Colfax school staff sounds off on trust, administration

A survey of Colfax school employees showed while most are satisfied with the inner workings of the school, some found communication and trust between administration and staff lacking.

Colfax’s five-member school board has had several weeks to digest results of the two surveys school staff took evaluating the district and now has plans for a public meeting to process that feedback.

Results of the survey were given to the Gazette this week.

Board members and the school administrators will meet next Wednesday, July 7, at 7 p.m. in the school board room to hash out the details of the survey and decide what it means to the district. The meeting is open to the public.

In light of the heat he took guiding the school district through a failed levy and the ensuing months of repair, superintendent Michael Morgan hinted in an interview with the Gazette he may be moving on after the 2011 school year.

“I don’t know that I’ll stay for one more year <after that>,” Morgan said in an interview June 29 when asked how he would handle some of the criticism laid on him in the past months.

In the past two months, the district’s 98 employees have been presented with two separate surveys; a short one gauging the staff’s immediate opinion on district operations and a longer, 61-question survey chosen by the board that asks in-depth questions about the operation of the school.

Citizen Kirby Dailey led the public in requesting the surveys after the school’s first levy proposal was voted down by the Colfax public last February. In the wake of the levy failure, Dailey said he heard many conflicting opinions on how the school administration, board, and staff communicate and work together.

The school board and administration have publicly remained open to the idea of the surveys, which Dailey has been pushing at board meetings for the past three months.

Morgan told the Gazette this week he has signed his contract for another year of employment with the district, but may consider leaving at the end of the 2011 school year.

“My long term plan was really not staying as long as I have,” he said. He stressed that each superintendent brings personal strengths to a position and it is healthy for a district to see a rotation of leadership.

“I don’t believe in the philosophy that a superintendent should stay in the same district for 20 years. I don’t know that that is healthy for a district if improvements are going to continue to be made,” he said.

Morgan has been superintendent for six years and served as the high school principal before that.

The longer survey, called Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools, gave staff a chance to leave their own written comments.

In all nine categories, the majority of staff each time said they approved that subject more than disapproved. The majority gave a thumbs up on all nine categories.

In the category of effective school leadership, 26 percent surveyed said they completely agreed with school leadership, 39 percent said they agreed mostly, 19 percent said they agreed slightly, 12 percent said they didn’t agree at all and four percent said they had no basis to judge.

In the comments section after each category, staff hit hard with their private thoughts on each aspect of the school.

Some staff members were upset with the lack of student motivation, the leadership of Morgan, parents not helping students and athletics taking precedence over class time.

“Some staff members seem to care more about politics and alliances than the greater good of the students and school,” wrote one employee.

“I feel that there is a disconnect in the chain of command. I feel supported by my principal, but not by the superintendent and school board,” wrote another.

Other staff were pleased with the way teachers were doing their jobs and pleased with the communication skills of Morgan and principals Tom Arlt and Gary Weitz.

“I’d like the board to know that not all staff have been represented in their findings. I truly appreciate our board, Mr. Michael Morgan and our principals in their commitment to better the Colfax Schools in a professional manner,” wrote another employee. “I do not believe in personal vendettas and find them only hurtful and harmful.”