District?s ProComp “Plan”: Work More Years For Less Pay (Oh, And You Can Still Forget About Planning Your Future)
First things first. Don?t worry about your pay. DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg, notified teachers via his newsletter this morning that they will continue to be paid and that he?s committed to continuing all payments to teachers under ProComp.
Tom spent a great deal of time at Wednesday?s Compensation Bargaining Session listening to (and saying he agreed with) teachers, parents and DCTA officials who said it was time Denver teachers were paid a stable, predictable, middle-class salary enabling them to build a career and future within the district.
Then at 11:30 last night, minutes before ProComp was due to expire, in private conversations with DCTA, he backed away from every assurance he provided to the public at the negotiation table.
Boasberg?s angry statement: ?Not one more dime? for teachers.
The long-awaited ?plan? presented by DPS at Wednesday?s session only exacerbated the current agreement?s most egregious components. The DPS proposal doubled down on variable, bonus-based income. It continued to financially reward incoming teachers more favorably than career DPS educators. Moreover, it spread salary advances over 45 years (that?s right, nearly half a century) ? making the highest financial earnings practically impossible to attain.
?We could not in good faith agree to the conditions of this proposal,? said Henry Roman, president of DCTA. ?However, we were encouraged that a DPS plan had been delivered, and we felt confident that with an adequate extension of the current agreement we could work with the district to finalize a new agreement.?
While no extension of the ProComp Agreement was signed last night, we want to assure you that we have spoken with the district this morning. We feel confident that we will reach an extension of ProComp at some point today. However, while Tom says he ?hears us,? we are not sure that he is actually listening. We are still a long way from reaching an agreement. We invite all interested teachers to join us at Rep Council on Tuesday, at DCIS Baker, at 4:30 p.m. for updates and next steps.