By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Area Public School District has posted the results of its spring Redesign 2020 survey.
The goal of the survey was to obtain feedback from the community on the district’s facility concerns and attendance boundaries.
The survey also asked the community to provide feedback on whether there was interest in a further study of several possible solutions to address continued enrollment and facility inequities.
Looking back, in 2016, the district began addressing facility and enrollment challenges related to overcrowding on the east side, overcapacity on the west side and inequitable and inadequate facilities/learning spaces.
It was during this time the district had a facilities study of all district-owned buildings done, held a series of community listening sessions to create a vision for improved learning facilities and conducted a facilities-focused community survey.
These led to the April 2017, $68.25 million referendum that is addressing overcrowding on the east side, providing safe and secure entrances at several elementary schools and providing adequate learning spaces for students.
Though the referendum addressed many concerns, school board members and staff said this doesn’t solve all the district’s issues.
The next step in this process was this community-wide survey.
It was open from March 25 to April 19 and received a total of 2,349 responses from district residents.
The survey had links in English and Spanish, and the district also translated the survey in Somali and Hmong, and copies were mailed to the appropriate district families.
According to survey results, about 80 percent of those who took the survey said they were somewhat or very familiar with the district’s facility needs and the process the board is using to find solutions.
The survey addressed many topics in regards to district facility concerns, including the possibility of reconfiguring schools to provide a K-8 option on the west side, the consolidation and repurposing of west side schools and making moderate changes to boundaries at the high school level.
The survey was organized by the Donovan Group and represents a convenience sample, rather than a scientific sample.
A full report of the survey can be found on the district website.
At its meeting May 20, the school board scheduled a day-long retreat for July 11 with district staff to discuss survey results and what they mean for the future of the district.
The board and district staff will also discuss the district’s system of continuous improvement at the July retreat.