Last week I told you that the Colorado Springs District 11 school board had voted to open union contract negotiations up for public observation. Today, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the CSEA (the local teachers union) has blackballed the idea:

The board of the Colorado Springs Education Association voted unanimously to turn down a request by the D-11 school board to hold the meetings in public.

In a letter to the D-11 board Wednesday, CSEA President Kevin Marshall said Tuesday’s vote was to “protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement between teachers and safeguard the future of children by keeping the negotiations private.”

“Safeguard the future of children”… from whom: Parents? Taxpayers? Journalists? “Protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement”… so that’s the priority? Let’s not be surprised here. Besides the obvious seniority-based salary and benefits, what kind of items in the CSEA-D11 master agreement (PDF) might they be trying to protect? Here’s a list of examples all found in Article III under “Association Rights”: Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

Last Thursday a couple of my Education Policy Center friends took part in the Colorado Coalition of Cyberschool Families Day at the Capitol event. Although a bit cold and windy in Denver, it was a great time to see hundreds of students, parents and teachers show up and make a statement about what public school choice and virtual learning means to them.

The day’s proceedings began indoors down the street from the Capitol, as students had the opportunity to work with teachers on fun projects and parents could listen to some informative presentations. One of the first speakers of the day was our own Ben DeGrow, who shared with the audience Colorado’s background with public school choice, how parents can help make school choice “work” and some of the parent-friendly resources from the Education Policy Center. Including, I’m told, this little blog of mine. Thanks for the plug!

Later everyone marched down to the west steps of the State Capitol for a rally with speeches from cyberschool parents, students and leaders, as well as a couple legislators, along with award presentations to some deserving online students. And then to top it all off, a great lunch! Special thanks go to Coalition president Lori Cooney (pictured speaking) and Colorado Cyberschool Association president Judith Stokes for putting together a fine event.

I have a sneaking little suspicion this isn’t the last you’ll see me tell you about the Cyberschool event. But in the meantime, here are some more pictures that the Coalition has posted. Looks like fun times in Denver. I wonder if anyone “saw” me there.

No Comments »