Teachers go on strike in latest educator walkout

DENVER >> Striking teachers picketed outside of schools and marched through Denver’s streets Monday as car horns blared in support of the latest U.S. walkout amid a swell of educator activism in at least a half-dozen states over the last year.

Just over half of the 4,725 teachers 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 one school, students danced and chanted in the hallways as they walked out to demonstrate to support their teachers. Other students joined hundreds of teachers and union members in a march past City Hall.

Science teacher Abraham Cespedes said Denver educators were empowered by recent teacher activism elsewhere around the country. “By us doing this we finally became united,” he said. The strike affecting about 71,000 students in Denver comes about a year after West Virginia teachers launched a nine-day strike.