District to hold online parent survey in May





How are Port Aransas schools doing? How do they treat students? How do they treat parents? How much are parents involved in education here?

All those are items the school administration wants to find out – along with many other opinions parents may have about the schools. And to learn those opinions, the school district is making an on-line survey available between Monday, May 3, and Sunday, May 16.

Parents – or anyone who has an opinion about the schools, for that matter — can get to the survey by going to the Port Aransas ISD Web site, www.paisd.net, and navigating to the survey page.

Superintendent Dr. Sharon Doughty said anyone who doesn’t have access to a computer with Internet connections can come to any of the three schools during school hours to borrow a computer and fill out the survey. Computers also may be used free at the Port Aransas Computer Center, 430 N. Alister St., during center hours.

“It is very important each year, or at least every other year, for school districts to ask parents how they feel about some of the activities their schools may have in place to involve them in their child’s education,” Doughty said. “This could include whether they involve themselves in other ways, or to just get a sense of what is working and what may not be working in trying to involve parents in the schools.”

Also, Port Aransas ISD accepts federal dollars, and parental involvement is a key component in the federal applications that are completed by the district when it agrees to accept federal dollars. For the current 2009-2010 school year, Doughty applied for and received almost $700,000 in federal funds for the school district. Doughty said the information gathered from the survey will be used to put together the campus improvement plans for next year. The plans, presented to the school board at the beginning of each school year, guide administrators in programs and expenditures for each of the district’s campuses.

The survey contains 27 questions, each of them multiple-choice and most with an area for additional comments from the person answering the survey.

Samples:

• Parents come to school events in large numbers. Almost always. Usually. Sometimes. Almost never. Do not know.

• The PTA is an active and effective part of the school. Almost always. Usually. Sometimes. Almost never. Do not know.

• Parents are aware of the curriculum their child is learning. Yes. No. Do not know.

• I am greeted in a friendly, courteous way when I contact the school either on the phone or in person. Almost always. Usually. Sometimes. Almost never. Never.

Doughty said none of the information in the survey will be used to “rate” teachers, principals, or campuses.

In fact, there is no control on how many times a person can answer the survey. Doughty said such a control isn’t needed.

“We are just looking for some kind of data to tell us what we have going on, what we lack, etc.,” she said. “I think the comments sections of each question will give us some good feedback to use as well as we look at our school’s parental involvement.”

She said the district has no plans to make the results of the survey public.


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