Unofficial Survey Says Parents Prefer K-5 Model
Decatur Metro | May 26, 2009Over on her CSD reconfiguration blog, CSD Mom has been writing for a while about efforts to get the school board to consider a parent survey regarding reconfiguration, which would complement a survey already completed among teachers. However, the school board didn’t taken any action on that front, so CSD Mom created her own survey and asked parents to participate.
Well, the survey is now closed and the 288 votes have been tallied and with 29% of the vote, Option 6 (which opts from the old K-5 model instead of K-3 and a 4/5 academy) won out over Option 13 that received 26% of the vote.
Now it should be said that this is an unscientific survey and CSD Mom hasn’t been shy about promoting Option 6 over all the others over at her site. Even so, this seemingly strong support among parents, who made up 84% of the survey vote, for Option 6 shows an interesting and under-reported element to the reconfiguration struggle. Option 6 would effectively dismantle the 4/5 academy model that has long been heralded by administrators, teachers, and a good number of parents. Be that as it may, there seems to be a good contingent of parents out there who would rather revert back to a less expensive K-5 system, than spend money to completely renovate 5th Ave so it could become the city’s 4/5 Academy.
Personally, I’m still unsure which option to support. However, I remain wary to assume that the city’s student population will continue to rise indefinitely into the future…without annexation of course.
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Thanks, Decatur Metro. My suggestion to anyone who’s interested is to read the 132 comments on the open-ended question, which is the last one on the survey (click the little button at the bottom of the survey called “View”). There is no shortage of opinion, and at least for me, it’s refreshing to read what everyone else is thinking. Even if the board ignores this survey and the comments (which I think would be inexcusable), at least parents had a last shot at saying what was on their minds.
“Even if the board ignores this survey and the comments (which I think would be inexcusable)…”
Without any data on who was responding to the survey, the Board SHOULD ignore these results. The results *potentially* provide an incredibly biased view of stakeholder opinions – Who knew about the survey? Who had the opportunity to respond to it? Who _did_ respond to it?
Without this information the claim that these opinions represent “what everyone else is thinking” is a farce. Unless all stakeholders had the same opportunity then the results should not bear on the Boards decision.
I agree with CSD Mom that a survey should be done – but if not done correctly, survey results distort reality and exclude the voices of many.
Even if they did a more complete parent survey, I’m not sure how much weight I would give it.
I’m not sure that I would want the opinion of an individual who was not following the very complex issue that is reconfiguration to be counted the same as someone deeply intimate with the issue like CSD Mom or Garrett.
Listening sessions solve that problem.
I have children that were part of the first reconfiguration and will be affected again with this second change. That being said, the first reconfiguration turned out great for our kids. And I’m sure the next one will be fine too. I never went to CSD Mom’s blog and I prefer option# 9.
Yawn… I am soooo over this. Can we please have a vote already – I think we’ve bludgeoned this horse to death at this point haven’t we?
Looks to me like most teachers, SLT’s and the superintendent (who are all relatively very educated on this issue) want #13. Among parents, it looks like most (by a small percentage) want K-5s in some combination.. with #13 being a very close second.
Looks like very few from any interest group are willing to tolerate a 4-8 at Renfroe.
I think that the best solution with the most buy in overall has become pretty darn clear at this point.
Dokie, I agree. Just wanted to let DM know that there are other views. I would not vote for any school board member who wanted to change the system back to a k – 5.
Re unscientific survey: Almost no voluntary, passive response surveys are “scientific” so let’s get over that. But a non-representative survey can still be sound and useful, as long as it is interpreted with good judgment, understanding the limitations of the methodology and the potential biases. If CSD wanted a sound survey of parents, it could have conducted one. It didn’t so it’s inevitable that others would fill in the void with their own surveys.
Re Option 13: It seems as close to a consensus as anything I have seen CSD obtain. That doesn’t mean that it’s everyone’s first choice but it seems to be a compromise that many can accept even if they think CSD has not considered the best evidence or made the best decision. So if CSD goes ahead and implements putting the 4/5 Academy at Renfroe, its obvious favorite option, despite a clear message from teachers and the community that they are concerned about that option and have developed consensus around Option 13 instead, it will tell us all a lot about how CSD wants to make decisions.
