Once again, the Ridgewood Public Schools will be conducting a survey to determine parent/guardian opinions on a variety of topics related to the District. Parents should watch their email boxes for the email(s) containing their custom link to the survey.
The purpose of the brief survey is to gather parent and guardian opinions on district schools and the education Ridgewood students receive. The data collected will be shared with the community and will be used by the Board of Education as part of its evaluation of district policies and practices.
Remember, parents will receive the surveys next week via e-mail, and you'll get a separate email -- and separate link -- for each school your children attend.
Responses to survey questions will remain completely confidential and anonymous -- responses are not linked back to individual parents or students.
If you have any questions about the survey, contact the District at survey11@ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
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17 comments:
I am a big fan of the survey process. However, I just read on "Ridgewood Patch" that comments section is eliminated - I am not happy about that.
It would be okay not to publish those comments, but this was a great opportunity for Board of Education to hear what parents are thinking - beyond the questions asked.
I think this greatly reduces communication value of survey.
The survey will DEFINITELY collect comments, same as last year. It is the publishing of them that was problematic, because so many of them included information that could be directly tied to specific teachers or staff, and the administration and Board did not wish to single them out publicly like that. The redacting process was complicated and time consuming. I can assure you that ALL of the comments will go to the administration, BOE and principals for follow-up and sharing with staff member (as they did on the first survey).
Wonderful....I am delighted to hear that!
Laurie, thank you for the correction. I reread the Patch article and I see my mistake. I am delighted to be wrong in this instance. Thank you for your work in getting the original survey process going.
If parents are willing to name teachers in the survey, the results should be available to all. Maybe others who feel intimidated would come forward if they saw evidence of others with similar issues. How can the survey be truly helpful if the BOE is picking and choosing what we can and cannot see?
Well, first it's illegal for BOE members to discuss staff in public without all kinds of rules about advance written notice and the permission of the staff person. I was hopeful that we could come up with a way to cull out the comments that identified staff, but for the first round it was so much work...consuming hours and hours of time...that finally the Board decided to quit and stick with the question/answer data in the report to the public. However, ALL the comments were shared with all the Board, administrators, principals, staff. Principals created action plans to follow-up on identifiable themes and issues.
There ended up not being any "picking and choosing" -- that was the problem. Picking and choosing couldn't be done with the resources we have.
The survey can be truly helpful in that the comments were read and acted on by principals. The Board will incorporate learning from the survey in its goal-setting that occurs over the summer.
Okay Laurie, given your explanation, can you name one teacher who lost their job or was repremanded for inappropriate conduct? Are you saying that it is illegal for the public that sends their kids to public school and pays these salaries to be made aware of serious performance issues in the teaching staff? That just sounds wrong. Could you please site the law?
Given my explanation, how can you ask that? I just said BOE members cannot talk about specific teachers' performance in public. So asking me to name some teachers doesn't make sense. It may sound wrong to you on one level, but employees do have due process rights, and there is a process and procedure for dealing with complaints or issues.
I will have to do some research to cite the policy and law that governs this practice in the District.
to 12:44 pm -
Well, I am not nor ever have been on the BOE. I'd like to point you to an article from northjersey.com http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/high_school/83811427_Ridgewood_teacher_could_lose_tenure.html?c=y&page=1
This article mentions the name of a teacher the district is taking action against. I have no personal knowledge of the case, but I know that Ridgewood is unusual in taking such action.
No need to be short Laurie, I was just stating an opinion about the way this is handled and asking a question. If you could provide a link or any info about this law, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
I apologize if I seemed short...I was on my way somewhere and quickly posting from my phone (not driving!). I will get the info.
Thank you 5:29, whoever you are. While it is encouraging that the district took some action in this case, it is sad that this is the only one given the ammount of abuse and inappropriate behavior that is reported about teachers at every level. But I do sincerely appreciate the info nonetheless 5:29.
Wait, aren't the parents the ones "discussing" teacher performance, not the BOE? If parents write comments and the BOE publishes them, how is it that the BOE is "talking" about teachers performance?
Sounds like PC gutlessness to me. The BOE is only acting as a conduit for parents to comment in public about their children's teachers.
Nothing wrong with that is there? I mean the union can't stifle free speech (yet) can they?
to 4:31 pm from 5:29 pm - You are very welcome.
to 8:37 pm - I hope I understand you correctly.
I referenced the contents of a legal document that was published in the Ridgewood News. I didn't mention the name of the teacher in question. No reason for me to do that, and certainly no reason for me to expect that to be published in this forum, in my opinion.
If you are referring to the survey process, if the BOE would go so far as to publish a teacher's name with a comment on that teacher made by an anonymous parent, the BOE would certainly have responsibility for what they publish. It is then just a slippery slope as to when enough information makes things individually identifiable.
Avoiding that by collecting the information for internal BOE use but not publishing it, isn't just being politically correct, it is being ethical.
In addition, about the last thing I want the BOE to spend their time on is a libel lawsuit, or other such similar action.
3:27, I have to agree with 8:37. Over the many years my children have attended the Ridgewood schools, I have seen a huge reluctance to deal with teacher misconduct. It seems that the worse the situation is, the more eager the school administration is to shut down any investigation. Valid complaints are all too often dealt with by frustrating and wearing down the parents until they just give up.
So, although your input here is appreciated, I have to agree that information the parents are willing to make public should be available to other parents. It can only make our children's position stronger as well as our position as parents to make sure their school environment is safe and appropriate. I know of at least two repeat abusers (physical as well as emotional) that have been complained about many times over the years to no avail. These teachers still have their jobs and if anything are empowered by the fact that the administration has taken no effective action to stop them.
Well, I just took my survey. Good, but could have been better.
They asked about tutoring in core areas and distinguished that from SAT prep.
I think they could easily have asked specifically if it was tutoring in Math versus Language Arts versus Physics etc.
I was researching another question by reviewing the District Policy manual (on the District website), and came across another reason that the comments about specific teachers were not printed in the survey results.
Policy 9130 – Public Complaints & Grievances -- says:
"The Board will take the necessary measures to protect district personnel from public criticism."
Just another FYI...
Anyway, the survey emails went out last week -- I hope the District gets a high participation rate -- and lots of comments -- again this year.
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