Gov. Romer Steps In To Mediate Denver Strike

By Joanna Richardson

Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado appeared close to brokering a deal late last week between public school officials in Denver and the local teachers' union, whose dispute over the powers assigned to local school councils had erupted in a strike.

The teachers' walkout last week was Denver's first since 1969. An estimated 2,500 teachers were on the picket lines, and nearly a third of the district's 62,000 students were absent despite the district's decision to keep schools open.

State labor officials who already had intervened in the dispute were unsuccessful in seeking a court order declaring the strike illegal. A district court judge ruled last week that "no irreparable damage was being done" by the striking teachers, Patty Murphy, a spokeswoman for...