Survey says public 
happier with D-300

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CARPENTERSVILLE – The community’s opinion on the overall quality of education provided in District 300 as well as its thoughts on the district’s fiscal responsibility have improved during the past two years, survey results presented to the school board Monday night show.

While the majority of factors saw some kind of gain, other key indicators of how much progress the district has made on the goals of its strategic plan either showed a decline or plateaued, said a study by the Rosemont-based ECRA Group the district hired in 2007 to survey the community and help it develop a strategic plan.

Respect, internal communication and community awareness were the only fields to show a decline since the last survey. Seven others, including ACT and national performance, learning environment, and teacher retention and quality, all stayed about the same. But a dozen fields showed improvement.

Lou Gatta, of the ECRA Group, told the board that one of the most significant gains was in how well the community says the school board represents them.

“That is very important,” Gatta said. “You have made some significant gains.”

Board President Joe Stevens said he and the board held town hall sessions across the district to help build community awareness – one of the areas that saw a decline – but few people would show up. Because people surveyed showed more trust in the district, Gatta said, they perhaps didn’t feel the need to be as vigilant about district issues.

The strategic plan is a set of goals the district set for itself in 2007. Those goals are tracked on the “dashboard” section of the district’s Web site, www.d300.org.