Vision 2020 survey to see where school district is going

Date: 12/8/2008

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



WILBRAHAM The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District wants a clear vision of their future. That's why a visioning committee has put together a short survey for community members to fill out regarding their opinions on how the schools have been doing and how they should move forward.

The Vision 2020 survey will be available on the school district's Web site, www.hwrsd.org, through Dec. 19. The link is located in the upper left corner of the home page. The survey will only be available online.

"Here we are in 2009," Superintendent Paul Gagliarducci said. "My guess is the vision project will lead to a new strategic plan, and those generally last 10 years. 'Vision 2020' is also a play on words, for perfect vision."

Gagliarducci is inviting all parents of school-aged children and any other interested members of the community to take part in the survey. Staff members will also be involved.

Gagliarducci said it should only take 10 to 15 minutes to answer the survey questions.

"The information [gathered from the survey] is, in the vernacular of strategic planning, an environmental scan," he explained. "It will give us a sense of the level of satisfaction people have with the schools."

He added the survey will take into account how respondents feel about communication, delivery of service, curriculum and achievement in the district.

"It's about seeing what important to them [the community]," he stated.

The questions in the survey were developed by the visioning committee, made up of Gagliarducci, Assistant Superintendent Donna Scanlon, Director of Financial Services Beth Regulbuto, Executive Secretary to the Superintendent Kate Belsky and Coordinator of Special Projects Gina Kahn. The group plans to meet on Jan. 8 to review the findings of the survey.

The results will be used not only for the new vision but to address any other concerns in the school district.

"We'll use the staff comments against the community's comments to see how far away [opinions] are," Gagliarducci said. "If the staff thinks we're doing a good job with communication but parents don't, that's something we'll need to address."