Teachers fighting for better pay forced Doherty High to close Thursday amid staff absences

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- District 11 teachers fighting for more pay triggered a high school to cancel an entire day of school Thursday.

Each year, the District 11 Board of Education and Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA), the group representing D11 teachers, negotiate a master agreement for the upcoming school year. This year's negotiations include salary discussions.

Since 2003, District 11 has seen a 14% decrease in teachers. The starting pay for the lowest level of teacher within the district is $41,667, according to the most recent salary schedule.

Both groups agree salary increases are needed to limit the decline, but they differ in their approach.

District 11's proposal, presented last week, is to pay teachers for increased responsibilities, like leadership and extracurricular roles.

"It puts a lot of pressure on teachers to focus on things that are not educating their students in the classroom," said Molly Till, a teacher at Chipeta Elementary School.

Teachers describe it as a pay-for-performance plan, which Till said isn't equitable.

"The leadership opportunities in every school are limited, so even if every teacher were to have the time and desire to work outside the classroom to do those opportunities, there are not really enough for everyone to go around," she said.

On Thursday, CSEA countered with its own salary proposal, in preparation of a day-long negotiation. In response, hundreds of teachers showed up to the meeting throughout the day to watch the negotiations.

"I'm not here because I want more money," said Jessica Kloppenborg, a teacher at Wilson Elementary School. "I'm here because I want to be compensated for the hard work that I put in. I'm here to represent all the teachers that I support at my school and that's true for every teacher that's in that room today."

In fact, so many teachers called out at Doherty High School for the negotiations that the District had to close the school for the day.

At 9:39 a.m., a district spokesperson released the following statement:

The highest priority for all D11 staff members is to provide a safe and conducive learning environment. However, we cannot safely hold school when there are high volumes of staff absences, like what happened today at Doherty High School.

The District is proud of the changes and initiatives that are showing positive improvements in student achievement across the system. These changes are necessary but can be challenging at times. Today, because of some of our teachers' conscious desire to participate in collaborative discussions, we were unable to staff the building for the day safely.  

Our first and most critical obligation to taxpayers is to be in school and provide an excellent education for all our students.  We value all teachers and respect their right to voice their thoughts and ideas productively.  The District expects all schools to be open tomorrow. This is our commitment to our community and especially to our students. We are steadfast and pressing forward to ensure every child is thriving academically. 

According to the press release, the district at that time was still in ongoing discussions with all employee groups that hadn't concluded yet. District 11 declined to comment on the negotiations.

CSEA's salary proposal was an 8% increase across the board for all teacher positions. This would raise the salary of the lowest-level teacher position to about $45,500. The union also proposed raising the starting salary for the earliest professionals to $50,000.

"The fact that we can't pay and live comfortably in the area where we teach, that is a big red flag to me,” Kloppenborg said.

At about 1:45 p.m. Thursday, the two groups went to separate rooms to discuss the salary proposals. As of 7 p.m., the groups still haven't reconvened.

A union representative told 13 Investigates today is the last day for bargaining, meaning the two groups have to come to an agreement by the end of the night.

"Right now, a first-year teacher can make a lot more going into some of these other districts," Kloppenborg said. "We want to get the the brightest and the best into D11 to make sure all of our students have the best teachers possible."