Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Labor Relations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
D11 launches employee engagement group to write district handbook as teachers, parents press board on union contract
Summary
Colorado Springs School District 11 announced a new employee engagement group on Jan. 8 to draft a single district employee handbook, and set a Jan. 28 kickoff and a series of community listening sessions, district leaders said.
Colorado Springs School District 11 on Wednesday announced a district-wide employee engagement group that will draft a single employee handbook and meet monthly beginning Jan. 28, district leaders told the board.
The effort, presented by Dr. Comfort (staff), Chief Hopper (staff) and Executive Director Harris (staff), is intended to merge several existing handbooks and create a standing employee engagement group with representatives from executive professionals, teachers and educational support professionals. The district said CSEA (the local union) will be invited to participate and that applications to serve on the group would open Monday and run for two weeks.
District leaders said the first engagement group meeting will be a two-hour session on Tuesday, Jan. 28, and that members will meet monthly thereafter. They described the initial topics as districtwide expectations and procedures, compensation and benefits, leaves and employee classifications, and said the board will set further guardrails next week at a work session.
Why it matters: The handbook project and the board's plan for public listening sessions come after a December board vote that ended the district's existing master agreement with CSEA. That vote triggered sustained public comment at Wednesday's meeting, where dozens of teachers, parents and union supporters urged the board to restore the agreement or continue bargaining.
Speakers at the meeting and in public comment framed the handbook as one piece of a larger set of concerns about staff morale and district-labor relations. Ally Cline, introduced herself as a D11 parent and PTA president, said: "Please put our teachers first." Teacher Jessica Ploppenburg told the board: "I'm not respected in this district and my trust in it is gone." Samantha Trueblood, a former D11 student, said local campaign spending raised concern among parents and community members.
District staff emphasized the process will include employee representation and community listening sessions. President Malpakkam (board president) described a plan for four evening listening sessions, one in each quadrant of the city, staffed by two board members per event and run as informal "listening" conversations rather than formal board meetings. Dates were described as tentative and to be coordinated with board schedules.
What the board directed: Administrators will bring a vision and timeline back to the board at next week's work session. The district also plans to report employee engagement group progress to the District Accountability Committee.
Context and limitations: The board announced the change in policy approach in open session; an executive session earlier in the meeting (described on the record as held under Colorado statutes for legal advice, employee performance and student discipline) preceded the public discussion. District leaders said the handbook will not replace bargaining rights; specifics about how meet-and-confer or contractual issues would be handled were not decided at Wednesday's meeting.
What's next: The district will post the application for employee engagement group membership, hold the first meeting on Jan. 28 and schedule the four community listening sessions over the next two months. The board plans a work session next week to provide further direction.
