Press Release
February 12, 2007
Agreement Reached On Bruce Randolph and Manual Autonomy Requests
Bruce Randolph School, Manual High School, Denver Public Schools (DPS), and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) announced today they had reached an agreement on the requested waivers from the Collective Bargaining Agreement by Bruce Randolph School and Manual High School.
Under the waivers, the schools are granted significant flexibility over the length of the school year and the use of time during the school day, the hiring of staff, the leadership structure within the schools, and the ability to pay staff above the levels stated in the collective bargaining agreement for certain assignments. Specifically, the schools were granted waivers that would allow them to:
- Decide how to structure the school leadership teams and what responsibilities those leadership teams have;
- Add extra days to the school year (subject to additional compensation being paid);
- Make decisions on how to allocate teacher time during the school day and how to utilize time on days in which students do not attend school;
- Make decisions on teaching loads (e.g. the number of pupils per class);
- Be free to hire new staff members without being subject to current hiring and staff transfer rules (staffing process);
- Pay teachers more than the rates currently set for extra duties and extra time.
“We are pleased with the work we are doing with these two schools and the agreements we reached for the remainder of this school year and for next year,” said DCTA President Kim Ursetta. “We believe these efforts complement our ‘Promoting School Success’ document and our long history of working together with DPS on education reform, including collaborative decision-making, ProComp, and Beacon Schools.”
“The faculty at Bruce Randolph is grateful for DCTA’s support of our request,” said Greg Ahrnbrak, the DCTA representative at Bruce Randolph. “This is a giant step forward towards educational reform and teacher professionalism. We are proud to be union members and DPS teachers.”
Kristin Waters, Principal at Bruce Randolph, noted: “This is great news to our students, faculty and community. We are now even better equipped to drive improved student learning at Bruce Randolph.”
Manual High School Principal Rob Stein similarly welcomed the agreement: “We welcome the fact that the waivers will increase our flexibility to manage our school in a way most responsive to the needs of our students and believe they will improve the quality of the education we can offer our kids.”
Commenting on the agreement, DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet stressed: “This is great news for our kids, our teachers and our schools. I congratulate the schools for their reform efforts and their dedication to our students. The board of education has stressed how important it is for us to give greater flexibility and autonomy, combined with accountability, to our schools, and this agreement is an important step forward towards those goals. We are pleased that the union has approved these efforts with respect to Bruce Randolph and Manual.”
The district and DCTA have committed to joining together to establish a constructive process to look at further requests for reform and waivers, as well as other issues of mutual concern.
“Over the next several months, we are asking the district to work with us to address other important issues such as the secondary school teaching load, peer assistance and review, maximizing teaching and learning, and school reform and innovation,” Ursetta noted.
On December 20, 2007, the DPS Board of Education formally approved Bruce Randolph School’s request seeking waivers from the collective bargaining agreement. The DPS Board of Education is scheduled to approve the agreement regarding Manual High School’s request at their February 21, 2008 board meeting.
For more information, please contact the DPS Communications Office at 720-423-3414 or the Denver Teachers Classroom Association at 303-831-0590.