Denver Public Schools has acquiesced to public outcry over teacher layoffs by agreeing to review the budget process at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy.

After the filing of a grievance with the teachers’ union over a budget process that excluded the parent-teacher committee tasked with making budget recommendations, Denver Public Schools’ director of high schools notified the Collaborative School Committee on Friday that the school’s leadership would review the process that led to four teacher layoffs.

“I understand that the final budget meeting that you engaged in (Feb. 7) did not provide you with the opportunity to discuss potential options and determine if consensus was reached as was described in your KCAA CSC bylaws,” Melissa Boyd wrote in a March 15 email obtained by The Denver Gazette.

“CSC feedback to the principal is a commitment that DPS makes to stakeholders, and we want to make this right.”

Given teachers have already been notified that they will not be returning next year to Kunsmiller, it is unclear what a budget redo would accomplish.

Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson, did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.

But the president of the union, which represents about 70% of the district’s teachers, said he expected a redo to undo the layoffs announced last month.

“So, if they revisit the CSC decision, and they decide differently, then they would need to go through the (reduction in building) process again,” said Rob Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.

The teachers’ union represents nearly 4,000 educators throughout Denver Public Schools.

Under state statute, every school in Colorado is required to have a School Accountability Committee.

Denver Public Schools calls these groups “Collaborative School Committees,” or CSCs, which are supposed to provide guidance, evaluation and recommendations to the principal on spending priorities or a school’s turnaround plan (if required).

These CSCs are designed to promote family engagement.

‘We get more bang for our buck cutting high paying administrative jobs’

Kunsmiller students walked out of class in protest over the teacher cuts last month.

And the CSC sent a cease-and-desist letter to Denver Public Schools and the state education department, demanding the district stop the “reduction in building” or RIB process until the school complies with Colorado laws and the union’s teacher contract.

A K-12 magnet school in southwest Denver, Kunsmiller has 789 students pursuing creative and artistic careers.

Kunsmiller is not alone.

While the redo is a win for Kunsmiller, parents at Denver School of the Arts (DSA) are crying foul.

That’s because DSA shares the same complaints as Kunsmiller parents and committee members about how the budget and RIB process played out on their campus, which saw three teachers laid off for next school year over a shortfall and declining enrollment.

DSA is a sixth through 12th grade campus with 1,039 students that major in 11 programs that include orchestra, creative writing and theater, among others.

The DSA committee, too, filed a grievance with the teachers’ union.

Gould was unable on Monday to provide The Denver Gazette with an update on the grievances filed against the district.

Parents and students — on both campuses — have voiced unanimity in their support for including administrators in the layoffs.

“From a budget perspective, we get more bang for our buck cutting high paying administrative jobs than teachers,” said Holly Lucas, a CSC member at Kunsmiller.

Neither Kunsmiller Interim Principal Chuck Puga nor DSA Executive Principal Anthony McWright — committee members have said — provided their school committees with the budget on which they would be making recommendations. And, they said, neither principal entertained considering administrative cuts.

While the district makes reduction decisions on principals, principals make the reduction decisions involving assistant principals and deans, Pribble has said.

Puga and McWright did not respond to emails from The Denver Gazette seeking comment.

‘Please don’t fire me’

Parents, students and teachers representing multiple campuses — including DSA — on Monday gave the board of education an earful about the teacher and social worker cuts.

Several public speakers described DSA administration as MIA, with one student saying he hadn’t seen the principal — Aspen Burkett — in months and a parent telling the board she had to Google the principal just to know what she looked like.

Joseph Karwin, a high school English teacher at DSA, was among those who spoke Monday during public comment, saying the school has earned a reputation for inauthentic and dismissive leadership.

“The only fear I feel tonight speaking in front of all the people here is the fear of retaliation simply because I have chosen to speak out,” Karwin said.

Karwin added, “Please don’t fire me. Love and peace.”

With schools facing declining enrollment, campuses across the district have been making tough budget decisions for next school year.

Roughly 461 full time employees were cut for the upcoming school year, Pribble said.

A breakdown on the number of teachers impacted by the cuts was not yet available, Pribble said.

Moira Coogan, who is the president of the union representing administrative staff, told The Denver Gazette that although she doesn’t yet know the number, assistant principals and deans have been cut.

Non-probationary staff members reduced are “guaranteed a position in DPS for the following year if they want one,” Pribble said.

The 461 positions cut next year are on par with previous school years.

This school year saw 374 full-time positions reduced before the start of class and 598 cut in the 2022-2023 academic year, district data shows.