Committee begins drafting student‑survey policy; holds item for more work

The advisory committee discussed a draft policy to govern student surveys and decided it needs more work before forwarding it to the School Committee.

Members reviewed two model drafts (Warwick and Cold Spring, Minnesota) and discussed distinctions among internal classroom surveys, district‑level surveys, state (RIDE) or federally required instruments, and third‑party vendor instruments. Committee members emphasized that surveys tied to the U.S. Department of Education, RIDE, or third‑party vendors should trigger formal review and parental notice; by contrast, informal classroom surveys for routine operational matters (for example, preferences for a field trip) are typically non‑mandatory and lower risk.

Discussion also covered passive versus active parental consent, how to treat focus groups and interviews (members agreed those activities should be covered), anonymity and reporting (reports should not include identifiable information), record retention for raw survey data or recordings, and whether staff want a two‑week notice period before an externally administered survey. The committee noted the list of eight protected topics (drawn from federal law/PPRA) that require special handling and that a clear process and advance notice/opt‑out are appropriate when surveys intersect with those topics.

The committee agreed to hold the draft for additional work: staff will add RIDE and federal PPRA references, expand coverage to explicitly include focus groups and interviews, add retention/records guidance (and a note pointing to state records retention schedules), and return a revised draft for further review.