More choices
Malinda Wells - Emporia
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
USD 253 recently sent out a survey to parents asking them to rate various calendar options. The problem with the survey was that it did not allow for a full range of responses as it made the assumption Emporia parents were always ready for changes, or at a minimum, indifferent to them. It did not allow for parents to be satisfied with the current school choices or strongly desirous of keeping things the same.
The question I disliked most out of the nine ratings selections was, “I am willing to shorten winter break or spring break to end the school year earlier in May.” As it so happens, I am extremely satisfied with the current spring and winter breaks and do not want to change them. Unfortunately my only choices for responses to the question were: “extremely important, important consideration, and doesn’t matter”. Change is not the only solution in school calendar decisions. Sometimes whether you make changes does make a difference. I happen to believe USD 253 is doing several things right with the current calendar, and I would have liked the opportunity to respond that way as part of the survey ratings questions. The survey was a great idea — next time it should have more response choices.
Malinda Wells
Emporia
citizen (anonymous) says...
I agree with your statement. I too received this survey. On some of the questions I did put down my own answers and did not use the ones that were given. I wrote on the sides that I liked how the breaks corresponded with ESU's and to not change the lengths.
December 5, 2007 at 4:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rami (anonymous) says...
I didn't even fill out the survey because my choice was to keep things the way they are, but that wasn't an option. I will take the survey the next time I recieve it...as long as it has the option to say "no changes please!"
December 5, 2007 at 6:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
I didnt fill mine out either because of the choices. I guess you have to start somewhere and strive to improve it just like anything else. Good point brought up.
December 5, 2007 at 9:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )