On the 10th day of the ongoing teacher strike in Sheridan School District 2, Gov. Jared Polis is urging both sides to return to the negotiating table and reach a resolution.
"Educating our children is the foundation of Colorado’s future. Student success starts with supporting our educators, including recognizing their right to organize. However, students must not be put in the middle of this disagreement; the current strike has caused attendance to plummet and students have missed meaningful instruction and access to services,” Polis said in a statement. “That's why both sides must return to the table in good faith immediately to work together on a path forward to reopen schools and support both educators and students in Sheridan.”
The strike, the first major educator walkout in Colorado since 2019, has shuttered classrooms across the small district southwest of Denver, with many families choosing not to cross picket lines as negotiations stall.
The Colorado Education Association (CEA) is backing the Sheridan Educator Association’s (SEA) demands, particularly around the district’s Policy H, which does not currently allow both teachers and classified staff to be recognized under the same union.
In a statement released Friday, the CEA said it supports the SEA in advocating for recognition of bus drivers, food service workers and paraprofessionals calling the new rule implemented last summer “a union-busting policy” that has been circulated across the state.
The organization said the policy creates “an impossible standard for classified staff to meet in order to unionize” and accused the district of attempting to divide educators.
“Educators who want to stand together need to be allowed to,” the statement said. “The board needs to retract these anti-union policies and meet the full SEA fairly at the negotiating table.”
A spokesperson for the Colorado Educators Association confirmed another meeting will take place today between the union and the school board, but was unable to provide further information.
This next round of talks comes after a discussion between the two parties on Saturday was deemed as “a step in the right direction”, though it did not end the strike.
Now with pressure from the Governor’s office, the focus shifts to today’s meeting, as parents and students wait to see when classrooms will fully reopen.
