Schools Launch New Survey for Community

Now that spring vacation is over and families are returning to the rhythm of school days, parents and other members of the community are being asked to take the next in a series of surveys from the .

With this online climate survey released Wednesday, the district is seeking input from all residents on district wide issues in Danvers and suggestions for improvement. The survey will be available for two weeks (until May 11) and can be accessed at the district Web site.

School officials say “accountability and continuous improvement” are the goals here.

“We are taking accountability to a new level,” says Superintendent of Schools Lisa Dana.

“We want to excel in every area of our work and our two climate surveys will give us a dashboard so we can consistently measure our performance on our core values of caring, quality, commitment and collaboration. This is every resident’s opportunity to talk to us and give us suggestions on making our schools even better,” Dana said. 

The survey is part of a comprehensive initiative undertaken by the Danvers schools for this school year, intent on pursuing two-way communication with parents, teachers, staff and residents who may not have children in the school system. The surveys were developed and analyzed with K12 Insight.

The first survey last fall was targeted at students and parents to reflect on their individual classroom experiences and/or their individual schools. 

School administrators and School Committee members were pleased at the high rate of responses – 81 percent from students – and that the study highlighted a number of areas working well (particularly in the elementary schools) and some that still needed attention (mainly in middle school and high school). Sixty-seven percent of staff responded along with 42 percent of parents surveyed. 

Those positive points included a high level of participation from parents, staff and students, a general feeling of “quality” education and ongoing communication with parents by elementary school principals.

The negative points included few middle school and high school parents feeling they are given useful information about how to help their child or being kept in the loop on their child’s behavior to some special education parents rating staff poorly on the knowledge and skills necessary to work with their child’s needs.

The existing high school transition plan of mentors or “buddies” was seen as largely ineffective in helping students transition from middle school (although the middle school plan received the opposite response).

The survey did reveal a smaller number of “urgent” problems, however, mainly from students’ perspectives. They largely said there was no one at school they felt comfortable discussing personal problems with, students and parents said there wasn’t much respect for sexual or gender diversity at the high school and students said teachers aren’t demonstrating real world applications of what they’re learning.

Parents, teachers and students all agreed that “threatening” behavior exists amongst the student population and that substance abuse needs to be addressed at both the middle and high school levels. You can find the full report on the district Web site.

This second study covers the entire district, which is composed of five elementary schools and the middle school and high school.

The new survey will focus on issues managed by the district office, including the overall school budget, designing and following through on the district strategic plan, hiring and training school employees, ensuring each school is meeting required standards and providing cafeteria and transportation services, according to a press release from Dana’s office.

“As with our survey in the fall, we will share the findings with our community. We will be transparent by sharing everything we learn, including our perceived strengths and where we need to work harder, and we will inform the community of the changes we make as a result of their feedback,” said Dana.

Parents and teachers should have received e-mail invitations to participate in the study, while residents without children in the system or any parents who do not receive the email can access the survey through a link on the district’s Web site

For those who don’t have Internet access, they can go to the central office on Cabot Road or the during normal business hours, or for those still who would rather fill out a paper copy of the survey, they should call Theresa Stablewski at (978) 777-4539 ext. 2431. Library director Doug Rendell can be reached at 978-774-0554.