Intentions of creating a committee to help with revising the Colorado Springs School District 11 employee handbook were discussed Wednesday at the Board of Education meeting.

Changes in the handbook are coming after the D-11 board’s 6-1 vote in December against renewing the nearly 60-year-old master agreement between it and the district’s teachers’ union, the Colorado Springs Education Association.

Similar to teachers unions in other local school districts, the CSEA will not have collective bargaining in D-11 after the current school year. Updates to the agreement going forward will be reflected in the revised handbook.

Teachers are not required to be a part of the union.

District officials have previously said the updated handbook will ensure employee equity ahead of the current agreement’s expiration date of June 30.

Similar to other recent D-11 school board meetings, the room was packed with an overflow room available for additional attendees. The line to get inside started before the doors opened at 5 p.m.

In the hour leading up the meeting, dozens donned signs on sidewalks near the administration building supporting unions. Several cars passing by honked in support, some holding the horn down longer than others.

After the meeting started, even more staff members and students gathered outside the building, chanting and protesting the Dec. 11 decision.

Inside, the board presented an opportunity to employees to be a part of the Employee Engagement Group that will play a part in the revision process.

Applications for membership on the committee can be submitted between Jan. 13 and Jan. 24.

The first monthly meeting will be held on Jan. 28, shortly after applications close. These engagement meetings, planned for the last Thursday of each month, will be composed of district officials presenting topics of interest and receiving input and feedback from the selected members.

In the presentation of updates, it was confirmed that “CSEA will also have a seat at the table.”

“There’s a lot of questions, concerns and misinformation out there,” board president Parth Melpakam said. “We are being as proactive as possible to let the community know what the next steps are going to be.”

Not all were pleased with the next steps.

Jessica Kloppenborg, a CSEA board member and district teacher, does not believe a revised handbook will serve as an adequate replacement for the master agreement.

“I think the problem is that a handbook is not the same thing as the master agreement contract,” Kloppenborg said. “Handbooks can be modified and changed without running it through kind of any legal process.”

Jennifer Harris, senior executive director of talent management for D-11, told The Gazette that the process for selecting of the committee had not been settled. When applications open Monday, Harris said there should be some clarification.

Alli Klein, a D-11 parent with four children and a substitute teacher for the district, was one of the few to speak during public comment. She called the choice to not renew the master agreement a “poor decision,” and expressed her concern about an everchanging handbook.

“The (master agreement) was one of the driving forces for us sending our children to D-11 schools,” Klein said. “We cannot afford to lose more staff, more students, and especially families, who can choose to go elsewhere, taking their involvement in this community and their high test scores right along with them.”