A new, interactive website allows District 64 parents, staff and community members to explore the results of nine Thoughtexchange conversations conducted earlier in 2016.
The website and top themes that emerged from the community engagement were shared with the Board of Education at the September 26, 2016 meeting.
In late spring 2016, District 64 conducted a community-wide satisfaction survey using a new outreach tool, called Thoughtexchange. Thoughtexchange engages parents, staff and community members in an conversation similar to an "online townhall forum."
Separate conversations were conducted for each school and for the District as a whole -- a total of nine in all.
Participants were asked what concerns they have about the schools/District, what they appreciated about the schools/District, and for their thoughts about the areas of focus within the District's new 2020 Vision Strategic Plan.
"The interactive website makes it easy to view the Thoughtexchange findings for all nine conversations, to read the actual verbatim thoughts shared by participants, and see the importance placed on them as participants assigned stars," Superintendent Laurie Heinz reported to the Board.
"Overall, nearly 1,200 stakeholders shared almost 2,700 thoughts and assigned just shy of 68,000 stars," she noted.
"These key themes are helping us better understand our community’s priorities for our schools and for the District as a whole," Dr. Heinz added. "We are using this information to improve educational opportunities in our schools and to further refine our 2020 Vision Strategic Plan," she noted.
Thoughtexchange emailed an invitation to visit the interactive results website to all parents, staff and community members who were originally contacted to participate in spring 2016. Results will be shared in a variety of other ways in coming months.
The District 64 website also has a new results webpage with additional information.