Survey: West Potomac Parents Want More Communication, Input

Just over half of West Potomac High School parents believe that communication about school issues between faculty, administrators and parents is encouraged, according to a new survey.

Of the 340 West Potomac parents who participated in the survey, 22 percent said they disagreed or strongly disagreed that communication is encouraged, while 54 percent said they agreed or strongly agreed. The remainder of respondents said they were neutral.

The survey, which was sent to parents by school administrators through the Keep In Touch system, was designed to gauge how effectively the school communicates to parents through various channels.

While 73 percent of parents said they agreed or strongly agreed that Keep in Touch messages communicate relevant information, a comparable number of parents said they use the West Potomac website to access information about school-wide activities.

Most parents indicated they were comfortable communicating with administrators, counselors, and teachers. About 68 percent said they were comfortable talking with teachers, 54 percent with administrators, and 63 percent with counselors.

But only 58.5 percent of parents said administrators communicated in a timely manner, while 49 percent said teachers did. 

When asked if they were satisfied with communication about their child’s progress in school, approximately 51 percent of parents agreed they were, compared to 19 percent who said they were neutral and the 25 percent who said they disagreed.

Just under half of all West Potomac parents responded positively to a question about

knowing teacher expectations, while 26.5 percent gave a negative response and 20 percent gave a neutral one.

About 45 percent of parents responded positively to a prompt about how effective the school was at communicating its overall goals, while 26 percent responded negatively and 23.2 percent said they were neutral.

The survey gave parents the opportunity to suggest changes to the communication strategy between the school and parents through open-ended responses.  Of the 136 parents who responded, 55 made suggestions for progress reports, 24 addressed the Keep in Touch system and 22 evaluated BlackBoard. 

Some of the comments called for small technological tweaks to the school’s communication systems, while others asked for larger changes in how school administrators relate to parents. 

“I don't feel completely comfortable with communicating with the administration when I am not happy with a class. For example, I don't think my child is doing diddlysquat in honors …, but who do I tell? Will it affect my child?,” wrote one parent. 

Another commenter said he or she would like parents to be better informed about major policy decisions. 

“Parents and community should have some voice in these policy decisions and if the parents and community are against a particular policy that should carry some weight,” the parent wrote.

“Even though staff position decisions are not something parents should have a say in, it would be nice to know through official channels when long-time teachers are asked to leave or positions are cut.”

Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson Paul Regnier said information gathered from the parent survey will help West Potomac administrators develop communication strategies for the 2011-2012 school improvement plan.

To learn more about the survey’s results click on the pdfs on the right.