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Committee declines to move forward with separate climate survey after members cite existing state SurveyWorks data
Summary
A motion to commission a separate culture and climate survey failed 2-5 after members debated whether the state-run SurveyWorks (Panorama Education) already provides relevant data and whether additional expense or duplication is warranted.
The Cumberland School Committee voted down a motion to move forward with a separate, paid culture and climate survey, with the motion failing 2-5.
Committee member Michael Dean moved that the committee proceed with a climate survey; the motion was seconded by Michael Bacon. Speakers spent more than an hour discussing whether the district’s existing data from SurveyWorks (the state’s Panorama Education administration) already meets the committee’s needs and whether a separate vendor-based survey was necessary.
Superintendent Dr. Thornton and district administrator (Mr.) DiMona described SurveyWorks’ scope: the state survey is free to districts, runs annually (typically January 21–March 31), and covers several respondent groups and topic areas. The district’s responses for the most recent administration included roughly 1,000 elementary-grade students (grades 3–5), about 2,000 students in grades 6–12, approximately 300 teacher responses (about a 65% response rate), and some 570 family responses. Support-staff responses were lower (78 recorded responses in the district’s data). SurveyWorks is published through Panorama Education; the district made school-level results available on RIDE’s portal and internally for principals.
Members opposed to commissioning a separate paid survey said the state tool already provides a deep data set, that there are psychometric controls in SurveyWorks (question design and consistency checks), and that the committee should review existing SurveyWorks outputs and school-improvement analysis before approving additional expense. Supporters of a separate survey said a targeted climate instrument could ask questions specific to staff concerns (retaliation and whistleblower claims were mentioned by one member) and offer the committee a confidential, district-administered instrument tailored to locally prioritized questions.
When put to a vote the motion to move forward with the separate climate survey failed 2-5. Members recorded in the negative included Shay, Feather, Smith, Goldstein and the committee chair; the transcript records a 2-5 defeat and does not list all names for yes votes explicitly. The committee discussed options including: (1) reviewing SurveyWorks results in an upcoming subcommittee or committee meeting; (2) identifying specific gaps and then deciding whether to purchase a targeted vendor survey; and (3) asking administration for an administrative report that disaggregates Panorama/SurveyWorks results by teacher, support staff, school, and demographic subgroup.
