Parents Give Summit Schools High Marks

This story was written and reported by Mike Deak.

It was mostly good news for the Summit school district in a survey of parents and guardians conducted earlier this spring.

About 80 percent of the respondents said they were “satisfied” with the overall education provided in the school district, Board Member Katharine Kalin reported at Thursday’s meeting.

The survey, developed by the board’s Communications Committee, was sent by email to parents and guardians on March 25. Responses were due April 15.

Of the 2,400 families in the school district, 863, or 36 percent, participated in the survey, Kalin said.

“We were very pleased with the response,” Kalin said. “It is a really impressive number.”

The data gathered in the survey will be mined over the summer to help shape goals and objectives for the 2013-14 school year, she said.

The numbers presented Thursday were just the “topline” of the data from the survey, Kalin said.

Other highlights of the survey include:

Eighty percent said they were “well-informed” about the school district.

Less than half (45.6 percent) said the district administration is receptive to their concerns; 41 percent said they were undecided.

The most important topics in the school district: space/overcrowding, 29 percent, class size, 26.8 percent, full-day kindergarten, 15.4 percent, safety, 13.9 percent.

Of  the “four pillars” in the school district - academics, athletics, arts and community service - community service received the lowest rating from the respondents, 3.21 on a one to five scale. Academics was rated 4.6, athletics 4.06 and arts 3.77.

More of the 240 pages of data will be released later this year, Kalin said.