D11 board reviews draft employee handbook; members debate board role, complaint process and seniority rules

Colorado Springs School District 11 board members spent the bulk of their March 19 work session reviewing a draft employee handbook created by the district's Employee Engagement Group (EEG) and discussing how operational changes should be approved and communicated.

The draft, posted in advance for board review, incorporates a complaints procedure and plans to deploy a third‑party reporting tool called SpeakFully that will let employees raise concerns anonymously or by name and forward them to human resources for investigation, staff said. The EEG also proposed a process to allow handbook revisions during the school year when statutory or policy changes require quicker updates.

The handbook is intended as an operational document, staff and several board members said; the board focused discussion on whether the final…