Colfax administration rated by school

Sixty-eight of the 98 Colfax school employees, just under 70 percent, responded to survey questions rating their supervisors and the school board.

The results were announced at Monday’s school board meeting by Kirby Dailey.

The results were from one of two surveys requested of staff members in the final weeks of the school session.

Results of the second, longer survey were distributed to school board members Monday night by Supt. Michael Morgan and not shown to the public.

The shorter survey asked district employees to rate performance of different school employees. Staff members could respond anonymously.

In regards to the school board, 35.8 percent of the staff, 24 employees, said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” and 46.27 percent, 31 employees , said they were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”

The other two responses on the form were “neutral” or “no basis to judge.”

In regards to Supt. Morgan, 41.1 percent, 28 employees, said they weresatisfied or very satisfied and 47.06 percent, 30 employees, said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

School principals Gary Weitz and Tom Arlt both received more than 60 percent of staff responses that said they were satisfied or very satisfied.

Dailey dished out both blame and praise to the administration and school board at the meeting.

“I would emphasize this is not data, it’s feedback,” Dailey said.

His short survey was distributed via e-mail and hard copy last month.

In the wake of the failure of the school district’s first levy proposal last February, Dailey said he heard many complaints from school staff and the public about many problems within the district.

Dailey called a public meeting last month, after a second, smaller levy proposal was approved by voters, and asked for public input on how they would like to evaluate the district.

The final meeting resulted in two surveys; the short one reported on Monday night and a longer, more in-depth survey.

That survey asks 61 questions and focuses on finding longer-term solutions for the district.

Morgan passed out the results of that survey at the board meeting Monday night. He said they would hold a larger meeting with the staff when the next school year begins.

Dailey hoped the school board would act on the results of the staff feedback. He said he was stepping away from leading the survey results.

He added he trusted the school board would run with the momentum of the staff’s opinions.

“I think they are going to increase dialogue by asking for more feedback,” Dailey said.

School board president Brian Becker said the board hadn’t had a chance to fully process and make decisions on the survey results.

“The board is going to take some time to review the feedback from Mr. Dailey and from other sources and look forward to using it to make improvements in the district,” Becker said.

Dailey had promised in earlier meetings with the public he would get a similar survey out to the Colfax public to take. He said Tuesday he will no longer pursue this, instead trusting that the board will.