DENVER (AP) — The Latest on the Denver teachers strike (all times local):
7:45 a.m.
Denver Public Schools and teachers have reached a deal to end their three day strike that includes raising pay by up to 11 percent, with built-in cost-of-living increases and more opportunities for future salary hikes.
They announced the deal Thursday morning after marathon negotiations and encouraged teachers to return to their classrooms.
The deal still must be ratified by the full union membership. More than half the district's teachers went on strike Monday after negotiations over pay broke down.
A key sticking point was the teachers' demand that the system rely less on bonuses for educators in high-poverty and high-priority schools. The union says that question will now be studied.
The district sees bonuses as key to boosting the academic performance of poor and minority students.
The strike was the latest action in a wave of teacher activism since last spring, when teachers walked off the job in West Virginia.
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11:05 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 teachers are following the lead of educators across the country by donning red amid strikes and protests for better pay and working conditions.
On Tuesday, all schools remained open and staffed by administrators, substitutes and teachers not participating in the strike. At the start of the talks, superintendent Susana Cordova acknowledged that students were not getting the kind of instruction they normally would and said she was committed to reaching a deal to end the strike.
