Union Access To New Teachers Treated Differently In Denver, Aurora
Members of the Denver teachers union Monday said they are being shut out of the district’s new teacher orientation this week, hurting the association’s membership drive. Meanwhile, several miles east at the Aurora Public Schools new teacher orientation, that district’s superintendent encouraged new teachers to join the union.
Aurora’s collaborative atmosphere, in which union officials sat in bright red shirts among tables of teachers fielding questions at Aurora's Professional Learning and Conference Center Monday morning, contrasted sharply with the scene at the Denver Performing Arts Complex the same morning.
Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn encouraged new teachers to join the union, saying it was a “valuable” tool for him to learn about the concerns of teachers and to work collaboratively on shared goals.
Denver Public Schools is hosting more than 800 new teachers for an orientation before classes start in the largest school district in Colorado. At the arts complex plaza and on sidewalks, security officers stopped black-T-shirted Denver Classroom Teachers Association members from handing out literature to new teachers.
Union officials said they weren’t allowed to host a table at the event, though the Denver Zoo, Delta Dental, and the Museum of Nature and Science all had tables. Veteran teachers said they tried to sit at the table of their parent organization, the National Education Association, but security intervened and said they couldn’t distribute information.
“I was expecting to have much more open and free access to new educators,” said teacher Aaron Lowenkron. “In the past, we were usually welcomed with open arms and this year it’s a lot of silence, a lot of mystery. From the outside looking in like they want to keep us out.”
He tried to distribute new member literature on the promenade but was told if he did that he would be ticketed by police.
A security official said when a “client” – the Denver Public Schools – rents the event space groups can’t simply hand out literature. Though the Denver Performing Arts Complex facilities are owned by the city and county of Denver, “that does not mean they are public forums under the first Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,” according to a DPAC “Free Speech Information Sheet” that was distributed to union members.
In previous years, the DCTA has hosted a breakfast for the hundreds of recently hired teachers at which they could provide information about the union. But this year, DCTA
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