As the Tabernacle Township School District continues its search for a new superintendent, a presentation given at the June 13 Board of Education meeting shed light on important topics the community should factor into the selection process as it continues.
“All of the work that’s been done has been has been turned over to the administrative counsel,” Interim Superintendent John M. Sherry said. “The survey results are going to be used by the Board of Education to help guide us in developing the questions that they will use in looking for the strengths of the person that they bring on to be your next chief school administrator.”
Dr. Charley Ivory, executive director of the Educational Information and Resource Center, presented to board members and attendees the results of an ongoing community survey intended to assist in strategic planning for the following year and possibly years to come. To gather results for this survey that was conducted from Tuesday, April 13 through Monday, May 2, the district held four face-to-face meeting sessions. It also released a web-based survey, capable of being submitted in hard copy.
“There are 605 school districts in New Jersey — that’s really an unheard of number. We’re one of only three states left in the country where you have local control of school districts,” Ivory said. “The upside is the ability for communities to really tap into their own schools and have influence and participation in a much stronger way.”
While the survey itself was open to parents, students, business owners, elected officials and all others within the community, results yielded that out of 417 total responses, 67.63 percent of respondents were students followed by 19.18 percent being public school parents.
“This gives you a chance to really hear from the youngsters who are in the schools everyday working with the teachers and [who] have a really solid insight in terms of what’s happening,” Ivory said. “You have great youngsters here in Tabernacle.”
Additional statistics presented demonstrated that, while the overwhelming majority of respondents feel very proud toward various district components, approximately 20 percent of responding community residents reported being unsatisfied with the current level of connection with Tabernacle schools. Despite this number, 57.83 percent of respondents reported they stay connected to school issues through the school website, whereas 45.10 percent said they receive news and alerts through word of mouth and 45.06 percent from flyers sent home from school.
Also, when asked what the top three issues facing students today are, 55.17 percent responded with negative peer pressure while 51.23 percent reported drugs and alcohol as a cause. This is especially alarming considering many of the respondents were proven by statistics to be students themselves. The district hopes to use this information, along with the knowledge attained from the rest of the survey, to better understand and react to areas needing improvement within the district.
“You really need to be very thankful and proud of your Board of Education for even venturing forth to do this. Not only did they venture forth to do this, but they asked me to come in, and we do this process very differently as those of you who participated know, and that is, this is an open invitation,” Ivory said. “I want you to recognize the effort that your own board made to bring all of you into this process.”
