Parents express satisfaction in Sonoma Valley schools survey

Results from the school district’s parent survey conducted in March 2015 are back and the summarized results released by the district show general overall satisfaction and increased satisfaction since 2012.

All Sonoma Valley Unified School District parents were encouraged to fill out the survey throughout the month of March 2015. A total of 485 parents did, which schools superintendent Louann Carlomagno believes represents around 15 percent of the families in the district. “Frankly, we wish that number was a lot higher,” she said. “We need to do even more outreach to get better participation next time.”

The district now has a baseline from which to compare results, as it conducted a similar survey in spring 2012, and Carlomagno would like to conduct the survey annually.

Parents of younger students have more opinions

Approximately 52 percent of the responses were from parents of elementary school children, 27 percent from middle school and 20 percent from high school students. (The remaining 1 percent are charter school parents.) The district student population is approximately 45 percent elementary students, 23 percent middle school and 32 percent high school, so elementary parents are slightly over represented in the results, which were only shared with the public as an average, not broken out by school or school level.

Parents are on board with college and career readiness as a goal

The most positive findings of the survey were that:

• 98 percent of respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” with the district vision for students to graduate ready for college and career, up from 94 percent in 2012.

• 87 percent of respondents are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall quality of education in SVUSD, up from 78 percent in 2012.

Kids in Sonoma like going to school and feel safe there

The five statements with the highest level of agreement (“strongly agree”/ “agree”) were:

• My child is safe in school (96 percent);

• I feel welcomed in my child’s school (96 percent);

• My child likes going to school (92 percent);

• I am comfortable discussing my child’s needs with the teachers/staff (91 percent);

• I believe my child is getting a quality education (90 percent); and

• Parents are respected at this school (90 percent).

Discipline and parent complaints need some improvement

The five statements with the lowest level of agreement (“strongly agree”/”agree”) were:

• Discipline is fair and consistent at my child’s school (76 percent).

• My child’s school is preparing my child adequately for the Common Core State Standards (76 percent).

• My child’s school adequately prepares my child to do well on state tests (74 percent).

• My school provides prevention programs to enhance student safety and promote good choices (73 percent).

• I am pleased with how my school handles discipline concerns (72 percent).

• I am pleased with how my school handles parent complaints (64 percent).

Challenges and

priorities

Open-ended questions in the survey asked for the three greatest strengths and the greatest challenges facing SVUSD, and what should be the highest priority in the next three years.

According to Carlomagno, after much analysis, general themes emerged.

Areas of strength that should be maintained:

• Recruiting and retaining the best possible teachers.

• Keeping the most effective district programs strong.

• Preserving the strong sense of community, safety and connection in our schools.

• Preserving “choice” among elementary schools.

• Continuing and possibly expanding transportation and meals for students.

• Continuing and possibly expanding parenting courses.

Areas identified as challenges:

• A need for more programs and activities.

• Some parents feel a lack of support and involvement.

• The diversity of the district is a challenge. It is hard to meet the needs of all students.

• Discipline issues.

• Facilities need to be well-maintained and, in some cases, improved.

• Without specifying, parents mentioned technology as an area of challenge.

• Common Core State Standards are still new and need more work.

• Additional support for social emotional learning and mental health support.

• More parenting classes.

• Addressing the needs of high achievers, or those in the middle, GATE through high school.

• Teacher/student/counselor relationships and workload.

Priorities for the future

When asked what is the one thing that the district should focus on over the next three years, responses were split among the following answers:

• Technology.

• Common Core State Standards.

• Diversity.

• Attracting and retaining the best teachers.

• Focus on facilities.

• More opportunities for high-achieving students.

• Extend career technical education classes to middle school.

• Address parental confusion about reclassification for English learners.

• Emphasize the parents’ role in student success.

• Continue to support college readiness for all students.

“We’re paying close attention to what parents had to say and using the results to develop priorities in our Local Control and Accountability Plan,” said Carlomagno. “Going forward, we would like to have focus groups in addition to open ended questions so that we can go more deeply into important subjects in order to really understand parent concerns.”

Carlomagno expects there will be a mobile version of the survey next time and her team will continue to brainstorm ways to drive parent participation. “The more parents who answer the survey questions, the better data and insight we get into where are schools were, are and need to be.”

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lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com