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Home Archives for teachers

5/13/2009 By Ben 7 Comments

Breaking: Jeffco Teachers Union Calls for Impasse over Pay Dispute

Developing story... Last night the board of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA)( (Colorado's largest local teachers union and an affiliate of the Colorado Education Association) voted to declare an impasse in negotiations over renewing the collective bargaining contract with Jeffco Public Schools for the 2009-10 school year. This morning JCEA notified the school district of its decision. According to the school district, the core of the dispute revolves around a proposed compensation agreement to address relative funding shortages during the current economic downturn. Under this plan, teachers would continue to receive their automatic steps and levels for acquiring seniority and credit hours. The plan rejected by JCEA … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: 2007, 2009-10, 2009-2010, acquiring, action, additional, agreement, analysis, arbitrators, automatic, backgrounder, bill, board, bonus, budget projections, carefully, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Education Association, compensation, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, contention, contract, controversial, core, credit hours, current, decision, declare, developing, dig deeper, dispute, district officials, doubtless, economic downturn, emerge, eminently, expenditures, extra, fair, financial status, footing, funding, grievance, hard times, harmful, healthy, higher pay, impasse, increase, Independence Institute, interested parties, iVoices, JCEA, Jeffco Public Schools, Jefferson County Education Association, job protection, Jon Caldara, listen, mediation, negotiations, no work no pay, notified, occur, offer, official timetable, paid days, permanent, podcast, point, probationary period, probationary teachers, process, proposed, qualified, rejected, relative, report, reserve fund, reserved, seniority, shortages, sides, specify, stance, state funds, stay tuned, steps and levels, story, strike, substantive, taxpayers, teachers, teachers union, tenure, terms, threats, unfold, union leaders, used

10/16/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Sen. Ken Salazar Repeats Discredited Anti-Amendment 49 Talking Point

Colorado U.S. Senator Ken Salazar made the mistake of letting his name appear on a letter recently published in the Fort Morgan Times, a letter that repeats at least one special interest group lie:Amendment 49 targets public employees, including law enforcement officials, fire fighters and teachers, who provide vital services for all of us. Amendment 49 will interfere with the personal choice of working Coloradans over how they want to spend their hard-earned paychecks. This echoes the deceptive flyers distributed by the well-heeled committee Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future (the issue committee known for its perpetual deception), in which they falsely state that Amendment 49 dictates how firefighters and other public … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: 850 KOA, Amendment 49, audio, Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado, deception, deceptive flyers, Ethical Standards, firefighters, Fort Morgan Times, freedom of choice, government restriction, Grand Junction Sentinel, Hank Brown, Ken Salazar, law enforcement, letter, Mike Rosen Show, nonsense, paychecks, personal choice, Protect Colorado's Future, public employees, Rocky Mountain News, special interest group, spend, talking points, teachers, U.S. Senator, vital services, well-heeled

10/10/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Jeffco Teachers Union Called Out for Deception, Misuse of School Resources

The official campaign against Colorado Amendment 49 - also known as Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future - has set a pattern of blatant deception. But this week one group that has funded the anti-49 political campaign with teacher dues money found a way to step over the line a couple of ways at once, reports the Rocky Mountain News. First, by using official school district resources for electioneering purposes:A teachers union improperly used the Jefferson County School District's e-mail system to urge a "no" vote on three ballot measures, including one that would impact union dues. The Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA) also stepped over the line by using false, ridiculous scare tactics in its anti-Amendment 49 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, ballot measures, blatant deception, Blue Book, campaign, Colorado, deception, dues money, email system, ethical reform, Ethical Standards, good idea, heavily-funded, Independent Thinking, JeffCo, Jefferson County Education Association, Jefferson County School District, Jon Caldara, Kerrie Dallman, onslaught, pensions, Protect Colorado's Future, scare tactics, school communication systems, teachers, Unions, whistleblower

10/3/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

I’m On KBDI Channel 12 Tonight to Discuss Colorado Amendment 49

Update: A trusted reader says you can also watch on Channel 23 in Colorado Springs. Update: I added a link to Michael's blog. Please tune in tonight at 7:30 PM to KBDI 12 (in the Denver metro area) for an important episode of Independent Thinking with host Jon Caldara. Guests Jefferson County teacher Michael Alcorn and I will discuss what Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative, does, and the effects it has (and doesn't have) on teachers and other public employees. For those of you heading out to theaters to catch the premiere of An American Carol, please don't forget to set your TiVo or VCR to record. But in case you forget, the episode is scheduled to re-air next Tuesday, October 7, at 5:00 PM on KBDI. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, My Life Tagged With: Amendment 49, An American Carol, Ethical Standards initiative, Independent Thinking, Jefferson County, Jon Caldara, KBDI Channel 12, Michael Alcorn, premiere, public employees, record, teacher, teachers, TiVo, VCR

