District 719 community phone survey coming this spring

There are many reasons to celebrate this month. Spring has arrived early, students are heading into the final quarter academically strong and our activities programs are providing ample opportunities to engage students in multiple ways.

We have a lot to be thankful for but at the same time, we are continually looking for ways to improve the educational experience for students, families and our Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools community.

One of the ways we work to continue to provide a quality education is to survey our community. From time to time we work with a research firm that conducts a scientific survey of residents to gauge the satisfaction level of those living in the district.

This spring Decision Resources will be calling a random sample of residents as part of the school district’s strategic plan. Even if you do not have children currently in the schools, the Prior Lake-Savage Area School district is interested in your opinions and suggestions.

Survey data, face to face meetings I have held with several different parent groups and help from our many committees all help us learn what educational programming is important so we can plan accordingly.

Our last survey in 2010 gave us insights into a variety of ways we can improve our schools. We learned how our PLSAS parents prefer to communicate with their school district. We learned that when compared to other metro area school districts, Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools is very technologically savvy with a high preference toward electronic forms of communications.

As a result, the district launched its social media presence on Facebook and Twitter along with a more interactive E-News email system.

Just recently, our district received the coveted STAR Award from the Minnesota School Public Relations Association in the electronic communications category for a series of videos we launched on our YouTube channel late last summer.

In addition, over the past several years we have made the necessary budget reductions to now sustain our schools while continuing to implement and explore new programs for students. We continue to receive state and national financial awards for our excellence in financial reporting.

From our last survey, we also learned that there was interest in the district researching both elementary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) opportunities and a World Language option.

As a result, the school board will consider a committee recommendation this month to expand the district environmental learning program to include STEM. In the coming months, a committee will explore options surrounding potential future offerings of a World Language for our youngest learners.

I hope that if you have the opportunity to take part in our latest survey, you will take the time to do so. Please know that if you are called all individual responses will be held strictly confidential; only summaries of the entire sample will be reported.

Community opinions really do matter and help shape the educational experience. It’s just one of many ways you can stay in touch with your schools.

Sue Ann Gruver is superintendent of Prior Lake-Savage Area School District 719. She can be reached via e-mail at sgruver@priorlake-savage.mn.k12.us or by phone at (952) 226-0000. Her column is one of several opinion and commentary pieces appearing regularly in this newspaper.