Board delays decision on external school-climate survey; district to pilot SurveyMonkey

District staff told the board they have newly purchased SurveyMonkey and asked for one month to assemble an in‑house research-style instrument so the district can compare results to peer districts before hiring an outside vendor. The staff member said the goal is a roughly 195‑question instrument targeting every building and grade to report on safety and school climate in a way that allows comparative benchmarking.

"Give me another month," the staff member said, explaining that if the district cannot pull together an adequate instrument they will return with an external proposal such as Hanover Research. The presenter cautioned that surveys for surveys’ sake do not help unless the district can compare results with other schools.

Board members raised concerns about timing and prior experiences with expensive outside surveys during the COVID period. One board member reminded colleagues that a previous vendor contract had been criticized as not delivering sufficient value for the cost. Another board member urged allowing time for policy and program changes to take effect before re‑surveying staff or students.

As a result, the chair announced that all consent‑agenda items except 5.08 would move forward for a vote at the board's business meeting in two weeks; item 5.08 was left for further consideration in February to allow in‑house piloting and review.