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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 9, 2004 Survey says: Majority is satis?ed with schools By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Despite state budget cuts and school closures, people are pleased with the Ashland School District, a community survey shows. Last month, representatives of Davis, Hibbitts & Mindgall Inc., based in Portland, randomly called 400 residents to ask a number of survey questions about the district. To provide balance, they talked to 200 people with children in the district and 200 without. Adam Davis, a partner in the firm, said the overall results were very positive about the district's performance. "These are some of the most positive results I've ever seen for a school district in Oregon," he said. The complete results will be released at Monday's school board meeting. Davis said the biggest concern were school closures. Briscoe Elementary closed in 2003, and Lincoln Elementary is scheduled to close in June because of declining school enrollment and budget cuts. He said 48 percent felt the district was doing a very good job, and 31 percent felt they did a somewhat good job. The other choices were neutral, somewhat bad, very bad and don't know. When asked how the district is doing educating children, 43 percent said very good, and 44 percent said somewhat good, Davis said. The survey also listed a number of priorities and asked participants to rank them. The top three were smaller class sizes, helping students meet academic standards and improving art and music programs, Davis said. When asked if their options about the district were more positive or more negative, or about the same than two years ago, 58 percent said their attitude remained the same, 14 percent felt more positive, and 19 percent felt more negative. The most frequent response from the positive group was they felt the district was doing a good job with limited finances. For the negative group, it was school closures. Davis said voters' willingness to raise taxes to help the school district was also higher than other communities. "It's a community that wants to supports their schools and will put their money were their mouth is," he said. Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said the survey will help the district get a clear idea of public opinion, which will help the district meet the needs of the community and its students. The survey helps the district get a community-wide perspective, she said, not just those who attend board meetings or call up the district. The consulting firm has also put out an online survey for those who did not get called. It can be accessed through the school district's Web site until Friday at www.ashland.k12.or.us. In other meeting actions: The district will present a report about class size and enrollment in the district. As of Friday, 2,812 students were in the district, down from 3,030 this time last year, Di Chiro said. She said the figures were about what the district expected, as many families leave because of the increasing cost of living in Ashland. She said 300 students graduated from Ashland High School last year. This fall, 150 kindergartners are attending school. "That's the problem," Di Chiro said. "We're replacing a large graduating class with a small group of kindergartners." At Ashland High, 1,167 students are attending this school year, down from 1,186 last year, but slightly more than the district's projection of 1,125 students, Di Chiro said. She believes a reason for this is the families that have the built up equity to afford living here have older children. With class size, the average class size in elementary schools averages 23 to 24 students, which is about where it was last year, Di Chiro said. At Ashland Middle School, core classes average about 25 students, slightly less than last year. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Ashland Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main St. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams