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Board approves anonymous staff suggestion box; will trial two monthly questions for employee input
Summary
Trustees agreed on an anonymous online "suggestion box" for district staff to provide short responses to two monthly questions (one positive, one concern). The board debated survey fatigue, anonymity, and how to redress personnel-related content; IT will deliver single-use links and responses will be redacted for personnel issues.
The Lyon County School Board agreed to roll out an anonymous online suggestion box for district staff that will post two short questions each month and accept staff responses via a single-use link.
Trustees discussed alternatives including a short optional survey, monthly themed questions and a traditional exit survey. Concerns raised included survey fatigue, low response rates, and fears of retaliation if responses could be traced to individuals. After debate, the board settled on a pilot suggestion-box approach intended to protect anonymity while soliciting focused feedback.
What the trial will ask and how it will run Board members agreed the first two question prompts will be a positive and a concern-oriented question that staff can answer in brief free-text form. Suggested wording discussed in the meeting included: "What makes LYON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT a great place to work?" and "What is your primary concern with LCSD today?" Trustees also asked for a short optional explanation field.
District IT and communications will send staff a single-use link by email; the link expires after one use so staffs cannot submit multiple times from the same address. The district will implement technical controls so the responses do not link back to staff emails. Personnel-related allegations or names in text will be redacted before responses are shared with trustees; the district said personnel matters would be handled through existing administrative and grievance channels.
Why it matters Trustees framed the initiative as a practical step to collect actionable feedback to address teacher recruitment and retention, workplace conditions and morale. Board members and administrators described teacher recruitment and retention as the district's most pressing human-resources challenge and said a focused, anonymous mechanism could surface priorities the board and administration can act on without adding long, repetitive surveys that staff decline to take.
Implementation and next steps Miss Hogan will draft the first prompt and district staff will build the form (Google Forms or equivalent), configure the single-use link and expiry, and pilot the suggestion box for several weeks. Trustees asked that compiled and redacted responses be emailed to them before the following board meeting, and they agreed to revisit the approach if response rates are low.
Ending The board asked staff to begin the trial quickly and prepare language and technical details in time to distribute the first prompt before the next meeting cycle.
