DPS and the DCTA resumed negotiations Tuesday morning. The hope is to strike a deal to avoid strike day three. DENVER — Feb. 12 - 10:43 p.m. - THE LATEST After four more hours of closed door talks, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association returned to the negotiating table alongside DPS. DCTA lead negotiator Rob Gould says the union has been "really pouring" over the latest proposal to present to the district. Superintendent Cordova requested time to look over the proposal. Both sides then agreed to call it a night and will plan to continue negotiations on Wednesday. Feb. 12 - 7:57 p.m. Both DPS and DCTA are in caucus once more. Each side has been in separate bargaining rooms for the last hour and a half discussing the latest proposal. Negotiations were initially expected to last until 8 p.m., but could now go well into the evening. As evidenced by the photo below, the scene at Denver Central Library has slowed down quite a bit since earlier in the day on Tuesday. Feb. 12 - 5:55 p.m. - 9NEWS reporter Ryan Haarer tweeted out the latest pay scale proposal by Denver Public Schools: Feb. 12 - 5:15 p.m. Both sides have reconvened as Denver Public Schools presents another counterproposal to an earlier proposal from the DCTA. For most of Tuesday's negotiations, the union and the district have been in caucus, which means they were upstairs in separate rooms discussing the latest proposals. Feb. 12 - 2:50 p.m. - Negotiating teams from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools came back together to discuss a counterproposal from the DCTA. These negotiations resumed more than 3 hours after the teams had gone to separate rooms for private discussion. Feb. 12 - 1:20 p.m. It looks like the mayor's office is wading tentatively into the dispute between the union and the district, as Mayor Michael Hancock's office has provided pizza to teachers, according to the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. Negotiations remain ongoing. Feb. 12 - 12:40 p.m. As Denver teachers and the district worked to find a solution in separate rooms, teachers determined their plans to picket for day three of the strike. Feb. 12 - 11:54 a.m. Hundreds of teachers gathered in front of East High School. They plan to march down East Colfax Avenue to Civic Center Park. Feb. 12 - 11:41 a.m. As negotiations between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association continues, video from 9NEWS Viewer Idalia Jimenez showed an empty classroom inside of East High School. 9NEWS does not yet have exact figures for how many students did not come to class on Tuesday. Feb. 12 - 11:10 a.m. Negotiations are ongoing... Feb. 12 - 10:30 a.m. Negotiations have restarted between the district and the union in the basement of the Denver Central Library off 14th Avenue. They are scheduled to go until 8 p.m. tonight, but if a deal is reached sooner, obviously those negotiations would be cut short. The district and the union are feuding over the ProComp portion of their contract, where teachers are demanding higher base pay and the elimination of most of the incentive pay tied to teachers, while the district says its hands are tied when it comes to ProComp. The previous round of negotiations - which happened on Saturday - turned sour after representatives from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association said Denver Public Schools reps were making offers that would only make things worse for teachers. DPS then ceremoniously returned to the bargaining table on Sunday, despite the union claiming no bargaining was scheduled until Tuesday. Feb. 12 - 9:50 a.m. Just minutes before DPS and DCTA go back to the negotiating table for the next 10 hours (assuming they don't reach a deal before the end of that time), 9NEWS has received multiple reports of walkouts at some high schools in the district. Many students at North High, maybe half an hour after we reported they were conducting a sit-in in support of their teachers, have walked off campus, according to 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark. A Colorado Avalanche writer reached out to 9NEWS on Twitter to report that students at Montbello High were also walking out of their classes. Feb. 12 - 9:10 a.m. 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark received images of a student sit-in at North High School during the teachers strike on Tuesday. Feb. 12 - 8:50 a.m. Negotiations are still set to begin again at 10 a.m. and go through 8 p.m. this evening. Superintendent Susana Cordova said at a press conference on Monday that both sides were moving closer and closer to a deal. Here's the full Denver Classroom Teachers Association schedule for Tuesday: 6:30 - 9 a.m. – Educators picket at schools across Denver. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. – Denver educators will stand in solidarity with their bargaining team as they sit back down at the table with DPS at Denver Central Library. 10 a.m. - Noon – Educators and community members convene at East High School to picket. 12:30 p.m. – March from East High School to Civic Center Park. 1 p.m. – Rally and march at Civic Center Park and Denver Central Library with faith, community, student and educator leader speakers. Feb. 12 - 8:30 a.m. Feb. 12 - 8:10 a.m. Empty parking lot spaces in the student lot at South and East High schools have DPS admitting (for at least East) saying the day is much quieter. Video obtained by 9NEWS on Monday showed students crowding a hallway in East shouting and dancing when they were supposed to be doing classwork. Hundreds of students walked out of the school, according to Denver Public Schools, and many didn't return. Attendance at East "seems" down, DPS said. District staffers also told 9NEWS reporter Liz Kotalik that the video that went around the U.S. of East High on Monday was not descriptive of the day at the school on the whole. Feb. 12 - 7:30 a.m. The 1994 strike This strike is the first for Denver Public Schools in 25 years - since 1994 - that Denver teachers have left work. That strike lasted five days. That first Friday, according to a New York Times report, more than a third of the district's 63,000 students were missing school. The 1994 strike was also the first in 25 years at the time. DPS' 107 schools were without about 2,200 teachers, forcing the district to call in 1,200 substitutes and 1,500 regulars to cross picket lines and assist with classes. Back then, Democratic Gov. Roy Romer asked a court to force the teachers back to work but was rebuffed - something current Democratic Gov. Jared Polis could still do. After that first Friday, according to the Times, Romer brought both sides to the negotiation table and hammered out a deal. Teachers got a 2.15 percent pay increase for the first year but had their work year lengthened by 10 days to 190, the Times reported. After the first year, salaries had to be renegotiated. At the time, teachers wanted an $8 million, two-year pay package based on seniority. The contract they got amounted to $5.1 million. Feb. 12 - 7:15 a.m. Teachers are outside of East High, many donned in the "#RedForEd" red as they pace the sidewalk in front of the school. Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association are set to return to the bargaining table Tuesday morning on what will be the second day of a teacher strike in the city. Before that, DPS teachers will once again spend the morning picketing at schools across Denver. More than 2,600 teachers called out of work on Monday to take part in the first DPS teacher strike in 25 years. DCTA is reporting over 3,600 teachers to have walked off their jobs on Monday. Some students joined the strike in solidarity and attended an afternoon rally at the State Capitol where union leaders urged community members to contact the district and demand they fund DCTA's proposal for higher wages. Despite seeing a wide range of situations at schools around Denver on Monday, DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova said all schools will remain open on Tuesday. "Overall, it was not a normal school day, but we worked hard to ensure students were cared for and having as good of a school day as we could provide," Cordova said on Monday night. Video from inside East High School showed students crowding the hallway and listening to music -- something they described as a "party," while families at Centennial Elementary School reported a quiet, almost mundane school day. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the district have been in talks over the ProComp portion of their contract for the last 15 months. The ProComp deals with compensation and the union has asked that the money DPS is offering to give them to base pay instead of incentive pay, which the district has continued to offer. Both sides are set to meet in the basement of the Denver Public Library starting at 10 a.m. 9NEWS will continue to provide updates on the strike and developments with negotiations throughout the day Tuesday. WATCH BELOW: Teachers march, rally at Civic Center Park on second day of strike<doc-sep>The Latest on the Denver teachers' strike (all times local): 9:30 a.m. Denver teachers are on strike for a third day but teachers and school officials say they are hopeful they can reach a deal to end the walkout. Negotiations are set to resume Wednesday morning following talks that lasted into the night on Tuesday. Union president Henry Roman (Ro-MAHN') and superintendent Susana Cordova say in a statement the proposals both sides exchanged have moved both sides closer together. Teachers are striking to raise their pay and reduce their reliance on earning bonus pay. One of the main sticking points is the size of bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes. ____ 11 p.m. Denver teachers are set to extend their strike into a third day after negotiations with district leaders ended Tuesday night without a deal. Tuesday's talks came a day after more than half of the city's teachers walked off the job amid a pay dispute. The negotiations, which are set to resume Wednesday, began with discussions over changing Denver's pay system to more closely resemble those in other districts that make it easier for teachers to advance in pay based on experience, education and training. The two sides also disagree on pay increases and bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes. Teachers want lower bonuses to free up money for better overall salaries. The teachers' union and district leaders alternated meeting publicly and then took time to discuss proposals in private.<doc-sep>
As their union leaders and negotiators for the Denver Public School District went back to the bargaining table Tuesday, thousands of striking teachers hit the picket lines for the second straight day determined to win their battle for higher pay. Contract negotiations, which broke off on Saturday, resumed at 10 a.m. local time and both sides said they were willing to bargain for as long as it takes to end the stalemate that led to the first teachers' strike in Denver in 25 years. "It's critically important we're here today to dig in, to get to an agreement. I am 100 percent committed to getting there," Susana Cordova, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, said Tuesday morning. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association said about 3,700 educators are participating in the strike, or about 86 percent of the teachers in the district's 160 schools. Schools in Denver remained opened Tuesday with substitutes and school administrators filling in for the striking teachers. Many students apparently decided not to attend classes. On Monday, a chaotic situation broke out at East High School when students left classrooms and danced to blaring music in the hallways before walking off campus en masse. The union is proposing $28.5 million in teacher compensation while the school district's latest offer came to nearly $25 million. Union representatives say the district's offer ties raises to bonuses and credits for teachers who further their education or work in high-poverty schools. If we don't get a significant raise, this will be my last year in the Denver Public Schools. I will move back home to Montana, where I can actually afford to have a family. The average starting pay for teachers in Denver is $43,255. The union is asking that starting pay be boosted to $45,800. Union representatives claim that many teachers have to work extra jobs just to make ends meet, or leave the district for higher-paying jobs in neighboring school districts. "If we don't get a significant raise, this will be my last year in the Denver Public Schools," Charlie Gaare, a high school English teacher, told ABC News on Tuesday. "I will move back home to Montana, where I can actually afford to have a family." Gaare, who has a master's degree, said she's been a teacher for 14 years. "About three years ago, I realized I was not going to be able to have my own children," Gaare said. "I wouldn't be able to afford to do it. I'm physically capable but don't have the money to be able to actually raise a family in Denver." Gaare said she hopes the strike will make the school district realize how valuable teachers are. "I would really like it if Susana Cordova would decide that teachers are worth investing in in a real sustainable way," she said of the school district superintendent. "It would be really nice to be able to get a raise without having to jump through a thousand hoops because we already work really hard for this community." The Denver teachers' strike comes less than a month after 30,000 Los Angeles teachers went on strike for six days over funding and staffing at schools. The teachers approved a contract that hiked their pay by about 6 percent and achieved a commitment from the Los Angeles Unified School District to reduce class sizes over four years. The teachers' strikes are part of a larger movement that started last February when West Virginia public school teachers went on strike for nine days before Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill granting a 5 percent pay raise to all state employees. The West Virginia labor action was followed by teachers' strikes in Oklahoma and Arizona.