Overview
- Educators in Sheridan School District 2, who began picketing Wednesday, walked off after working most of the school year without a contract.
- District leaders closed all five schools for in-person learning from April 1–3, citing too few staff to operate safely and naming the days non-contact for students.
- Teachers are pressing for better pay, respect, formal recognition of classified staff such as bus drivers, custodians, food workers, and paraprofessionals, and reversal of a January policy they say restricts organizing.
- Tensions spiked after a Tuesday emergency board meeting where police told protesters to move off district property, and union leaders say educators were first locked out of the public session.
- The small district, which serves about 924 students, is offering grab-and-go meals and childcare during the closures in what is Colorado’s first educator strike since 2019.