been abnormally tempestuous. By 2013, huge loan was a regular feature of the elections, with the 2015 race illustration hundreds of thousands of out-of-state contributions, most funneled through Democrats for Education Reform and their activist arm, Education Reform Now Action (ERNA is not needed to recognize its factors). Twenty fifteen marked a effective race for reform prospects, however 2017, though it featured even more loan (almost three-quarters of a million from ERNA alone) saw 2 of the 4 reform-supporting incumbents defeated. Turns out not everyone thinks the reformsters are headed in the right direction.

Given its history, Denver has long been seen as a fantastic location for reform supporters to try out some of their preferred ideas. One has actually become a main problem in existing negotiations– incentive pay. Denver instructors work under a system called ProComp, which offers rewards for a variety of reasons, from staffing a school that is having a hard time to working at a school that achieved high test ratings. It looks quite on paper, however in practice critics say it produces aggravation and unpredictability about a instructor’s pay, links that pay to elements a teacher has little control over (e. g. test ratings), has led to substantial instructor turnover in the district, and, most especially, has done absolutely nothing to close Denver’s large accomplishment space. On the other hand, Denver teachers, like numerous in Colorado, are working two jobs to get by.

As the strike has approached, other features of the corporate-style reform in the district have raised eyebrows and blood pressure. Chalkbeat revealed that the district has one administrator for every 7.5 teachers– 197 total administrators. That’s more than other districts in the state, but not completely surprising. Charter schools, in specific, tend to be top-heavy, with study after study after study proving that they invest far more on administrative costs than public school districts do.

On top of that, an information demand by a Denver parent exposed a payment of $3.2 million in bonuses to Denver administrators. Typical administrator base pay is more than $100,000, with the district spending $20 million total. About a half million dollars of the perk money goes to administrators with no school or student obligations.

With the vote currently taken to strike, the earliest the teachers might walk out will be this Monday, January 28. The district has showed they will still open schools, and in this run-up period, they have indicated they’re playing hardball. Administrative staff has actually been told they will cross the picket line– and in some cases serve as alternative instructors– or lose their jobs. The district had likewise hoped to hire furloughed federal workers to work as substitutes, but the end of the federal government shutdown will prevent that plan. And in maybe their ugliest move, the district issued a letter to instructors in the United States on visas saying that if those teachers struck, they’d be reported to immigration and the State Department. The district later on pulled back that risk, sort of, saying that the letter was because of “a misconception of the details that we got from our migration firm.” They rejected that the letter was “intended to cause worry” for affected teachers, but what else could it possibly have actually been planned to do?

I’ve been through 2 teacher strikes in my career, and one of the hardest things about them is that those who wear’t respect teachers will take their masks off and let you know just how little they think of the occupation and the individuals in it. School administration might demonstrate how much they value instructors as part of the district. Or they may demonstrate their belief that instructors are hirelings who should sit down, shut up, and do as they’re told. It’s always important to remember that when the contract is lastly settled, everybody has to go back to work together. It’s challenging to offer, for circumstances, “Hey, I know we threatened to have you tossed out of the country, but we really value you and appearance forward to working together.”

Denver’s schools are having a hard time with the fragments of too many years of too much business reform style management. Coming up with a way to provide teachers with a decent, stable wage will not sweep away all of that, but it would definitely be a great action forward. Here’s hoping the leaders in Denver can find their method.

 

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Now that Los Angeles teachers have settled their contract, we can turn our attention to the coming strike in Denver, Colorado. While the conflict is mostly about wages, like the L.A. strike, this is about more than just the money. Denver’s labor discontent happens against the backdrop of more than a years of education reform fiddling.

