Middle School survey shows disconnect between teachers, administration

A culture study at Berg Middle School shows a deep divide between rank and file teachers and administrators, but district leadership said they aren’t sure how to fix the problem. The internal culture study, a copy of which was obtained by the Newton Daily News, suggests significant problems exist within the middle school. In the survey, which was completed last year, teachers cited communication issues more than 30 times. Thirty-five teachers responded to the survey, slightly less than half of the building’s 75 staff members.

Lisa Sharp, Berg Middle School principal, said she didn’t intend for the survey’s results to be made public.

“That’s us working on us,” Sharp said. “It’s part of our culture problem, that’s something we’re working on as a staff.”

In a follow-up interview, Sharp said the school has developed an action plan to address the concerns raised by teachers in the survey. The Building Instructional Leadership teams, or BILs, have been meeting twice a month. They’re working to create procedures to address the issues raised by teachers.

“It’s a slow process, but we’re going through each of the comments and we’re trying to make a priority of each of the concerns while we celebrate the positives,” Sharp said. “It’s not happening as quickly as BIL’s would like, but when we only have 45 minutes to meet. We’re doing the best we can.

“Like any good company or business, we always want to reflect and get better. We strive to get better and be the best we can.”

Newton Community School District Board of Education President Travis Padget said he’s seen the middle school’s culture survey, but he doesn’t believe the entire board has seen it. While Padget said he’s concerned by the results, he believes it’s reflective of district-wide cultural issues, something the board has been attempting to address in its Denison Culture Survey.

“I think working on culture in general is a really important piece,” Padget said. “And we have cultural issues, we’ve had cultural issues for a long time.”

Commissioned in 2016, the Denison Culture Survey was an attempt by the board to identify and correct cultural problems within the district. The study showed a “significant disparity” between teachers and administrators. Out of the 255 teachers surveyed, 174 responded to the culture study. Teachers cited a “lack of shared vision” and complained that district leadership lacks a long-term goal. The study also found that teachers view goals and objectives as “unrealistic and not well communicated,” a view not supported by administrators. Communication remains a concern, and the study identified “alarmingly poor scores” relating to conflict resolution, decision making and reaching agreement.

Coming on the heels of the district-wide survey, Sharp said she authorized the middle school survey because she wanted to work on the school’s culture. After reading through the results, Padget said he sees the survey mirroring the district’s results. The comments from teachers are a cause for concern, he said.

“I think it’s fairly negative, which is I think is ... there’s goods and bad, there’s positive pieces and negative pieces, I think it’s the same with all the culture work we’re doing,” Padget said.

Deb Rose, a teacher at the middle school and the president of the teacher’s union, led the team that created the middle school culture survey. Rose, part of the building’s leadership and instructional team, declined to comment on the survey.

Teachers raised a number of concerns in the BMS survey, with communication being the most significant issue noted. Cited more than 30 times in the survey, teachers described myriad communication issues, a problem they see coming from the administration. The lack of communication makes it difficult to create a cohesive, unified voice, according to the survey. One example highlighted by several respondents was the middle school’s use of four different tardy policies, a move that often leaves teachers feeling uncertain.

“Staff meetings need to be held,” one respondent wrote. “We need to all hear the same message at the same time. Staff should never feel like they can’t speak up if they have ideas that could help for the better good.”

Even though efforts have been made to improve the number of times teachers receive for professional development, many survey respondents said did not feel supported by the administration.

“I find it insulting at PD (Professional Development) when our mission statement talks of empowering teachers,” one teacher wrote. “This is the least empowered I’ve felt in my career.”

Administrators received stinging criticism in the survey, with several teachers writing anonymously that the building’s leadership team — which includes Sharp and vice principals Steph Langstraat and Amy Shannon — should be terminated. One teacher wrote “fire them” in regard to a question about how the building should move forward in light of the survey results. Respondents claimed administrators aren’t spending enough time interacting with students and teachers within the building and some teachers are favored over others, a source of dissension among the staff.

“There are VERY clear ‘favorite teachers’ of the administrative team,” a teacher wrote in the survey. “Staff knows it and know the expectations are different for said favorite teachers. Favoritism is unprofessional.”

