LPOSD survey now live

by Mary Malone Staff Writer
| October 26, 2016 1:00 AM

SANDPOINT — The Lake Pend Oreille School District released an online survey this week related to the Aug. 30 plant facilities levy.

"We are definitely looking forward to getting some feedback that will help us guide our decisions moving forward," said LPOSD Superintendent Shawn Woodward.

Woodward said about 350 people had taken the survey by Tuesday evening. He hopes to get another 650 responses over the next few weeks.

The purpose of the survey is to get feedback from the failed levy, said school board chairman Steve Youngdahl during the district's Oct. 11 meeting. District trustees said public input is the most important aspect in moving forward with a future plant facilities levy ballot measure.

Another important aspect trustees agreed on is taking time with a future measure rather than pushing a deadline and getting the same results as the Aug. 30 measure. With ballots cast by just over 50 percent of the county's registered voters, the levy garnered 2,953 yes votes — or 34.96 percent — and 5,493 no votes — or 65.02 percent.

One public concern district officials have addressed at recent meetings is the amount of the previous levy. During the Sept. 13 meeting following the levy vote, trustee Joan Fish said she heard from several constituents that $55.1 million was "too big a chunk to bite off."

After the survey is complete, the next step is to form a new facilities planning committee that will use the information garnered from the survey to decide the best steps moving forward.

The survey is anonymous and takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Questions in the survey range from whether the survey taker voted in the levy and whether they supported or opposed it, to rating the district’s efforts when it comes to spending education dollars efficiently and preparing students for jobs and college. There is opportunity to elaborate on concerns and complaints about the levy and the process as well. Depending on a survey taker's answer to particular questions, the following question will vary.

The survey can be found on the district's website at lposd.org. The direct link to the survey is surveymonkey.com/r/GG8ML8F.