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College Station ISD adopts ThoughtExchange for stakeholder feedback; staff reports early participation
Summary
District staff told trustees it contracted with ThoughtExchange to collect staff, parent and student input; staff reported roughly 680 survey starts with about 400 completions on the first staff survey and outlined plans to use exchanges on attendance, exit interviews and budget priorities.
College Station ISD administrators told trustees on Nov. 18 that the district has contracted with ThoughtExchange to run a coordinated program of surveys and open ‘exchanges’ to gather staff, parent and student feedback.
Mister Dunson described the tool’s two modes: classical ranked surveys and open exchanges where participants post thoughts and rate others’ responses. He said the district ran a staff success survey Nov. 3–17 and reported about 680 respondents with approximately 400 completions; district staff will review ThoughtExchange’s analysis and publish reports.
Privacy and rollout
Staff emphasized privacy choices and trade‑offs. The district intentionally used an open link for the first staff survey to reduce resistance and build trust rather than tying responses to district email accounts. Trustees asked about repeat submissions and demographic inference. Dunson said the district weighed linking email addresses (which limits one response per account) against participation and perception concerns and chose open links for initial rollout; staff pledged to monitor submissions for anomalies and adjust if needed.
Use cases and next steps
Administrators outlined short‑term uses — chronic absenteeism exchanges, onboarding/exit interviews and budget input — and said the platform’s exchange mode will help staff capture not only ratings but the reasons behind them. ThoughtExchange provides localized AI summaries of open responses and flags personally identifiable material for administrative review.
Staff said they plan a broader rollout to parents (email/text/social media) and will partner with campuses to reach students; they signed an initial two‑year contract to allow deeper use and pilot new features.
Ending
Trustees welcomed the tool as a chance to solicit more actionable feedback and recommended staff continue to monitor response quality and security, and to present districtwide reports publicly after each round.
