The Everett school district is turning to technology to find out what people like and don’t like about their public schools.
Everett Public Schools has launched an outreach program on Thoughtexchange, a software tool developed by Rossland, B.C.-based Fulcrum Management Solutions Ltd.
Anyone with an email address can sign up for the survey, which will gather comments and opinions.
The survey comes three years after the school district adopted its strategic plan, a process that included several public meetings.
The district isn’t revisiting the strategic plan, but instead wants to hear from taxpayers and anyone else throughout the community about their concerns, what people appreciate and any other comments about individual schools or the district, communications director Mary Waggoner said.
The contract to use Thoughtexchange over three years amounts to $130,000 out of the district’s communications budget. The district intends to run surveys six times in that period, she added.
The online process through Thoughtexchange is similar to what has been used in past community meetings in which comments are collected on a flipchart and attendees use sticky notes or stars to indicate those they most strongly agree with. The result is a list of issues or comments that are shared across a broad spectrum.
Thoughtexchange will collect and weight the comments based on community input, Waggoner said, and the company will remove any personally identifying information before the combined comments are passed on to the school district.
That was one important factor in selecting Thoughtexchange, she said.
“We wanted the comments to go somewhere else and not through our hands where people would feel we might be filtering,” Waggoner said.
Other school districts, including Spokane Public Schools and the Marysville School District, have found that using an online platform increased the number of people taking part in discussions, Waggoner said.
Jodi Runyon, executive assistant to Marysville Superintendent Becky Berg, said they first used the platform for a general survey in June 2014, which drew 2,062 participants and generated more than 5,700 comments for the district.
“The feedback we received from was so much more dynamic that what we’d have received even in a town hall, just because of participation levels,” she said.
The Marysville district was so pleased with the results that it is using Thoughtexchange again to solicit input on what to do with the cafeteria at Marysville Pilchuck High School, which has been closed since the shooting in October that left five students dead, including the shooter.
During Everett Public Schools’ strategic planning process, 750 people attended various community meetings, with the highest number at any one meeting being 250, Waggoner said.
With Thoughtexchange, the district hopes to reach thousands of people, she said.
Anyone with an email address can sign up to take part in the process. Thoughtexchange will send out follow up emails soliciting answers to questions and asking participants to review other comments.
The surveys will be done in both English and Spanish, and the Thoughtexchange platform uses Google Translate to help both communities help understand each others’ concerns.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
Sign up for district surveys
To sign up for Everett Public Schools’ survey on Thoughtexchange, go to everettsd.thoughtexchange.com/invitation and enter your email address before Jan. 27. Another email invitation will arrive in early February from Thoughtexchange (not the school district) inviting participants to submit their comments.
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