District reviews survey results

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

As Louis Birchbauer of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards explained Feb. 25, ultimately, all pollsters would love to have 100 percent of the people agreeing.

However, he’ll take 80 percent.

Members of the Burlington Area School District Long-Ranging Planning Committee, School Board and Stakeholder Driven Strategic Planning Committee got the results last week from the survey sent out to district residents recently.

A total of 1,118 responses were received. To put the number in perspective, more than 7,700 people voted in the election last spring for School Board.

Two weeks ago, Superintendent Peter Smet said the purpose of the strategic planning was to find out what the community felt were priorities in running the district.

With most of the questions asking people for more than one answer, the wide variety of answers pretty much precluded getting everyone to agree to the same multiple answers.

The chart that Birchbauer presented with the results showed the responses that came up on 80 percent of all the responses.

For example, when asked what the greatest challenges facing the district in the next five years, 78 percent of the answers came to six possible choices:

• hiring and retaining quality educators in an increasingly competitive market;

• keeping up-to-date with technology hardware, software, applications and support;

• maintaining physical facilities as buildings age;

• providing consistent student programs and services with a declining enrollment;

• responding to state and national economic conditions that affect the levels of financial support the district receives; and

• meeting the broadening academic and social needs of an increasingly diverse student population.

The other 22 percent of the answers came were group among four other possible replies.

Three other questions offered that same multiple-choice format.

Smet said that the survey was “a piece of information.”

“It is not all the information out there, it is not totally comprehensive,” he said. “The people who chose to respond, these choices, these are the most concerns of the most people.”

The survey also asked what people believe are the most important skills and abilities for students, and the best evidence used to evaluate quality of education and financial priorities.

For “most important skills and abilities,” about 80 percent of the answers are grouped among:

• mastery of communication skills of writing, speaking and listening;

• mastery of reading;

• ability to organize, prioritize, set goals and manage time;

• ability to collaborate and work productively with others;

• mastery of mathematics; and

• the ability to be a creative and critical thinker.

With the “evidence used to evaluate quality of education” question, the answers were more spread out, with nine different criteria cited among the top 80 percent:

• how well students perform in high school;

• number of students in each class;

• test scores;

• comparison to other districts;

• number and quality of special programs;

• a personal perception and satisfaction with district schools;

• amount of community involvement;

• awards and recognition; and

• the traditional report card.

The financial priorities identified by survey respondents, in order, are:

• maintain up-to-date technology;

• keep salaries and benefits competitive;

• maintain clean, well-repaired and secure buildings;

• provide training and development opportunities to keep staff skills and competent;

• maintain low class sizes;

• make sure students have quality educational materials; and

• maintain and improve current instructional programs.

After looking over the information from the survey, the committee also reviewed the district’s mission and vision statement. Both the old mission statement and the revised 2007 version were presented, and several different suggestions came forward.

Birchbauer suggested the district review and possibly revise the statements.

The group also went through a goal identification process for five different areas – including areas such as taxes, facilities and extra-curricular activities.

Smet said the district administration is current drafting SMART goals – which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely – which will be presented at the next meeting.

That meeting is scheduled for March 18 at 7 p.m.