March 28, 2024

School board to hear updated parent survey involving neighborhood schools

Second reading on outside resource policy scheduled

Monday’s meeting of the Newton Community School District Board of Education will reveal the updated results of a K-6 parent survey that could play a significant role in future building configuration within the district.

The original survey results were presented at the late August meeting by Jim Gilbert, associate director of elementary education services, and those results gave a mixed reception toward a return to neighborhood schools.

In those results, 58 percent of respondents felt it was important to minimize student travel. In addition, 66 percent of respondents felt it was important to minimize the number of schools that students attend during their experience within the district.

Other supporting figures showed that  61 percent of respondents want the district to maximize opportunities for students to interact with students in other grade levels and another 81 percent of respondents want to sustain long-term student, parent, staff relationships.

However those figures were contradicted in a later portion of the survey.

Sixty-two percent of respondents felt that academic factors, such as instructional resources, curriculum focus, learning styles, teacher collaboration and student grouping should play a bigger role in determining building configuration.

Only 38 percent of respondents to that question felt that student travel, number of schools attending, grade level interaction and long-term student-parent-staff relationships should play a role in building configuration.

Gilbert and Superintendent Bob Callaghan said the survey results came from more than 200 parents who had participated either at a back-to-school night function or one of the two days of central registration.  The duo also estimated the parents that participated represented around 25 percent of the more than 1,500 K-6 students in the district.

As Gilbert finished his presentation, several board members asked that the survey be reopened for about a week to give more parents a chance to give their input.

Callaghan will present those updated results Monday.

A poll on the Newton Daily News website shows that out of 160 participants, as of press time, 82 percent support a move back to neighborhood schools.

Another matter of importance set to take place at Monday’s meeting is the second reading of Board Policy 603.7, pertaining to outside resource people, and Board Policy 1003.5, which reiterates and regulates 603.7.

The first portion of Board Policy 603.7 now reads, “the faculty member shall notify the building principal of an outside resource person well in advance of the visit. The principal may deny the request for an outside resource person.”

Another change to this draft of the policy, states that parents or guardians have to sign a permission slip to allow their children to attend presentations from an outside resource within the schools.

In other business:

• A public hearing for the purchase of a technology vehicle will be held at 6:45 p.m.

• A vote will be had to set a public hearing for the purchase of a new fire escape for Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.

• The board will discuss updating Board Policy 603.8, which is in regard to teaching controversial subjects in the classroom.

• There will be a vote on naming new members of the School Improvement Advisory Committee.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.