The Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education unanimously approved improvement plans for seven schools and the district ahead of the Oct. 15 deadline during their meeting on Wednesday.

In the 2023-24 school year, the district had improved from nine schools on turnaround and priority improvement status to three, according to board documents. Those schools all improved by at least one level.

Each plan lists student performance priorities, root causes and major improvement strategies that are supposed to work cyclically to make changes.

Within the district improvement plan, eight of the 10 identified student performance priorities have high quality instruction and postsecondary outcomes listed as their major improvement strategies.

Chronic absenteeism and the postsecondary and workforce readiness graduation rate also were listed student performance priorities.

Two of the schools, Mitchell High School and Galileo Middle School, are currently in state-approved pathway plans that were approved earlier this year. Both schools have been on an improvement or turnaround plan since the 2016-17 school year.

The schools that had a new unified school improvement plan (USIP) approved on Wednesday with two or three student improvement priorities were Adams Elementary School, Carver Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School, Mann Middle School and Swigert Middle School.

Superintendent Michael Gaal described the USIPs as the “strongest” produced during his time with the district.

Strike

Two board members used their reports to voice their discontent with the upcoming Colorado Springs Education Association strike on Wednesday.

CSEA is taking the action to provide students with schools they deserve after the district stripped protections for educators and “dragged our schools into culture wars,” according to a news release by the association.

Board Vice President Jill Haffley described the strike as a “spectacle” about “manipulation” rather than advocating for students.

“This is nothing more than political theater, an agenda-driven display, a contrived demonstration, a self-serving spectacle. Not one person I’ve spoken with can give me a straight answer as to what its actual purpose is.”

The strike comes two days before ballots are delivered and the schedule slates time to canvass after picketing outside schools. Afterward, they will gather in Acacia Park, across from Palmer High School downtown, that Haffley called a “party.”

Secretary Jason Jorgenson did “a little version of MythBusters” to dispute claims made by the union, including the board’s prioritization of politics, amount of turnover and the state of Jenkins Middle School.

“This isn’t about safe schools, it’s about politics,” Jorgenson said. “So they blame the board for being political and yet they’re taking their strike to go be political. It just drips of irony.”

Director Amanda Huber did not address the strike but said she attended the D-11 candidate forum among a list of numerous other events. Board President Parth Melpackam said after Huber’s report that he hopes voters are “doing their research before making the right choice.”