Denver teachers go on strike over wages

DENVER >> Striking teachers on Monday picketed outside schools and marched through Denver’s streets for better pay as car horns blared in support of the latest U.S. walkout amid a swell of educator activism that has affected at least a halfdozen states over the past year.

Just over half of the 4,725 teachers working in district-run schools called in absent for Denver’s first strike in 25 years. Some students crossed picket lines to get to class as schools remained open with administrators and substitute teachers in classrooms.

The strike, affecting about 71,000 students in the school district, comes about a year after West Virginia teachers launched the national “Red4Ed” movement with a nine-day strike in which they won 5 percent pay raises. There have been walkouts in Washington state, Arizona, Kentucky, California and Oklahoma, as teachers protest low pay, crowded classrooms and staffing shortages.