Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 11/24/14 | Page 2

Communication and public relations
Community survey presented

Dr. William Morris of the Morris Leatherman Company, a survey research firm formerly
known as Decision Resources, provided highlights of the community survey of 500 randomly selected households the firm conducted on behalf of the district in August and early
September.
“In general, things look good,” said Morris, comparing results from this year and last year.
“The good has come up and the excellent is holding.” He noted that 73 percent of those surveyed have a positive impression of the district.
When asked an open-ended question about what they liked most about the district, the
“top of the mind” response from the majority of residents was good teachers and good or
excellent education, and good programs.
When asked about the most serious issue facing the district, the most frequent response,
16 percent, was “nothing.” Morris said the norm for this response is only about 6 percent
among other districts he surveys. Concern over lack of funding has dropped from 26 to 13
percent over two years, concern over large class size dropped from 16 to 13 percent and
those pinpointing bullying as the most serious issue has dropped from 12 to 9 percent.
Eight percent said high taxes were the most serious concern. However, even this was
positive, according to Morris. “At 8 percent it is one of the lowest in the state; elsewhere it
comes in around 20 percent,” he said.
Morris expressed amazement with the 99 percent agreement with the statement, “Teachers and staff care about my children.” One percent of parents indicated they neither agreed
nor disagreed with the statement. “This is the only time I have not had at least 1 percent of
parents saying teachers and staff don’t care,” he said.
There was an average of 92 percent agreement on a set of 16 questions asked of parents and
guardians on such topics as feeling welcome in the school, teacher communication with
parents, and good school leadership. The only significantly different response regarded the
cafeteria serving quality meals, 77 percent. “Yet the 77 is relatively high. We have had some
districts come in below 50 percent on cafeteria food. It’s something we expect to see,” said
Morris. Removing the cafeteria question from the mix would bring the average agreement
to 94 percent. “Overall, parents have a very positive view of what the school district is doing,” he said.
The district ranks in the top 10 percent of districts he surveys when it comes to the percent
of community members, 85 percent, feeling the district meets the learning needs of students
and that it offers a wide range of educational opportunities, 81 percent.
When asked about the quality of education, 88 percent of those surveyed indicated it was
good or excellent, up 5 points over two years. Morris note d the improvement is statistically significant, with the boost coming among those who rated it excellent. This ranks the
district highest among large urban and suburban districts in the metro area and in the top
25 percent of all metro districts.
When it comes to spending taxpayer dollars, Anoka-Hennepin ranks very high as well,
with 63 percent of respondents saying the district spends effectively and efficiently, and 22
percent disagreeing. “This too is one of the strongest in the metro. The norm is 50 percent
yes, 40 percent no,” said Morris.

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“In general, financial management is very, very well regarded in this district,” he said. With
61 percent of residents rating it excellent or good, it’s about 20 points higher than expected.”
The district received continued high marks for accountability with 85 percent of respon-