By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
In its attempt to continue doing what is best for Great Bend students and families, the USD 428 Board of Education commissioned the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) to conduct a district-wide survey regarding past goals and future priorities. At Monday's special session, the board spent three hours discussing those results and goals with KASB Field Specialist Sue Givens.
Late in the meeting, Assistant Superintendent John Popp said one of his goals for the district would be to stop listening to the vocal minority and start listening to the silent majority. Givens said the survey was an ideal way to do just that.
"You started by getting a survey out that went to everybody and that makes a big difference," she said. "And you had a great response. I think, when you have an issue that people think you're hearing a lot about, give everybody an opportunity for a safe forum."
Just over 500 people completed the survey. Just two percent of surveys were completed by students or community members, and the other 98 percent was nearly equally split between parents and district staff. Givens said leaving the opportunity for open-ended comments can often be counterproductive with personal comments, but this survey went well.
"You had none of that," she said. "That is such a powerful statement about the way the people took this survey seriously. That's huge. I didn't have to redact names. I almost always have to redact names."
The survey was created specifically for USD 428 based on goals set by the district. Using a sliding scale, respondents measured the importance of four goals and how they felt the district was meeting those goals.
Increasing achievement for all students at all levels was given an importance score of 78, and a progress score of 63. Givens said the district's job is to now find the reason for the gap.
The goal of attracting and retaining current staff saw the biggest margin with an importance rating of 88, and a progress rating of 57. Providing optimum technology to students had the smallest gap with 72 on the importance scale versus 66 on the progress scale. Making fiscally-sound decisions to provide optimal learning rated 79 on the importance scale versus 62 on progress.
Respondents also had the opportunity to rate several district goals from not important at all to very important. Student Achievement, Communication, Staff Recruitment and Retention, Systems for Student Support, and Curriculum and Instruction rated the highest. Extracurricular Programs rated the lowest.
Givens will now prepare a summary report of all the findings from the survey and Monday's meeting, and work with district administration to structure an action plan to be implemented over the next several months.