Methuen School Committee reviews family climate survey results; members note low participation

The Methuen School Committee reviewed raw results of a family school-climate survey during its Feb. 24 workshop business session, with staff presenting initial breakdowns of responses and committee members raising concerns about low participation.

Superintendent (unidentified in the transcript) invited staff to present the family-survey data, and Dr. Golovski walked the committee through the Panorama Education survey results, which staff said were collected through SurveyMonkey and focused on school safety, family engagement and overall climate. “We have for you just basically raw data from the family survey that we sent out,” Dr. Golovski said when introducing the presentation.

The survey instrument and question set were described as developed by Panorama Education, with questions prepared by Dr. Gelbach and his team from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As staff noted, the survey platform generated the charts shown to the committee.

Why it matters: Committee members said the results will inform strategic objectives and possible targeted actions at schools. Staff said the district plans to compare family responses with student data gathered by VOCAL and by student youth participatory action research teams at each school, then identify priority areas for follow-up.

Key findings presented • Communication channels: Staff reported that email was the most common way families receive information from schools, with social media used unevenly across schools; the high school and some parent groups were the primary social-media presences the district identified. • Family engagement: Open houses and parent conferences drew the most in-person visits; however, staff flagged that about one-third of responding parents reported they almost never discuss their child’s school with other parents. •Climate and belonging: For most items — whether children enjoy school, classroom motivation, perceptions of fairness in evaluation, and sense of belonging — more than half of respondents selected the more favorable categories reported in the presentation. •Respect and relationships: Staff highlighted questions about respect between students and staff. For the high school, parents tended to report that teachers show more respect for students than students show for staff. •School safety and bullying: Responses ranged across the scale. Staff reported that in most schools more than half of parents said it would be “not at all difficult” or only “slightly difficult” for a bullied student to get help from an adult, while some respondents rated access as “quite difficult” or “extremely difficult.” •Drugs: At the grammar schools, at least 60% of respondents said drugs were “not at all” a problem; at the high school, roughly half said drugs were not a problem or only a small problem. •Preparation: More than 70% of respondents said their child’s school prepares students for the next academic year at least “fairly well.”

Participation and quality concerns Member Maxwell, a Methuen School Committee member, criticized the response rate and some survey features, saying the sample was too small to draw broad conclusions. “I feel like even when we couldn't answer for more than 1 child, like, you adjusted that, and that was good, but still only 200 parents out of however many. I mean, I think it was 800 responses out of the whole district, and we have 7,000 students,” Maxwell said. She urged collecting more responses and adding open-ended comment fields in future administrations.

Staff acknowledged the low response rate and said the presentation reflected “raw data” intended as an initial look. Dr. Kwong noted the survey had closed the prior Wednesday and that the team planned to compare family responses with VOCAL and student data before recommending targeted actions. “The survey is now closed. We intend to share the results with the leadership team to dig in a little bit deeper, and to notice some trends as we examine things more closely,” staff said.

Next steps Staff told the committee they will share the full results with building leadership and with student research teams; those groups will further analyze the data and identify areas of focus and potential targeted actions. The presentation and committee comments indicated the district intends to refine outreach and survey design to improve participation in future rounds.

Votes and other meeting business Before the survey presentation, the committee accepted the meeting agenda by motion. Member Shabilius made the motion and a vice chair seconded it; the motion passed on a roll-call vote recorded at the meeting.

The committee closed public participation after noting there were no in-person speakers and no written correspondence for this session.

The presentation materials shown to the committee were described as preliminary and generated by SurveyMonkey using the Panorama Education question set; staff repeatedly described the numbers as initial or “raw” and said deeper analysis is forthcoming.