With strike looming, DPS won’t let educators go to conferences

With a strike scheduled to begin in just days, Denver Public Schools has prohibited its teachers and staff from attending conferences and training seminars this week.

DPS leaders said the decision is to “ensure maximum preparedness in the event of the strike.” But teachers who planned to attend or speak at events on topics such as literacy, foreign language and culturally responsive teaching said it will hinder their professional growth and hurt students in the long run.

The action by the district is “punishing the teachers for wanting to strike, is what I’m seeing,” said Stacy Lister, a kindergarten teacher at Slavens K-8 School.

Teachers are planning to strike Monday after Gov. Jared Polis refused to intervene in wage negotiations between the school district and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. DPS and the union, which are about $8 million apart in their respective pay proposals, will resume bargaining Friday night.

“We made this decision in order to focus on students first and in an effort to minimize the impact to instruction and students’ learning time with their teachers,” the district said in an emailed statement. “We will do everything possible to find creative ways to offer our educators access to learning later in the semester.”

Lister was planning to go to the CCIRA Conference on Literacy at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, having registered in November. She’s gone to the event before, which taught her new ways to develop confidence in students and different learning styles.

The parent-teacher association, she said, is paying for teachers at Slavens to attend the conference, which cost more than $200 for two days. Lister also booked two hotel rooms for the event, which cost about $135 a night.

Now she has to cancel her plans after receiving an email Wednesday that said teachers are not able to attend professional development seminars.

“So we cannot grow as a teacher,” Lister said.

The Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers has canceled 11 sessions at its spring conference because 13 presenters with DPS are no longer able to attend.

“We’re disappointed with this development,” said the organization’s president, Noah Geisel, in a statement. “I shared with DPS administrators that CCFLT hosts a nationally recognized conference known for providing excellent professional development to help our colleagues learn and grow and become the great teachers that every student deserves.”

Teachers who spoke to The Denver Post said they’ve heard they could face disciplinary actions — from docked pay to being fired — for going to conferences or seminars. But in a statement, DPS said, “It is not a policy of DPS to fire or deduct pay for teachers going to trainings this week. We would not pursue disciplinary action.”

For some teachers, the snow day on Thursday offered an opportunity for them to attend sessions as classes were canceled.