Hundreds of Colorado Springs teachers strike over loss of collective bargaining

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Classes remained in session on Wednesday with Colorado Springs School District 11 relying on substitutes and former teachers-turned-administrators

"COLORADO SPRINGS — With the sun barely peeking above Pikes Peak on Wednesday morning, swarms of teachers gathered outside Palmer High School in Colorado Springs demanding their district and board leaders listen to them after the board stripped the Colorado Springs Education Association of its collective bargaining powers in December.

More than 1,000 demonstrators, including educators from Colorado Springs School District 11, teachers from across the state, students and community members, fanned out around schools in a one-day strike to call on the board and district to give them more of a voice and prioritize student performance over divisive politics that they say are distracting from learning. Later in the day, they planned to canvass their communities and promote a group of what they describe as “pro-public education” candidates running for three open board seats in November’s election before reconvening to rally at Acacia Park.

With most teachers outside Palmer High School wearing red — the signature color of public education — and some ringing red cowbells and wielding signs in support of their schools, they chanted: “Public schools are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The strike is the culmination of months of outrage among members of the Colorado Springs Education Association, whose frustration boiled over in December when the board voted to let a decades-long master agreement with the local teachers union expire in June. Colorado Springs School District 11 was the last of El Paso County’s 17 school districts to hold a master agreement with union members."