District 11 says behavior incidents down; staff outline teacher coaching, new reporting tools and summer training

District leaders told the Board of Education during a work session that total reported student behavior incidents across Colorado Springs School District 11 are down about 17% compared with prior reporting, but emphasized the raw number of incidents remains high and requires ongoing interventions.

The newly introduced Executive Director for Student Success, Megan, presented the behavior overview and credited part of the previous spike in reported incidents to a recent change in the district's cell-phone policy. "When we first started off with total behavior incidents, we can see that we're overall down 17%," Megan said, while adding the district will review data to separate cellphone-related counts from other behavior trends.

Why it matters: staff told trustees that four types of incidents'cell-phone violations, defiance/disobedience, unsafe behavior and detrimental behavior'account for about 80% of reported events, which focuses where training and support are most needed. To address those areas, the district is expanding teacher coaching, implementing a school-transformation model with on-site administrator training, and piloting embedded coaching in two schools.

A train-the-trainer pilot and short-term results: staff said Urban Consulting's one-day training reached 182 participants and produced strong confidence in teachers' ability to use the strategies. At a pilot school, staff reported a 26% reduction in negative behaviors after two days of focused implementation, with plans to re-measure in 30 days to assess sustainability.

Staff supports and system changes: the district highlighted new student-success facilitators (regional, longer-contract staff with counseling or behavioral-intervention backgrounds) who will work with counselors and principals on behavior and attendance. Megan also previewed a behavior-reporting update that creates teacher observations with two-way communication between teacher and administrator; that system will go live "within the next month," with principal training planned July 27 so schools can roll it out at the start of the next school year.

On accountability and safety: trustees pressed staff whether fewer exclusionary penalties meant less accountability. District staff answered that exclusionary discipline remains a tool for serious safety incidents but said the district is shifting to in-class learning opportunities and explicit skill instruction to reduce lost instructional time. For egregious behaviors, staff reiterated safety protocols and urged early reporting so district teams can intervene promptly.

Next steps: the district will continue disaggregating data (including cellphone-related incidents) and will use pilot outcomes to determine which schools receive expanded coaching and resources next year. Board members thanked staff and emphasized the board's commitment to protecting instructional time while ensuring safety.

The board closed the behavior segment and moved on to the preliminary budget presentation.