Following pressure from the governor's office, district leadership and the Sheridan Education Association (SEA) met Tuesday afternoon to resume negotiations in an ongoing educator strike.
"I'm pleased to share with our community that district leaders have, for the first time, come back to the bargaining table in a meaningful way,” said SEA president and Sheridan social studies teacher Kate Biester in a statement. “We appreciate their efforts to meet with us this week and have a fair conversation about our demands. The negotiations are still ongoing, so our strike is not over. We will continue to stand strong with parents, students, and other educators until the district finally makes the changes Sheridan schools need right now."
Two more negotiation sessions between the SEA and district leadership are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
Educators in the small district just southwest of downtown Denver have worked without a union contract since last August when the contract agreement lapsed for the first time in decades.
According to the Colorado Education Association (CEA), which supports the SEA’s position, educators have also been “disciplined or fired without notice for speaking out about district issues in recent months.”
The strike began April 1 after months of what the union describes as a lack of leadership.
Despite the ongoing tension, the CEA told CPR News in a statement Tuesday that the renewed talks this week are “positive steps toward resolving the strike.”
District leaders echoed that sentiment, saying “meaningful progress” was made during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We agree that both sides must return to the table in good faith to chart a path forward that supports both educators and students in Sheridan,” the district said in a statement. “Our schools are open; however, our students need to be with their teachers, and we remain committed to making that a reality.”
District officials also mentioned and pushed back on an apparent new effort being discussed at the legislature.
“Consolidating our schools and community, as proposed in a bill currently being drafted, is not the approach our students need; instead, we must focus on solutions that strengthen our schools while keeping our community intact,” the statement said.
It’s unclear which district Sheridan could possibly combine with under the proposed bill, but the school district of roughly 800 students does border Englewood, Littleton and Denver Public Schools.
Colorado hasn’t seen a true school district consolidation in decades. The most recent effort took place in Yuma in the year 2000 when voters in northeastern Colorado approved a reorganization.
Negotiations in Sheridan are expected to continue through the week as the strike remains ongoing. At last check, roughly 50% of students were attending classes, with many families refusing to cross picket lines despite state-led Colorado Measures for Academic Success, or CMAS, testing on the horizon later this month.