Re hat in the ring: I agree completely that more folks need to run for the Board. Decatur has this Southern thing about not running against incumbents–they’re such nice folks that we don’t want to hurt their feelings by running against them. But democracy depends on informed and open discussion among the electorate. Without at least two candidates for an office that kind of important discussion of issues doesn’t occur. I wish one of us would do our homework and find out exactly which Board terms are ending. I have heard that it’s three–the terms for Wisniewski (sp?) (northside), Wilson (at large), and Seals (southside). It would be nice to know which of the three are truly running again and whether any other Board members are resigning before their terms are up. Rumor has it that Wilson will not run again. I have only heard of one new candidate considering running this fall. It’s a shame if we don’t have at least two candidates per position up for election. Blogs and surveys have their uses but they will never have the power to influence that being a Board member does. From reading this blog, I think that many posters have the smarts, passion, and commitment to run.
This sort of survey seems to promote the views of those with the loudest voices. If you don’t have an acceptable methodology the survey means nothing. In this case it seems like a way to light up a controversy. If we had followed these people with the loud complaints and opinions (along with their stated and unstated biases) during the last reconfigure thing we would not have the current system. I say we have to trust the experts, unless they are proven wrong or inept. In this case CSD has worked great for my children and the community at large. I have to go with the teachers and administrators and parents who have studied this issue.
I received and completed the survey. I don’t know how I got on the mailing list, other than volunteering at my son’s school. I like reading about the pros and cons on this site. Overall, I am content with CSD. I think we have it great here in Decatur.
Also, this is why we have a republican form of government. We can’t all make it to the Agora for a vote on every issue. Granted, this is a big one, but one that we have elected officials to mull over all the complexities for us and provide us with a forum to make our voices heard. I participated in the survey after receiving the link from a friend of a friend of a friend. I can’t imagine that the results are even close to representative. You might as well tell them – “we took a poll at our cocktail party on Memorial Day and this is what we found . . .” I, too, would be skeptical about their judgement if they put too much weight on this. If the issue is that they aren’t listening to US, then that’s different. But I don’t think that’s the case is it? As I’ve said before, if they aren’t doing their jobs as OUR representatives then we will get a chance to vote them out. How many people have thrown their hat in the ring for the next election so far?
“I’m not sure that I would want the opinion of an individual who was not following the very complex issue that is reconfiguration to be counted the same as someone deeply intimate with the issue like CSD Mom or Garrett.”
Total BS. They did a teacher survey, and most of the teachers were not “deeply intimate” with the issue either. You can tell this by reading all the teacher comments. As I said above, by the same token, they should have done a parent survey.
No one needs to be “deeply intimate” with the intricacies of reconfiguration in order to know what they care most about and what they want to get out of the school system. If you look at the survey, that’s what it’s mostly about–what is most important and what is least important to you as a CSD community member.
“How many people have thrown their hat in the ring for the next election so far?”
And, how many people actually vote? The turnout in City elections has historically been around the 20% mark. In my book, if you don’t vote, then don’t complain about the outcome.
I’m not sure I need to “get over” the fact that the survey is unscientific to the point of not mentioning that aspect of it.
And how useful can a survey be if you don’t know the base of respondents? I think CSD Mom is right to point out specifically the written comments portion of the survey. At least there you have reasoned opinions there.
Re teachers and administrators and parents who have studied this issue: Sure hope that whatever configuration is implemented respects the consensus developed by the teachers and administrators and parents who have studied this issue. In general, I trust a well-developed consensus that includes experts but also stakeholders and fresh perspectives. Experts are fallible like any of us and we all have our own areas of expertise.
Good points. That is what I like about this process so far. Seems like everyone is encouraged to be involved, if interested. Those of us who have children in the CSD definitely have a stake in the outcome!
Of course this is not a scientific survey. And of course it didn’t reach everyone that it should have. I had 325 email addresses on my list, and I trusted those people to forward it to as many people as they could. That’s the best I could do–I certainly could not do a survey of those who do not have internet access.
The school system could have done a survey and reached everyone in the system who has internet access by doing the survey through the parent portal, just like the last two surveys they did. We lobbied for such a survey but were told it wasn’t necessary.
They did a teacher survey even though most of the teachers are not “intimately involved” with the reconfiguration data and process. By the same token, we feel they should have done a parent survey.
Oh, and I should have said “what other people are thinking”–I know it’s not what “everyone” is thinking.
Did they give a reason why a parents survey wasn’t necessary?