Results of Warden school survey to be reviewed

WARDEN — The Warden School Board will meet in a study session at 6 p.m. Oct. 18 to review the results of surveys of district residents and current and former school staff. The meeting will be open to the public.

District superintendent Dave LaBounty said 65 people participated in the community survey, and 48 current and former staff members. About 80 percent of the staff responses were from current staff, said curriculum director Jill Massa.

Board members will have access to all comments that accompanied the survey. But comments were screened, and some were not posted to the survey site. Comments that were “more of an attack on a person or on a small group, then the company wouldn’t allow that to go out to have responses on it,” LaBounty said. Massa said there weren’t very many comments like that, but there were a few.

The goal is to keep the discussion focused and civil, Massa said. Comments were removed if they criticized people by name, or if the criticisms included other identifying characteristics, Massa said. A criticism that named LaBounty was posted at his request, he said. Board members will have access to all comments.

In preliminary results, the chief issues of concern to community respondents were “staff support, leadership and communication, (and) third was school culture,” LaBounty said. Staff members were concerned about “community and belonging, second was (personal development) and growth, third was stronger communication.”

The board decided to conduct a survey following some contentious meetings in the spring, where some district patrons and teachers expressed concerns about district operations. Board members opted for a survey as a way to reach as many district patrons as possible, said board member Doug Skone at an earlier meeting.