District summarizes employee engagement survey; board presses for clearer participation and transparency

District administrators presented findings from a spring 2026 in-house employee engagement survey and answered board questions about response rates, anonymity and how results will inform school improvement plans.

Chris Keckler (S12) said the district ran the survey in-house (using SurveyMonkey), supplied unique tokens to employees and sent multiple reminders; response rates were lower than earlier outside-vendor surveys but still in the low 40 percentiles districtwide. Keckler said building administrators received building-level reports and that results will be considered in school improvement planning.

Board members pressed administrators on tactics to raise participation — for example, allowing staff time during working hours to complete the survey — and on whether survey questions and disaggregated results should be published. One board member suggested mandatory completion to improve representativeness; others raised concerns that too much demographic detail could compromise anonymity for small employee groups.

Keckler said SurveyMonkey indicates which addresses failed to accept surveys (six addresses in this case) and that staff contacted those individuals to restore access where appropriate. He described the tension the district faces between preserving anonymity and providing disaggregated results by staff sector (teachers, ESPs, facilities, administrators) and said administrators will use the aggregated and building-level results when developing goals.

What happens next: Administrators said building administrators will review building-level reports, the district will incorporate findings into upcoming improvement and planning processes, and the board discussed making survey questions public and considering more regular surveys to track progress.