Mantua – At the last Crestwood School Board meeting, Superintendent David Toth discussed the results of the most recent survey. The survey was created through the superintendent’s office, and was posted on the district’s website for the community to fill out; in addition, according to Toth, the survey was also available to potential respondents at school events, local churches, restaurants, and gas stations. In public comment, resident Janice Simmons shared her concerns that, since there were no controls on who could fill out the survey and how often they could complete it, the results were “badly flawed”. She cautioned the board not to use these results as the foundation in their long-term planning for the district.
Toth echoed Simmons’ statement that the online survey was not scientific, and noted that the board did not want to fund a survey at this time. He noted his hope that the results garnered in this recent survey would be used as “talking points” that bear future discussion among the board. He recapped the results gathered from 849 responses, where respondents identified themselves as predominantly female (68.3%) in the age range of 31-45% (44.9%). He noted that the majority of respondents said that they live in Mantua Township (35.5%) and Shalersville (27.6%); he shared that 34.4% of respondents have lived in the Crestwood District for over 20 years.
Respondents were asked a series of questions about their thoughts on the performance of the District. For instance, one when asked whether Crestwood meets the needs of the community — 51.9% agreed they do, while 29.7% disagreed with that statement. When asked whether Crestwood prepares students for a successful future, 53% agreed, while 30.3% disagreed. When asked to rank the items that should be considered in creating the Districts Five-Year Strategic Plan, respondents rated Academic achievement highest at 66.2%, followed by Facilities (44.3%) and Safety (38.2%).
The district’s strengths, according to respondents, were committed and caring staff (74.5%) and student achievement (38.9%). The opportunities for improvement were noted as facilities (67.4%) and keeping class sizes low (54%). Barriers were notes as funding (82%) and lack of community support (66%). Interestingly, when asked how Crestwood School District’s taxes compared to neighboring communities, more than half of respondents thought the taxes they pay for schools was the same as neighboring districts (25.2%) or did they not know (26%). According to data from the Ohio Department of Taxation, tax rates in the Crestwood School District are the lowest in Portage County. For complete results, visit the district’s website at crestwoodschools.org.
As the board discussed the findings, they noted their opinions that respondents were predominantly parents of current students in the district. Todd Monroe noted that in order to improve the quality of the information gathered, the district would need to hire an experienced firm to conduct research, noting, “That’s how you get accurate data.”
Later, Toth noted that Governor DeWine is expected to release the first draft of the State’s biennial budget by March 30th. While the budget would not be finalized until July, Toth noted that the subject of guaranteed funds has not yet been discussed, and noted that cuts to this program would be devastating to the district.
The next regularly scheduled school board meeti
ng will be held at the CHS Library on Tuesday, February 12th at 7 pm.
