Denver Teachers Strike for First Time in 25 Years

Nearly 100 schools and 3,800 educators participated in the Denver teachers’ strike on Monday. According to the Denver Class Room Teachers Association, students at South, East, and other high schools staged walkouts in support of the teachers.

Listen to voices from the rally at the State Capitol on Monday afternoon:

Monday afternoon more than 3,000 people, teachers, community members and students, attended an afternoon rally at the State Capitol where union leaders encouraged the community to call school board members and demand they fund DCTA’s proposal.

Negotiations between striking Denver teachers and the School district are set to resume Tuesday morning at 10am ahead of the second day of the teachers strike.

On Monday two Aurora attorneys filed a lawsuit against Denver Public Schools on behalf of ten thousand special-needs students in the district, alleging these children will be negatively affected by the teachers’ strike.

The suit says the strike could cause severe emotional and psychological trauma for special education students, especially those who suffer from autism who may not be able to adjust to changes in routine.

It says some students who need specialized assistance–such as caregivers, counselors, feeding tubes, and breathing apparatuses–would not be adequately taken care of by the substitute teachers the district has hired while teachers are on strike. The attorneys are seeking class-action status for the suit.

It was filed on behalf of a child identified as E.A. It seeks a court order against the DPS ensuring that it provides necessary special education services to all disabled students.

The district says it’s already taken measures to do this, and that the lawsuit is based merely on speculation that children will be denied services.

DPS spokesman Will Jones said that students with disabilities were well-supported on Monday during the strike, and the district had prepared for the strike by recruiting substitute teachers with special education training.

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