It was an eye-opening experience for the Tigers and fun for all.

Fourteen of the Colorado College players and assistant coach Joe Bonnett took advantage of their bye week to scrimmage the U.S. Paralympics sled hockey team Wednesday.

The Tigers were impressed by Team USA after trying out their version of the sport for 50 minutes at World Arena.

“We have much respect for these guys,” freshman defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “I had a lot to learn, especially stopping and turning. As the day went on I think I picked things up a little bit, but I still can’t play that game.”

Most of the Tigers struggled to keep their balance on the sleds, which include two skate blades under their seat and a sled to strap their legs onto.

The Paralympians enjoyed playing the Tigers.

“It’s a great experience for us,” forward Dan McCoy said. “They asked a lot of smart questions and they weren’t afraid to ask them. We have fun showing them our version of the sport.”

“It’s important to show that people with disabilities can do instead of cannot do,” said 2010 gold-medal goalie Steve Cash.

It was especially fun for Team USA coach Jeff Sauer and general manager Dan Brennan, both former CC players. Eleven of the 17 U.S. players have practiced at World Arena over the past week. More arrive soon before practices conclude in mid-February.

“It’s fun to be in Colorado Springs,” said Sauer, a 1965 graduate who served as an assistant under coach Bob Johnson from 1966-68 and coached the Tigers from 1971-82. “My kids were born here. I met my wife here. It is a lot of fun for the guys because they are such great ambassadors for their sport. They also help people realize how good they are and how tough this is.”

The Tigers know now.

“It was humbling to see what they can do,” CC captain Eamonn McDermott, said. “They are an inspiration to all of us.”

USA Hockey and the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association, which has 28 people ranging in age from 8-59 in its sled program, set up the scrimmage. CSAHA provided the sleds for the Tigers.

CC goalie Josh Thorimbert was thankful to get to meet the U.S. team.

“It’s an honor to be out there and play with those guys because they have a ton of skill,” Thorimbert said. “They skated circles around us. It really shows the dedication and hard work they put into the sport and the strength they have.”

A Colorado lawmaker has joined the fight to change an education reform provision from 2010 that teachers unions say has allowed at least 100 teachers to be fired in violation of the state Constitution.

The Colorado Education Association and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning that challenges a narrow segment of Senate Bill 10-191, saying it violates the Teacher Employment, Compensation and Dismissal Act by failing to give tenured teachers due process before being fired.

And Sen. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, pledged to co-sponsor a bill that would amend parts of SB191.

Click here to see Todd’s announcement.

However, Democrats and Republicans who supported the bill in 2010, balked at the decision to challenge what they called a key provision of the law that ends the forced placement of teachers in schools regardless of whether it’s a good fit.

“We cannot return to a system that rewards mediocrity in our classrooms,” said former Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat who signed the bill into law.

Equally upset by the lawsuit was former Republican Gov. Bill Owens who advocated for the reforms and called the lawsuit a shame.

Click here to see the announcement of the lawsuit.

Forced placement of teachers is a practice that some say is in the same vein as the dreaded rubber rooms in New York City Public Schools where tenured teachers, unable to be fired because of strong protections negotiated by unions, are paid to sit in a room every day rather than being placed in a classroom with students.

But the big difference is the 100 teachers removed from Denver Public Schools under the new law weren’t terminated for cause.

Many say they have nothing but positive evaluations and years of effective teaching, CEA President Kerrie Dallman said.

The teachers in the rubber rooms are going through due process to be fired for some violation, anything from not showing up to work to felony charges.

“We have fought the good fight with Denver Public Schools over the past two years to try to keep these veteran teachers, teaching and avoid going to the courts or the state legislature but sadly that hasn’t occurred,” Dallman said. “Some bills have loopholes that need to be fixed, but in the case of SB191, it feels like a sinkhole that has swallowed over 100 qualified classroom teachers.”

Under previous law those teachers would have been guaranteed another job in the district with the same salary.

It’s a practice Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, said is not in the best interests of students who need high quality teachers that are a good fit in the schools.

“If you have a tenured teacher, they were guaranteed that job for life,” Johnston said.

Under a provision of SB 191 called “mutual consent” tenured teachers who lose their jobs for some reason other than their performance or cause have a year to secure a job in another school. Only instead of those teachers getting forced into a classroom, Johnston said the principal must now agree to hire that teacher.

After that year, teachers go on what’s called unpaid administrative leave.

But if a principal agrees to hire a teacher, they start right where they left off.

“What we’ve seen in the great majority of those cases, that happens,” Johnston said, of teachers landing other jobs within the district. “This is really a shift to merit-based employment.”

Tenure, or “nonprobationary status,” is achieved in Colorado after three years. The concept is that teaching can be so political, that good teachers need protection from unfair dismissal and the threat of being replaced by younger and less expensive employees.

Five teachers who were fired under the new law are joining the lawsuit. Those teachers were removed from their jobs in May 2010, the lawsuit reads, and given until April 2011 to find a principal willing to hire them.

Despite their years of experience, clean records and applying for multiple job openings the teachers missed the deadline and were fired.

Dallman said during the past two years the number of teachers employed by Denver Public Schools has increased, raising questions about why the district labels these dismissals as “reductions.”

The issue became a political football prior to the November election when Colorado voters were asked to approved a $1 billion tax increase for public education, which in part would have funded some of the other reforms in SB191 like a teacher evaluation system based in part of student test performance.

“We tried hard last year to bring the parties together in order to settle this litigation, and we are disappointed that our efforts were not successful,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. “We believe the law is constitutional and fair in its current application and we intend to defend it in the courts.”

Johnston said the good news about the lawsuit is that it won’t impact the roll-out of that evaluation system.

And both Todd and Dallman emphasized they are supportive of the new high-stakes evaluation system because it includes a due-process system before teachers are fired.

Contact Megan Schrader

719-286-0644

Twitter: @CapitolSchrader