Delavan-Darien schools get results of first ‘climate survey’
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Staff gave the Delavan-Darien School District an overall grade of C in its first climate survey.
The grade is below the B- benchmark of similar schools in surveys conducted by School Perceptions, a Slinger-based public opinion research firm.
The district contracted with School Perceptions in February to conduct a survey of district staff, 71 percent of whom responded.
The School Board on April 8 discussed the results of the survey, which was required as part of the district’s strategic plan. Eventually two surveys will be conducted per year.
According to the survey, staff feels the district’s greatest challenges are increasing student achievement, reducing open enrollments out of the district, keeping technology up to date, increasing student enrollment, adapting the way students are taught to follow the Common Core Standards, and recruiting and retaining high quality staff.
According to the survey, staff feels the main reasons families choose to open enroll out of the district include a lack of challenging programs for high-performing students, a lack of or consistency in discipline, negative perceptions about student diversity and demographics, low test scores and student achievement, and a lack of strong leadership and communication between leadership and the community.
Main strengths of the district are amazing and dedicated staff, teachers, and administration; diversity; student needs are put first; commitment from all to improve; new leadership is dedicated and on track; and neighborhood schools.
Main weaknesses identified include – the district is rebuilding and it will take time to see improvements; strong leadership has been missing and is not yet where it needs to be; poor communication between leadership and the community; not enough consistency in dealing with discipline issues; not enough options for non-college bound students; a lot of negative perceptions; poor test scores; school and community challenges from a shift in student demographics; and not enough accountability put on parents.
Superintendent Robert Crist said he anticipated some of the responses to certain questions and did not anticipate some others. He also said he understood the staff has been asked to put several new initiatives and changes into effect but those changes have been necessary for improved student achievement.
Coordinator of School-Community Relations Mike Heine said it is difficult to gauge if staff believe the district has made any improvements since this is the first survey. He said this survey will establish a baseline for future surveys.
Heine said the district contracted a third party vendor in School Perceptions so that the district could compare results to other districts with similar survey questions. He said overall the responses were comparable to other districts with some variations in either direction.
Responses on the survey were valued on a five-point scale with five being “strongly agree” and one being “strongly disagree.”
Highest scores
The highest scores for the district were in the following areas:
• Staff members are doing what it takes to make the district successful – 3.9;
• Our schools are “good places to learn” – 3.8;
• The school board listens and acts on community concerns – 3.7;
• The school board has satisfactorily implemented initiatives in the strategic plan – 3.7;
• The superintendent listens and acts on community concerns – 3.7;
• The superintendent communicates well with the organization – 3.7; and
• The quarterly school board listening sessions are valuable – 3.7.
District comparisons
The district scored high in comparison to other similar schools in the following areas – the district average score is listed first and the average score of similar schools is listed second:
• Staff feels they are making a positive contribution to the school – 4.4, 4.0;
• Staff feels they have a good understanding of the mission and goals of the district – 4.3, 4.0;
• Staff feels they understand the district’s strategic plan – 4.1, 3.8; and
• Staff feels they have adequate opportunities to develop friendships at work – 3.9, 3.6.
Areas in which average district responses were lower than the average of similar schools included:
• Receiving feedback that helps improve performance –3.6, 4.0;
• Adequate opportunities to contribute to goal setting and planning – 3.5, 3.9;
• Receiving training to do the job well – 3.3, 3.7;
• Adequate opportunities to participate in decisions that affect staff – 3.1, 3.9;
• Adequate opportunities for professional development – 3.1, 3.6; and
• Have benefitted from the district’ mentoring program – 2.9, 3.5.
Other results
Other results – with comparison district’s results listed second if they were available – are:
• District staff morale is improving – 2.8;
• There is a strong feeling of teamwork in the district – 2.9;
• District administration communicates well with the rest of the organization – 2.9, 3.1;
• My workplace is safe – 4.0, 4.3;
• The district is a good place to work – 3.6, 3.9;
• I would recommend the district to others seeking employment – 3.1, 3.4;
• I am satisfied with technological resources and support – 3.0, 3.4; and
• I am satisfied with the overall level of student achievement – 2.3, 2.8.
Heine said the response regarding the level of student achievement could be taken as a positive sign that staff recognize student achievement is not where it needs to be and that everyone needs to work hard at making improvements.
Overall the data showed a rating of 3.3 for the district, 3.8 for “my team” – the group or building a staff member works with or in, and 3.8 for questions related to the staff.
On a scale of 1 to 4 with four being “excellent,” support staff was ranked 3.3, right about the average of similar schools. Teachers were rated as 3.3 as well, slightly lower than the 3.4 benchmark of similar schools. The school board ranked 2.9 compared to the benchmark of 3.3. School administration ranked 2.7 compared with the benchmark of 3.1. District administration scored 2.5, which was right on the benchmark of similar schools.
FACE
Proposed changes to the Family and Consumer Education curriculum were tabled after some questions were raised about the changes.
Director of Instruction Cora Rund said students need to be college and career ready according to the Common Core Standards. She said the Family and Consumer Education program was evaluated in the fall and it was decided it would be best to end the program in the middle school and beef up the high school program. Phoenix Middle School teacher Terri Brown would be asked to move to the high school under the proposal.
Brown said she learned about the proposed changes four days before the April 8 meeting and asked why the program’s evaluation included no input from her. Brown has 19 years experience teaching at Phoenix.
Board member Roxann Kelton also asked why Brown was not included. Board member Sharon Gonzalez said the program should be maintained at the middle school to foster interest in the high school program. Board member Jim Hansen said the issue seemed like a personnel matter that should be discussed in closed session and the item was tabled.
Referendum possibility
The board discussed the possible need for a future referendum to help pay for the district’s desire to provide all students with laptops or other devices next fall. The district began allowing students to bring their own devices to school in January.
