District staff survey shows 'time' as top theme; board to review disaggregated data

Dorchester District 2 staff gave mixed but instructive feedback in a ThoughtExchange survey presented to the school board Aug. 25. District officials said the tool collected just over 500 responses — roughly 12% of staff — producing 324 distinct 'thoughts' and nearly 7,000 ratings.

"This is very interesting," presenter Brian Bohannon said. "The big thing that came out of this was time." He summarized that staff repeatedly raised concerns about time for classroom preparation, the scheduling of convocation, and the balance of district professional development versus personal preparation time.

Board members asked whether the data could be disaggregated by school level (elementary, middle and high school). Bohannon said the ThoughtExchange tool supports filters that would allow the district to view responses by cohort and that staff would dig deeper and present more detailed breakdowns.

Superintendent Doherty and other board members said the survey results will be used for continuous improvement. Doherty noted the state provides 10 staff days per year; the board discussed whether more time could be moved to classroom preparation from district events.

Board members and staff said they will share the findings with building administrators and teachers and consider tweaks to convocation and the early staff schedule based on the feedback.

What this means: Participation was modest relative to total staff; board members asked staff to explore ways to increase participation and to produce more accessible reports for the public and for targeted decision‑making.