Four-day week Questionnaire

February, 2008

“The Results” from the Whitehall Community

Here are the results of the survey that took place in February in the Whitehall Community. The number of surveys returned was much lower than we had hoped, but many thanks to those households that did, in fact, complete and return the survey.

The goal of sending out the survey was to gauge public sentiment about the potential 4-day school week and to identify people’s concerns that run counter to research that has been completed on schools that have already made the transition to the four-day week. That information would then inform our research and public communication plans. The number of respondents was too small to give us this information, though we will persevere and publish a Parent link Newsletter dedicated solely to the four-day week in the near future.

Because only 120 surveys were returned, the results don’t give a clear idea of what the community thinks. Rather, it gives an idea of what 120 households out of about 900 households think.

The comments that were added to the bottom or sides of the surveys in handwriting have been added to the database, and will be reviewed at the next 4-day week committee meeting on March 26^th at 6:30 pm in Ms. Harper’s room.  If I can figure out how to cut and paste the comments from Access to Word, the comments will be posted on this website some time during the week of St Patrick’s Day.

If you would like further information or cross-referencing of responses (for example, How many households with an adult in the house during the day use the school website regularly), please let me know. I can either extract the data for you, or I can burn you a copy of the database and you can extract it yourself.

Please keep in mind that 120 responses just isn’t enough to represent the community’s opinion.

The compiled data below reflects the total number of respondents who checked a box next to the questions itself. The survey responses are listed in the same order as the questions that were asked. If you scroll to the bottom of this file, you will see the original questionnaire as it was sent out.

If you happen to be from a district that is evaluating sending out a survey similar to this, please contact me so your questions give you better data than ours did, just in case you get a good number of responses! I have excellent hindsight!

~ Holly Harper

4-Day Week Committee Chair

hharper@whitehallmt.org

Number of checked boxes out of 120 total responses…

Survey source-

Orange surveys (from Parent Link): 73

Yellow surveys (from Ledger): 42

Other surveys (people printed them off the web or got one at Ace) : 5

Respondents were asked to check all boxes that applied to members of their household.

Unknown grade student: 11   (no circle to indicate grade)

K-2 student: 15

3-5 student: 25

6-8 student: 30

9-12 student: 40

K-2 special needs: 2

3-5 special needs: 5

6-8 special needs: 2

9-12 special needs: 2

Student in activities: 54

Student with job; 17

Community member with no enrolled student in household: 31

Individual on fixed income: 20

Employee of school: 31

Currently work 4-10s: 7

Adult at home during the day: 36

Currently pay daycare: 10

Yes, enough information to make a decision about the 4-day week: 78

Sort of enough info to make a decision about the 4-day week: 22

No, not enough information to make a decision about the 4-day week: 19

          IF RESPONDENTS MARKED “SORT OF” or “NO,” THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE WHAT THEY WANTED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT:

• Money saved  (35)
• Instructional changes that teachers will make  (34)
• Sports schedules  (21)
• How K-2 classrooms are affected  (22)
• Homework loads  (31)
• Length of day  (26)
• Overall school budget and finance  (32)

The manner in which people wanted more information:

•  Internet  (43)
•  Parent Link Newsletter (58)
•  Low band radio with a schedule program (2)
• Televised meeting or information session on local TV station (19)

School Website Traffic Volume:

• Frequent School website use: 40
• Occasional School website use: 42
• Never use website: 32

Adding Friday Daycare:

• Indicated that finding or paying for daycare on Fridays WILL BE  a problem:  10
• Indicated that finding or paying for daycare on Fridays will not be problems: 87

(Many surveys were returned with the above item blank, some with N/A written in)

Decision regarding the adoptions of the 4-day week if the decision was made at the time of the survey:

• YES: 46
• NO: 55
• UNDECIDED: 13

The final section of the survey was supposed to yield information on people’s priorities, and that was supposed to happen by respondents limiting themselves to their three main reasons for their decision. Very few people limited themselves to three responses. Most people checked the majority of the column that regarded their particular decision.  Due to this fact, the data we collected can’t be prioritized in any way, because a check mark was made for any agreed-upon comment, whether enormous or trivial.

In defense of all survey-takers, I think it was a natural mistake, and that the design of that series of questions was flawed. I personally designed most of the survey, and I filled the question out wrong, too…

The following ideas are reasons against the four-day week that have emerged through the 1.5 year process. They are not necessarily substantiated by available research.

I voted NO. My decision was based mainly on the ideas that:

 (2) Art, music and PE (“specials” and electives) are not necessary to fund

 (5) Bigger class sizes are ok but adding to my expenses is not ok.

 (27) Decreasing the school year by ~47 hours is too much time lost.

 (15) Hourly district workers will lose money.

 (40) Little kids can’t successfully do a longer day.

 (30) No money will be saved

 (16)Sports and activities will be negatively affected.

 (24) Students won’t learn as much.

 (16) Taxes will increase anyway

 (12) Teachers just want a three-day weekend.

 (14)The added daycare expense is too much.

 (34) The bus rides will begin too early and end too late

 (26) The traditional schedule works just fine and the four-day week won’t work as well

 (8) The school is shifting the expense onto the community

The following are reasons FOR the four-day week that have emerged through the 1.5 year process. They are not always substantiated by available research.

I voted yes. My decision was based mainly on the ideas that:

SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS-- SOME FORMATTING HAS BEEN LOST.

IF YOU ARE FROM ANOTHER DISTRICT, I URGE YOU NOT TO USE THIS SURVEY WITHOUT MAKING SOME IMPROVEMENTS!

The Four-Day School Week in Whitehall                         A Questionnaire

Answers to the following questions are intended to inform the school district about the opinions of area residents. This is not a vote to decide the plan for next year.

Please check all the boxes that apply to your household:

 Parent of a student in grade k-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12   (please circle all  applicable grades)

 Parent of a special needs student in K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 (please circle)  

Parent of an student in activities     

 Parent of a student who has a job     

 Community member without an enrolled  student

 On fixed income 

 School employee

 Currently work 4 ten-hour days

 Adult at home in household during the school day 

 Currently pay day care costs for one or more children

1. Do you feel that you know enough about the four-day school week to make a decision comfortably?

Yes                              Sort of                     No

2. If you checked “no” or “sort of,” please indicate the areas you would like to have more information about (check as many as you want)

I voted no.  My decision was based mainly on the ideas that:

 Art, music and PE (“specials” and electives) are not necessary to fund

 Bigger class sizes are ok but adding to my expenses is not ok.

 Decreasing the school year by ~47 hours is too much time lost.

 Hourly district workers will lose money.

 Little kids can’t successfully do a longer day.

 No money will be saved

 Sports and activities will be negatively affected.

 Students won’t learn as much.

 Taxes will increase anyway

 Teachers just want a three-day weekend.

 The added daycare expense is too much.

 The bus rides will begin too early and end too late

 The traditional schedule works just fine and the four-day week won’t work as well

 The school is shifting the expense onto the community

 The school needs to look at bringing in more funds, such as __________.

 The school needs to look at cuts in other places, such as __________.

  Other _____________________

I voted yes. My decision was based mainly on the ideas that:

 The school can save money this way

 Students can learn more this way

 This will decrease the need for increasing taxes as much

 This will allow my family to spend more time together

 My child will be able to do more activities outside of school without missing classes

 Teacher and students morale will improve

 This is the first step in getting activities out of class time

 Student attendance will improve

 There will be fewer substitute teachers in classes due to better teacher attendance

 My student will be able to work more hours

 I can get or already have Friday off

 My student needs more downtime to relax

 other __________________