District presents annual survey: more family responses, mixed shifts across grade bands

District communications director Leslie Benjamin and Superintendent Tracy Smith presented the 2025—6 survey results and the board discussed follow-up steps.

"We heard from over 6,500 members of the community, and it was a 15% increase over last year," Leslie Benjamin said, noting most of the growth came from families. The presentation summarized elementary, middle and high school trends: elementary percentages were steady, middle schools saw an 8% increase in students reporting engagement and a 7% increase in safety positives, and high school results showed a smaller respondent pool but modest percentage gains in positives.

Superintendent Tracy Smith acknowledged areas for improvement in staff professional development and said the district would dig deeper into site-level trends. "We kind of dove into this very basic level of data with Ed Services and...we were definitely disappointed," Smith said, adding the district will use department surveys and targeted follow-ups to identify improvement levers.

Trustees and staff discussed how site councils and single-site plans (SIPs) will use survey data to develop localized interventions and listening sessions. Staff said district-level reporting will continue and that more detailed school-by-school SIPs will be presented at subsequent meetings.

Next steps identified at the meeting include targeted site reviews, additional staff PD questions to understand access versus time constraints, and outreach to communities with lower engagement to understand barriers to participation.