For Immediate Release

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

King Philip School District Utilizing Results of Student, Staff, Community Surveys

NORFOLK — Superintendent Paul Zinni reports that the King Philip Regional School District is reviewing the results of multiple surveys taken last year by students, staff and community members.

The three surveys, conducted by the KP Community Working Groups, were done over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. The results were presented to district administrators and the school committee in September.

“We were pleased to see that overall, the quality of education and our teachers are areas where the respondents said the district is excelling,” Superintendent Paul Zinni said. “Now that we have this data available to us, we will be developing short-term and long-term goals to address the areas of improvement indicated in the survey results over the course of the next year.”

In total, there were 2,194 respondents to the three surveys. For the student survey, there were 1,277 participants, and 131 who participated in the teacher/staff survey. The community survey, which had 786 participants, was made up of people from various Facebook groups, senior centers, libraries, Lions Club members and those who responded to the survey via the Norfolk Times and Wrentham Times newspapers.

Respondents in each group were asked whether they strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, disagree or strongly disagree with each statement on the surveys. Topics covered included budget, technology, communications, curriculum, facilities, extracurricular activities and various performance measures.

The purpose of the surveys were to get a better understanding of the perceptions and priorities of the district’s stakeholders.

In combining the results of the staff and community surveys, respondents said that the district excels in the categories of: Quality of Education, Teacher Quality, Academic Challenge and Co-Extracurricular Activities such as athletics, music and clubs.

Of the staff and community respondents, 75 percent believe that KP is providing a quality education.

In the area of academic challenge, 78 percent of parents rated the district as great/good. In the category of teacher quality, 67 percent of parents rated the district as great/good.

The surveys also recognized multiple “Areas of Concern” where respondents’ results indicated that the district needed to focus on these areas: Safety, Technology, Funding, Teacher to Student Feedback, Discipline and School Culture.

“Part of the reason the district welcomed the surveys being done was to find out what areas the district needs to improve upon,” Superintendent Zinni said. “As a superintendent that is new to the district this school year, these survey results have provided valuable insight into what things we can work on to make the overall education, environment, culture and atmosphere better at King Philip. There are always improvements that can be made and some of those improvements have already been put in motion.”

In regard to school safety, the district implemented a new visitor management system to better screen people who enter the high school and middle school. Both the high school and middle school staff have recently undergone active intruder training. The district has also implemented a health-based initiative this school year to keep students away from drugs, tobacco products and alcohol called Healthy KP.

In working to improve technology, Google Classroom tools will be implemented throughout the district and all teachers will be using the tools in their classroom by the end of the school year. Technology improvements are being worked into next year’s budget to increase the amount of devices available to students and replacing older ones. The district is also working with the state to broaden WiFi and bandwidth in both schools.

Teacher to student feedback was another area of concern. The district is in the process of finding a new data management system that will be used to collect all of the important data mandated at the state and federal level. Replacing the outdated system will allow teachers and parents to better track students’ progress and work being done in the classroom.

Funding is a yearlong budget process. Superintendent Zinni and the district’s Business Manager have been diligently working with all three communities throughout the year to create a budget that is fiscally responsible and provides a high level of quality education to our students.

In working to improve school culture and communications, the district launched a News Blog website to serve as a landing page for KP school news and events. A Twitter account was launched and the district Facebook page has been refreshed with new photos and consistent posts. Superintendent Zinni has made it a priority to meet with as many district stakeholders as he can in the few months he has been at the head of the district and plans to meet with more.

The full results of each survey can be found here:

• Community Survey Results
• Staff Survey Results
• Student Survey Results
• Overall Survey Results

###