News from Lisa
Survey Says
We conducted our annual parent opinion survey a few weeks ago, and I've summarized the results below. Unlike last year when the survey was conducted in the relatively quiet time prior to spring break (in anticipation of our accreditation visit), this survey was launched during the madness of the gala, art shows, and the talent show. Ostensibly, the extra time should have provided a clearer lens with which to view the year, but I suppose that you ran the risk of being bleary eyed instead! Even at that busy time, 64 of you responded, compared to 68 last year. This year twice as many lower school parents responded as middle school, which also reflects our current demographic (twice as many students in lower school as middle).
The overarching themes are that we have a great arts program, parents feel welcome at the school, students and staff are treated with respect, and class sizes are effective for learning—we received top scores in these areas. The great arts program (which includes music) took first place this year. Another dominant theme is an overwhelming desire for facilities improvements. Of 49 responses in the open-response section on what you liked least, 15 responses were directly related to the facility in some way or another and the prompt, "Facilities are adequate" received one of the lowest scores.
I'm sure that there is a correlation with the amount of time spent talking about arts, music, and facilities this year and the very positive and negative scores, but I'm also certain that these responses also represent our relative strengths and weaknesses.
My goal has been (and will continue to be) to provide the nicest facility possible given the budget we have to work with while continuing to pursue the plan for the future. Of course, it's fun to dream large (the library, the multipurpose room, a farm-to-table garden program) in the meantime, and I encourage you to do so!
Bullying raised its head this year, again possibly because we've been discussing it more, and because we had a couple of Really Mean Girl (a phrase coined by Rosalind Wiseman in her book Queen Bees and Wannabes) activities on campus this year. I believe that the new advising program in the middle school will help as will a tougher stance in general towards mean girl activities.
In addition to the annual parent opinion survey, we also had our very first development survey, and we are just beginning to analyze the results. Thank you to Jennifer Hotz, Jenny Smrekar and Susan Hart for creating it. The results of the development survey will inform our fundraising efforts next year.
After completing surveys like these, I always think of questions I wished I'd asked; perhaps next year, I'll be able to drill more deeply into some of these. As always, if you have an idea or suggestion, you don't need to wait for the next survey!
Thank you to everyone who participated and the many thoughtful responses. This is a gem of a school thanks to the constant care and attention of the schools' parents, staff and students.
Lisa K. Schmitt
Head of School
(05/09)