PARKER — A boisterous crowd of 100 or so students walked out of Ponderosa High School on Wednesday morning to highlight what they say is an excessive departure rate among teachers at the school and within the Douglas County School District.
They waved signs on school property that read “We love teachers” and “Keep DCSD Great,” while chanting “best teachers, best students.”
Several passing drivers honked their horns in support.
“We don’t find it fair that our teachers are leaving the district, and we want to know why,” said senior Lisa Culverhouse, who was skipping math, English and Spanish to rally with classmates. “We hope the district will realize it’s a problem — students want to be heard.”
The mostly student-led effort has produced a change.org petition asking Superintendent Liz Celania-Fagen “Why Are Our Teachers Leaving?” A little more than 1,600 people had signed the online petition by midday Wednesday.
Ethan Crowley, a senior at Chaparral High School in Parker, made his way across town to Ponderosa to support his fellow students Wednesday. He blamed teacher turnover on policies promulgated by a conservative-leaning Douglas County School Board, which ended contract talks with the teachers union a couple of years ago.
He said the district’s evaluation system for teachers is cumbersome and ineffective.
“They don’t fully measure how well the teachers teach,” he said.
A district official said teacher turnover at Ponderosa dropped from 17.4 percent to 12.7 percent from 2012-13 to 2013-14 but then shot up to 21.1 percent last year.
Turnover rates across the district have risen from 13.3 percent to 16.7 percent over the same period, according to Colorado Department of Education data. Last year’s figure is just below the state average teacher turnover rate of 17.1 percent, according to CDE data.
Fagen said she attempted to meet with the students leading the Wednesday protest but they declined to speak with her ahead of the rally.
“I believe we have the same goal,” Fagen said. “I’m hoping they will reach out and work directly with me.”
School board president Meghann Silverthorn said one of the district’s greatest challenges is funding. Because of complex state school finance rules, “it’s difficult to help our community understand why our district, which does not have the same socioeconomic challenges as other districts, cannot obtain the funds to pay higher salaries.”
Michaela Gilman, a Ponderosa senior, did not agree with her protesting classmates. She said students were taking the issue “a little too far” and putting too much blame on Fagen. Several popular teachers have left Ponderosa, but not all did out of dissatisfaction.
“Yes, there were teachers that disagreed (with district leadership) — but there are always teachers that disagree,” she said. “I honestly think we’re just trying to get attention.”
But Courtney Smith, president of the Douglas County Federation, said teacher morale has never been lower. She counts the teacher evaluation system — which she said was mostly about “uploading evidence” rather than true assessment of teaching skills — among the chief problems.
She also said the district’s pay-for-performance system is skewed to reward the teaching position rather than the quality of teaching.
The district’s teacher turnover rate in the 2010-11 school year, when Fagen took over as superintendent, was 11.6 percent.
Smith pointed out that a recent survey of Douglas County teachers revealed that 62 percent of them recommended against others working in the district. Yet, the same survey also showed 62 percent of teachers expressing confidence about their futures.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or @abuvthefold
