Superintendent Jerry Wartgow will speak about the draft teacher compensation system during a community forum from 7:45 to 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 22 at the Fred N. Thomas Career Education Center Middle College of Denver, 2650 Eliot St.

Wartgow will address how the draft teacher compensation system (proposed in the spring) supports DPS goals to: set high expectations for students, parents, teachers, principals, and all other staff of DPS and the community it serves; improve the performance of all students; and close the gap between better and poorer performing students.

This is the first public meeting this school year about the proposed new compensation system, which would reward teachers for improving student achievement, receiving successful performance evaluations, working in the most academically needy schools and improving their skills and knowledge. In the new system, teachers would exchange guaranteed annual increases based on experience for the opportunity to achieve higher salaries earlier in their career based on performance.

The draft recommendation was developed by the Denver Public Schools - Denver Classroom Teachers Association Joint Task Force on Teacher Compensation.

The proposal is a draft that will be revised this fall after a period of comment from teachers, administrators and the community. A final version of the proposal will be released in November and will be used as a starting point for collective bargaining in 2004. Teachers and the Board of Education will vote on the bargained proposal before March 19, 2004.

Information on the draft recommendation for a Comprehensive Professional Compensation System for Teachers can be found at www.denverteachercompensation.org.