Poll also asks about district helpfulness

Nearly 97 percent of the community surveyed in Springsted Inc.’s community assessment believe that up-to-date technology is important for Albert Lea Area Schools.

The survey takers similarly agreed to other questions about if the district prepared students for college and work, among other things.

In early August, 303 district residents were surveyed by St. Paul-based Springsted Inc. about the proposed calendar. The survey was 35 questions long and included questions about other areas of the district.

When asked about their contact with the district, nearly 66 percent of the surveyed people said that the district was pleasant and helpful. Only about 2 percent said that the district was rude and not helpful, which translates to about six of the surveyed people.

Albert Lea Superintendent Mike Funk said he always works to improve relations with the district residents and said this survey shined light on the subject. He said that the staff will work more with customer service this year and said district officials specifically asked for that question to be on the survey.

The surveyed people were asked about the importance of the quality of education to the community’s quality of life. About 51 percent said the quality of education was extremely important while about 42 percent said it was very important.

Then the survey takers were asked a handful of questions and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, strongly disagreed or didn’t know.

A majority of the survey takers said up-to-date technology was important for students in Albert Lea Area Schools. About 61 percent strongly agreed and about 36 percent agreed.

Funk said it was positive to see so much of the community support the idea that up-to-date technology is important for the students.

This trend of the majority agreeing with the statements continued for the rest of the non-proposed calendar questions, though more of the survey takers said they didn’t know for the rest of the survey’s questions.

 

Survey says …

Contact with the district

Pleasant and helpful: 65.7 percent

No contact with employee: 19.5 percent

Pleasant but not helpful: 5.9 percent

No opinion: 4.3 percent

Rude and not helpful: 2.3 percent

Rude but helpful: 1.3 percent

 

Quality of life

Extremely important: 51.5 percent

Very important: 42.2 percent

Somewhat important: 4.6 percent

Somewhat unimportant: .3 percent

Very unimportant: .7 percent

Don’t know: .7 percent

 

Up-to-date technology

Strongly agree: 61.4 percent

Agree: 35.6 percent

Disagree: 2 percent

Strongly disagree: .3 percent

Don’t know: .7 percent

 

Prepared for technical training

Strongly agree: 26.7 percent

Agree: 56.1 percent

Disagree: 3.6 percent

Strongly disagree: 1.7 percent

Don’t know: 11.9 percent

 

Prepared for college

Strongly agree: 27.7 percent

Agree: 46.2 percent

Disagree: 11.9 percent

Strongly disagree: 1.7 percent

Don’t know: 12.5 percent

 

Prepared for work

Strongly agree: 21.8 percent

Agree: 50.5 percent

Disagree: 10.9 percent

Strongly disagree: 2.3 percent

Don’t know: 14.5 percent

 

Challenges high school students

Strongly agree: 23.8 percent

Agree: 45.2 percent

Disagree: 13.2 percent

Strongly disagree: 2.3 percent

Don’t know: 15.5 percent

 

Programs equal to or better than neighboring districts

Strongly agree: 18.8 percent

Agree: 45.9 percent

Disagree: 8.3 percent

Strongly disagree: 1.7 percent

Don’t know: 25.4 percent