Involving citizens in the life of the district is a grading question that often receives low marks on patron surveys. They feel like they are not part of the conversation when the district is making decisions about things like new buildings, renovations, boundary changes, etc.
The problem is districts are still using 1950s practices when trying to get district citizens involved. If you haven’t figured it out yet, people don’t want to attend community meetings. These went out of style with leisure suits. For example, a district recently hosted 31 community meetings with an average attendance of three people per meeting.
And “captured audience” methodologies, like phone apps, only reach the people you would have heard from anyway. Just because phone apps are trendy and shiny doesn’t mean they work.
What does work is a combination of a telephone survey (yes, it’s old school but is still used by companies like Pew and Gallup for presidential and other critical surveys) and online surveys that focus on staff, parents, and the community.
A good phone survey is the only methodology that will give you about a 5% Margin of Error. Companion online surveys help you zero in on critical audiences, like teachers and parents. And a community survey gives everyone a chance to have their voices heard.
If you want to pass a bond issue, levy, millage, or whatever you call your tax increase, ask for people’s input before they go vote. Right, wrong, or in between, they will at least feel like they are part of what the district is doing.
