Tip 36: Survey parents as part of your planning for reopening
As the 2020-21 school year wraps up, planning for when, how and what reopening would look like is at the top of everyone’s mind.
There seem to be three main scenarios to plan for:
Distance learning with adjustments and improvements
A return back to campus, with social distancing practices
A hybrid of both
It’s impossible right now for anyone to know what state we’ll be in come August, but parents and students are anxious to know what options your school/district is considering.
We’re seeing schools send messages to families assuring them that while they don’t have a final plan, they are preparing for every scenario. Griffin Technology Academies sent out a great end-of-year post, touching on concerns about what school will look like in the Fall.
Superintendent Yoshihara is candid and open about the fact that they too, are unsure of what will happen. But he doesn’t leave it there! He assures students and families that their safety is the top priority and the district will share information promptly to keep them updated, establishing a sense of security and trust. We also love how he ends on a positive note — providing example quarantine-friendly summer activities and assuring the community that no matter what happens, they will persevere.
Other schools are sending home surveys to get a pulse on parent opinion of reopening options. Hickman Community Charter District sent out this message to their community.
Superintendent Gardner did a great job at acknowledging the situation. Most importantly, Gardner was very clear that he was taking parent concerns seriously and genuinely wanted their feedback in helping the district make their decision.
Trillium Charter School also sent out a survey. They kept their message short and sweet, but made it clear that they not only value parent feedback, but that it will serve a critical role in the decision-making process.
Here’s a sample survey inspired by Trillium Charter School’s survey. This survey was created with ParentSquare’s Forms feature (if you are a ParentSquare user, you can learn more about how to use Forms here). If you don’t have ParentSquare, you can always use Google Forms or see if your communication platform offers a survey feature.
If you have other examples, please let us know, so we can showcase you and your school, too!
K-12 Remote Tips
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