When Scott Siettmann cast his YES vote for the Delta County School Board to begin negotiating with the Delta County Education Association in 2000, the county-level organization of the National Education Association, NEA, he did so knowing that a strong majority of the teachers in the district had the same values as him.
“Salaries are the big issue, of course. Delta County has a is below average,” said Sietmann. “Teachers do this out of love, of course, but they need salary to sustain that drive.”
The NEA requires a simple majority vote, 50%, and 1 vote, to take over negotiations in a county. The teachers of DCSD achieved this in the 2000 county vote, but the school board had a different agenda.
“After that first initial vote, district administration decided that it wasn’t fair if the vote only included teachers, so they called for a second vote that included school-level admins, school psychs., counselors, and other school-level employees.” The second vote resolved against starting negotiations by a margin of only 1 to 2 NO votes, demoralizing the teachers of DCEA and diminishing membership considerably. “The DCEA is an education association, that means teachers, not principals or psychologists,” said Sietmann, who thinks the second vote was unrepresentative.
Since the organizing vote, the DCEA has largely diminished in membership, ensuring that the needs of teachers being met solely depend on the decisions of the school board, and the education funding of the state. The fight for fair pay and the agency of teachers continues at these levels, with school board member Dan Burke, an experienced leader in coordinating for DCSD, and Ed Bowdich, a public affairs lobbyist who advocates for Delta County School District’s education funding in the Colorado capitol.
