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Contract talks stalled By Allison Sherry / Denver Post Staff Writer Mar. 25, 2005 Do these teachers look impoverished? Watch a Video of the Teachers' Rally

Close to 1,000 raucous teachers gathered in front of the Denver Public Schools administration building during a wet and frigid rush hour Thursday in hopes of getting more pay and planning time in their contract this fall.

They toted signs that read, "Teachers did not take a vow of poverty" and "Stop the Abuse."

Here's the DPS teacher salary schedule. A teacher with a master's degree starts at $32,000 and tops out at $61,622. The poverty rate for a family of three is about $15,000. Even the truly impoverished behave better than the teachers. Do you see minimum wage workers demanding more "respect"? And what about taxpayers whose taxes have persistently increased faster than inflation to pay for education? Are they out on the streets demanding more respect? It's beyond the pale that a group of highly educated "professionals" can have the audacity to compare their salaries to those of the impoverished. Not only should they be ashamed of themselves, everything they say should be summarily disregarded. They should not be acknowledged as education leaders when they exaggerate and distort the truth for their own economic benefit. It's not only unbecoming as a professional, it's unethical. It's bullying. It's abuse of the public trust given to teachers. Students: Don't grow up to be like these teachers. Be honest and judicious. I have some advice for these teachers--Get off the streets, go back to your classrooms and work like these Quintilian Award-winning teachers: Jill Sayuri Nakamura, Sally Prince, Rafe Esquith and Leroy McClure. If, as a profession, teachers did this and provided the public with the education services and outcomes it expects, then teachers would have all the pay and benefits they could ever reasonably desire.

The rally comes after DPS and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association ended contract negotiations earlier this month at an impasse.

Among the sticking points: The district wants secondary teachers to teach one more class period a day, and the proposed salary increase includes only a 0.1 percent cost-of-living allowance, as well as the regular step increases.

Which, when combined with increases in health insurance benefits paid by the district, provides raises that almost certainly exceed the size of inflation.

But many teachers said their ire has more to do with respect than cash.

Melissa Underwood, a North High English teacher, said she resents giving up free time to teach six classes a day instead of five.

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"The grading would just pile up more," she said. "And they don't like to give us time to plan. Planning is a bad word in this district."

Underwood said that an increase in health-insurance rates this fall means that she wouldn't see the cost-of-living raise.

Health insurance is salary paid in-kind. The cost-of-living increase is the increased salary that is being paid to purchase health insurance.

"I have 17 years experience and a master's degree, and I'm only making $50,000," she said.

She's almost certainly lying. Check the salary schedule. The minimum she should be making is $53,935 plus a longevity payment. If she had earned some extra credits, she could be making $61,622 plus a longevity payment.

$50,000 is very likely at least $10,000 a year more than a teacher in the private sector earns in Denver. It's more than many professionals with humanities-type degrees earn. It's simply not a bad deal, especially considering job security, benefits, retirement and vacations. Anyone who thinks it's a bad deal is free to take his/her skills into the private sector to see what s/he can earn there. Apparently, over 3 million teachers in the U.S. think they're doing about as well as they can expect to do economically. Either that or they'd rather be teachers than do the kind of work needed to earn higher salaries.

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Gabe DeMola, an English teacher at West High, said the district's "attitude hurts me. Increasing class sizes and increasing workloads, it's all contrary to the reform. ... And ultimately it's disrespectful to the kids."

It looks to me like the kids are getting dumped on from both sides. So, what else is new?

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