LAWRENCE: Schools ask residents to fill out survey

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   There are only 18 questions on the Lawrence Township public school district survey, but the public’s answers to those questions will help guide the district’s long-range planning — from the amount and quality of homework to non-academic issues that the school board must consider.
   About 500 people have already responded to the survey, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, but school district officials would like more residents — with or without children enrolled in the district — to fill out the form within the next week. It is available on the school district’s website at www.ltps.org.
   ”From the Board of Education’s perspective, we are elected to represent the voters,” said school board member Leon Kaplan. “Part of doing a good job in representing one’s constituents is to have a sense of what people’s priorities are. This survey, we hope, will give us a good sense of what they are.”
   While past surveys may have sought to find out what courses should be offered at Lawrence High School, for example, this one is more of a “quality assurance” survey, said Crystal Edwards, the superintendent of schools.
   ”It’s about ‘how well am I doing,’” Ms. Edwards said. “Are we meeting the students’ needs? Are there areas that need improvement?”
   The survey seeks to find out the level of involvement that respondents have with the district — such as attending school-sponsored events — as well as the degree of communication between the school, administrators and parents.
   Respondents may rate the school district’s programs, such as the fine arts, athletics, career education and honors/advanced placement courses.
   And, finally, the survey asks people to rate the importance of issues such as providing small class sizes, ensuring students have access to technology, and developing strategies to reduce costs and seek new revenue sources.
   The survey results may guide school district officials in spending taxpayers’ money wisely, he said.
   ”It’s really important to get a lot of people (to fill out the survey). If you don’t take 10 minutes or so, then we don’t know what to make of your silence. You are happy with the things the way they are — that’s the assumption.”