10/2/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

CoDA’s “Educate the Idiots” Members Biggest Funders of Protect Colorado’s Future’s Campaign of Deception

If you haven't seen or heard it by now, Colorado's "progressive" Democrat coalition got a little more behind-the-scenes exposure yesterday than they would like. A series of slowly leaked documents by Face The State are uncovering the inner workings of the coalition - known as the Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA). The light of the day has given us some useful insights. We are starting to see what the Left's agenda for Colorado is, why they have coordinated the spending of so much money to take over the state legislature, the governor's office, and so much more. No document has received quite as much attention as this one:In a confidential internal memorandum obtained by Face The State (PDF), the Colorado Democracy Alliance outlines a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: "Educate the Idiots", AFL-CIO, African-American, agenda, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, Andrew Romanoff, behind-the-scenes exposure, Bill Ritter, Bridget Johnson, campaign message, campaign of deception, change we can believe in, children of color, Colorado, Colorado Democracy Alliance, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Ethics Watch, confidential, covert, Democrat, Democrat leaders, document, donors, dropouts, dues, education employees, Evan Dreyer, exclusive list, Face the State, freedom, GEDs, government ethics, Governor, Hispanic, hoodwinked, idiots, indignant response, individual rights, institutional members, issue committee, Joan Fitz-Gerald, John Stocks, leaked documents, Left, liberal structure, lies, members, memorandum, minorities, National Education Association, Native American, off the record, Okie Campaigns, operatives, progressive, ProgressNow, Protect Colorado's Future, represent, Rocky Mountain News, Rocky Mountain Right, SEIU, Slapstick Politics, smart people, special interest groups, state legislature, state Republican Party leaders, strategy group, teachers, The Daily Blogster, union elite, union leaders, union power, worker welfare

9/17/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Mass Deception in Attacks Against Amendment 49, Amendment 54

This morning Mike Rosen, Colorado's leading radio talk show host, called out the group "Protect Colorado's Future" for deceptive ads run against Amendment 47, Amendment 49, and Amendment 54 on Colorado's ballot this fall. Here's the transcript:CALLER: A fairly deceptive ad running on TV. I've seen it a number of times recently. It's a fireman from Littleton, and the background is sort of set against a real sympathetic figure fighting fires, been doing this for 14 years and, you know, I'm in the same league with nurses, and teachers, and policemen, and all that, and vote against these "deceptive" amendments 47, 49, and 54. He never, they never come right out and say what these amendments are obviously, but - ROSEN: It's a clever tactic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, audio clip, bundling money, clean government, Colorado ballot, deceptive ad, deceptive attacks, Ethical Standards Now, firefighters union, fireman, hollow case, hypocrisy, Littleton, lobbying groups, mass deception, Mike Rosen, nurses, police union, policemen, Protect Colorado's Future, public payroll systems, radio talk show, reforms, right-to-work, special interests, sympathetic figure, teachers, ugly playbook, Unions, workers' rights

8/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Tables May Be Turning Against Denver Teachers Union in ProComp Faceoff

Negotiations between Denver Public Schools (DPS) and Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) are as heated as ever, with the performance pay plan known as ProComp still at stake:Denver Public Schools officials want an overhaul they say will better attract and retain talented teachers. The union says the current plan is fair to all teachers but that the DPS proposal would favor beginning teachers over veterans. Three days of mediation are set to begin Aug. 20, and the union has told teachers to prepare for a strike if no agreement is reached. In essence, the district's proposal is too radical for the union, which thrives on its perceived role as a defender of teacher security and must appease many of the more veteran teachers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: bargaining contract, Democratic National Convention, Denver Classroom Teachers Association, Denver Post, Denver ProComp, Denver Public Schools, Denver Teachers for Change, EdNews Colorado, education reform, equal outcomes, mediation, Michael Bennet, negotiations, online petition, progressive, proposals, radical, school district, tactics, teachers, teachers strike, teachers union, union leadership, union representatives

5/27/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Denver Teacher Sick-Out … An Action Not Exactly “For the Children”

Some Denver schools are suffering today because unionized teachers organized a sickout, reports the Rocky Mountain News (H/T Complete Colorado):Not a single classroom teacher showed up for work today at Academia Ana Maria Sandoval in northwest Denver, forcing the principal to scramble to cover classrooms. All 16 classroom teachers plus a music teacher and the librarian called in sick, said Principal Debra Lucero Kraft. "I didn't have any warning," Kraft said. "I don't know what the goal is so I can't really speak to whether or not that accomplished their goal ... but certainly I'm not sure if leaving your students without a teacher is a way to address contract negotiations." Substitute teachers were found for all but five classes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor Tagged With: Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, Boulder Valley Schools, Complete Colorado, Denver Public Schools, Rocky Mountain News, sick-out, teachers

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Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

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