No. 2 Pencil by Mike Funk

Last Monday night, the Albert Lea Area Schools Board of Directors heard the results of a community survey conducted by Springsted Inc. of 303 voters.

The survey asked questions related to community perception of the district, and in particular the level of support for a change to the school calendar. Springsted was selected to conduct the survey, because it had conducted two other surveys of the district and proved extremely reliable.

In 2007, Springsted surveyed 302 voters about the support for passage of an operating levy. By selecting a pool of this size, Springsted has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percent from the results it received. The survey results from 2007 demonstrate the accuracy of its approach. From those survey results, the company predicted 58.9 percent support for passage of a levy. The vote occurred, and 58.9.percent of the public supported the levy.

The Albert Lea school board selected Springsted because of its history with the district and scientific approach to surveys. Since a calendar change impacts the whole community, the board felt it important to hear from groups throughout the community. Therefore Springsted once again was asked to survey the whole community. In its approach, the firm attempted to match our demographics as closely as possible to the people who live in the communities we serve.

From the 303 people interviewed this past August, results showed significant support across all demographic groups surveyed.

Some people may question why one group or another had more people interviewed. That is because Springsted matched the demographics in our community. Like the survey in 2007, the overall margin of error from this survey was plus or minus 5.5 percent.

For a complete list of results, please click here, where a PDF of the survey results can be downloaded.

 

Mike Funk is the superintendent of Albert Lea Area Schools.