HR Legal Essentials for Colorado Charter Schools: What HR Professionals and School Leaders Need to Know
Tuesday, September 22⋅10:00 – 11:00am
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86269564602
Nobody walks into your office and announces that they are about to trigger an ADA obligation. They say their doctor wants them out every Tuesday. They say their supervisor treats them differently because of their accent. They say they got hurt yesterday, but they are fine, really. Somewhere inside that ordinary sentence, a clock just started running, and the person who heard it had no idea.
Join Dr. Sara Taylor for sixty fast, practical minutes built for that exact moment. This is not a legal lecture. No statute lists, no doom, no death by citation. We are going to move quickly through the eight issues most likely to bite a Colorado charter school, spend a full ten minutes running a real grievance investigation together, and give you a five-word playbook you will actually remember at 4:45 on a Friday.
A few things you might not know yet: Your board already took a position on FAMLI, whether or not anyone voted on it. Colorado quietly stopped requiring harassment to be severe or pervasive. Your teachers have no salary test at all. And the statute your handbook probably cites for whistleblower protection does not cover your employees. You will leave with eleven ready-to-use tools, including a fillable investigation packet, a supervisor cheat sheet worth taping to a wall, and a documentation guide that turns "she has a bad attitude" into something that survives a deposition.
Created: September 18, 2026 01:09:18 PM
Thank you for joining us this week to discuss the intersection of HR and the law. A special thank you to Chris Ferris for sharing her expertise and recommendations on internal investigations. You can reach Chris with questions at [email protected].
All of the resources from our session are available in one place here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uBZBpTx1aBCFOS-Rakp1ErURm0NiuDPG?usp=drive_link
Inside the folder, you’ll find:
Session slides, recording, and toolkit — resources to help you navigate some of the most important legal issues that arise in school HR.
Employment Records Retention Guide — a quick reference for how long to retain common HR records based on federal and Colorado requirements and HR best practices, including personnel, payroll, leave, medical, investigation, and Title IX records.
POWR Act Quick Reference for Staff — a one-page resource explaining what Colorado’s POWR Act means for employees, what conduct may raise concerns, supervisors’ responsibilities, retaliation protections, and how to report concerns. Be sure to customize the reporting information for your school before sharing it with staff.
If you’re looking for support providing Title IX or POWR Act training for your staff, either live or asynchronously, please reach out. I’m happy to help.
Finally, feedback is a gift. I want this cohort to be practical, relevant, and responsive to what you actually need in your schools. Your feedback will help shape our future sessions, so please take a few minutes to complete the survey at www.tinyurl.com/clcssurvey.
As always, I’m here as a resource for your HR and talent work. You can reach me at [email protected], [email protected], or 303-909-5089 (text is always best!). And, you can find all our resources, past and present, on our HR cohort site: https://sites.google.com/support.coloradoleague.org/newschoolcohort/tools-resources
I’m excited to learn alongside you and support the important work you’re doing for your people, schools, and communities this year.
Sending you positive energy!
Warmly,
Sara