COLORADO SPRINGS — On Thursday night, Academy School District 20 announced they were canceling high school classes for Friday after nearly 30 percent of their high school teachers "called out sick" in protest. ASD20 says their elementary and middle schools will go forward as normally scheduled.
The move comes after a proposal to change the teaching schedule for high schools. ASD20 says approximately 180 of their 600 high school teachers are participating in the "sick out."
D20 operates on an eight-period block schedule which happens over two days, with each period lasting 90 minutes.
The new schedule would change the full-time teaching load as teaching from five-point-five of the eight periods to six of the eight periods.
During a public meeting on Thursday, teachers voiced their concerns saying that the change would take away their planning period and add more classes without extra pay.
The schedule can be seen below
The district says the new scheduling policy will increase schools' flexibility, and let them better serve their students. It will not change the length of the school day.
The district said that they are the only school district in Colorado to have an eight-period schedule and teachers are considered full-time not teaching six of the eight periods.
Tomorrow, Academy educators will be protesting the district’s continued disrespect for it’s educators. Our educators continually answer the call for our students and the district continues to show that they don’t value us.
“Our educators are being asked to do more with less and we demand that they be compensated accordingly. We demand that our students AND educators be given the resources they need to have a high quality public education. We demand that our superintendent visit our schools; talk to our educators, get our input on policies and decisions that affect the district. We are experts in our field. Entrust us and utilize us; we know our students and we know what is best for our classrooms. We demand time. We need time to plan. We need time to ensure that each and every student has the time and the resources they need to succeed.
“Finally, this should be a wake up call for our elected officials as collective bargaining is a way to show respect for our educators. Educators deserve a seat at the table because, ultimately, our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions
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