While teachers reserved their harshest criticism for administrators, Sharp said she isn’t taking it personally, she sees it as a learning opportunity.

“It can’t be personal, everybody has places to grow,” Sharp said. “If we cannot be professional and have professional conversations, not just as individuals but as a BMS team, then how are we going to serve our kids the best we can?”

Even though the survey contained numerous negative comments Sharp said she still told the BIL’s that she wanted every teacher in the building to see the survey.

“I said we should share it with all staff, just because there are some negative things in there doesn’t mean we want to brush it under the rug,” Sharp said. “We need to address it so we can improve and be the best place we can be for kids.”

When contacted by the Newton Daily News, Superintendent Bob Callaghan said he had not seen a copy of the survey. He said building principals wouldn’t need to get his approval to conduct the survey, as they have considerable leeway on their campuses.

“Nobody informed me they were doing a culture survey, I am in the dark more than you,” Callaghan said.

After being provided a copy of the survey, Callaghan said he has yet to hear any concerns about the results from teachers at the middle school. Despite the concerns raised by the survey, the superintendent insisted he isn’t the best individual for teachers to raise their concerns with.

“Issues should be dealt with at the most appropriate level, they need to talk to their building principal,” Callaghan said. “I’ll listen, but I’m not the first level.”

Teachers who responded to the BMS survey said they are reluctant to speak out against the administration, for fear of retribution, concerns Sharp said are overblown. Sharp said she's visited with many teachers who've expressed concerns, and her door is always open to staff members. As she read through the comments from the surveys, the principal said some staff members laughed when they saw teachers claiming administrators have clear favorites.

“You know when the BIL’s went through the survey and the comments, and when we came to that people just giggled, and thought it was a little silly that it was a comment made,” Sharp said. “If they’re thinking the favorites are those teachers who are a good team member and step up and pull their weight and step up and help out with building projects and they see them doing a lot of leadership type things it’s not because they’re favorites; it’s because those teachers are willing to step up and be a leader.”

The middle school’s culture survey came on the heels of a similar survey completed by the high school. In October 2016, the middle school commissioned its first culture study, but Sharp said the school’s leadership team felt the data was unusable, leading to the school to create a second survey. All three of the surveys occurred after the initial Denison Survey, which began in August 2016.

In light of the results of the middle school’s culture survey, Callaghan said he hopes the district will continue to focus on the Denison survey because the district has years of work to complete before he believes they’ll be ready to isolate issues at specific campuses.

“I am certain the intentions were good, they were trying to provide feedback from their campus, however that does not match our long-term goals,” Callaghan said. “We should be working on the Denison Culture Survey, that is our long-term focus.”

While Padget said he believes the public has a right to know about the contents of the culture survey, he stressed the survey is reflective of the school’s culture an employer, rather than as an educator.

“The public needs to know what’s going on, however these surveys are more about the district’s culture as an employer, it’s not a classroom teaching issue,” Padget said. “I don’t want people to confuse the culture survey, whether it’s negative or positive as indicative of the classroom environment.”

Despite Padget’s claims, some teachers believe the division between teachers and administrators has had an effect on student morale.

“Administration needs to become more visible,” a teacher wrote in the survey. “They need to take the time to get into the classrooms and see what is actually happening in the building. They need to realize how toxic this building has become and how that is impacting the staff and the students.”

With the size of the building, Sharp said it’s difficult for her to be in every hallway, but she said she does release her schedule to teachers every morning, and she’s tried to set aside at least two days a week to conduct walkthroughs of classrooms.

“Nope, I’m not in classrooms as much as I’d like to be, as far as hallways, they might see me every fourth day, because I’m elsewhere,” Sharp said. “It’s a big building, I’m all over.”

Padget declined to say whether or not the board would take action based on the results of the survey, he indicated the board would work to direct the superintendent, but primarily he said they’d continue to focus on the results of the Denison Survey, and look at ways the district can improve their culture across the district, rather than focusing on individual campuses.

“That’s not our responsibility within the district, we have the responsibility to guide the culture and the district and that goes through Bob (Callaghan),” Padget said. “I don’t think the culture is Lisa (Sharp) or one person, or one team.”

Contact David Dolmage at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or ddolmage@newtondailynews.com