Back in 2005, the district hired Michael Bennet, who had no background in education however was the mayor’s chief of staff with a background in turning around failing business for an investment firm. Bennet brought in other outsiders to form a neighborhood group (A+ Denver) along with some other education philanthropists to “pressure” the district. The chosen design was a portfolio design. Think of this type of model as a required merger in between public and charter schools, with the resulting entity run by charter philosophy. Or, provided the portfolio emphasis on constantly closing bottom-ranked schools, you can think of the portfolio model as attempting to fire your way to excellence on the institutional scale. Considering that 2005, Denver has closed 48 schools and opened 70; most of the brand-new schools are charter schools. Denver under portfolios is a slow-motion design of turning a public school system personal, a New Orleans without a Katrina to tidy out the public system in one fell swoop.

To keep the ed reform design in location needs a Denver school board that is reform-friendly, and so the politics and money surrounding Denver school board races have been unusually tempestuous. By 2013, huge cash was a routine function of the elections, with the 2015 race illustration hundreds of thousands of out-of-state contributions, most funneled through Democrats for Education Reform and their activist arm, Education Reform Now Action (ERNA is not needed to recognize its contributors). Twenty fifteen marked a successful race for reform prospects, but 2017, though it featured even more money (almost three-quarters of a million from ERNA alone) saw 2 of the 4 reform-supporting incumbents defeated. Turns out not everyone believes the reformsters are headed in the right direction.

Given its history, Denver has long been seen as a terrific location for reform advocates to try out some of their preferred concepts. One has actually become a main issue in existing settlements– reward pay. Denver teachers work under a system called ProComp, which provides rewards for a variety of reasons, from staffing a school that is having a hard time to working at a school that accomplished high test ratings. It looks pretty on paper, however in practice critics say it creates aggravation and unpredictability about a teacher’s pay, links that pay to aspects a teacher has little control over (e. g. test ratings), has led to significant teacher turnover in the district, and, most especially, has actually done absolutely nothing to close Denver’s large achievement gap. On the other hand, Denver instructors, like many in Colorado, are working 2 jobs to get by.

As the strike has approached, other features of the corporate-style reform in the district have raised eyebrows and blood pressure. Chalkbeat exposed that the district has one administrator for every 7.5 teachers– 197 overall administrators. That’s more than other districts in the state, but not entirely surprising. Charter schools, in particular, tend to be top-heavy, with research study after study after research study showing that they spend far more on administrative expenses than public school districts do.

On top of that, an information demand by a Denver parent exposed a payout of $3.2 million in rewards to Denver administrators. Average administrator base pay is more than $100,000, with the district spending $20 million overall. About a half million dollars of the perk cash goes to administrators with no school or trainee responsibilities.

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With the vote already taken to strike, the earliest the teachers could walk out will be this Monday, January 28. The district has showed they will still open schools, and in this run-up duration, they have indicated they’re playing hardball. Administrative staff has been informed they will cross the picket line– and in some cases serve as substitute instructors– or lose their jobs. The district had also hoped to hire furloughed federal employees to work as substitutes, but the end of the federal government shutdown will thwart that plan. And in perhaps their ugliest move, the district released a letter to teachers in the US on visas stating that if those teachers struck, they’d be reported to immigration and the State Department. The district later on pulled back that danger, sort of, stating that the letter was because of “a misconception of the details that we got from our migration firm.” They rejected that the letter was “intended to cause worry” for impacted teachers, but what else might it possibly have been meant to do?

I’ve been through two instructor strikes in my career, and one of the hardest things about them is that those who put on’t regard teachers will take their masks off and let you understand simply how little they believe of the occupation and the people in it. School administration might demonstrate how much they worth teachers as part of the district. Or they might show their belief that teachers are hirelings who must sit down, shut up, and do as they’re told. It’s constantly essential to remember that when the agreement is finally settled, everyone has to go back to work together. It’s hard to sell, for instance, “Hey, I know we threatened to have you tossed out of the nation, however we really value you and look forward to working together.”

Denver’s schools are struggling with the sediment of too many years of too much business reform style leadership. Coming up with a method to offer teachers with a good, stable wage will not sweep away all of that, however it would certainly be a great step forward. Here’s hoping the leaders in Denver can discover their way.