Comments from Survey

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The following are unedited comments provided by partner school district leadership as part of their response to the 2018 Stakeholder Engagement Survey.

There were opportunities for comments at the end of each question, at the end of each section, and at the end of the survey. Comments are designated and color-coded as below. Authors are identified by district role in parentheses.

 +  Positive comment / praise
 –  Negative comment / criticism
 ±  Comment contains both positive and negative elements
 =  Comment contains neither positive nor negative elements
 <  Comment primarily comprised of suggestions for improvement

Download PDF of Survey Comments



Centennial School District

 +  Instruction Services: Positive Comments Math PD and support has been outstanding, good quality, and responsive. Looking forward to the Board PD on equity. (Human Resources Director)

 <  Instruction Services: Concerns We haven't seen much in terms of culturally responsive instruction PD. (Human Resources Director)

 –  School Health Services: Reliability Not having a nurse for much of the fall at CHS was a real strain and stress to the building. (Student Services Director)

 –  School Health Services: Value for the Money Again, not having a nurse consistently at the high school has been huge. I understand that we won't be billed for the services we didn't received, but the funds are tied up there and that issue has been discussed a lot. (Student Services Director)

 +  School Health Services: Positive Comments Ann, Todd & Patty has responded as needed given a variety of situations this fall. (Student Services Director)

 ±  Special Education: Quality I have a vague notion of the "quality" of each program. I haven't received any specific data regarding student growth, credits, etc. etc. from the ESD. I am in constant contact with our district alt. placement coordinator regarding students. (Student Services Director)

 +  End: Needed Services I can't think of anything right now. I'm relatively new to my position, so there may be ideas that come up in the future and if so, I feel comfortable conveying those to contacts within MESD. Thank you! (Curriculum / School Improvement Director)

 <  End: Survey Feedback This survey overall required our district cabinet to complete it together versus individually. It may be good to advise districts to set aside 20-30 minutes to complete the survey as a leadership team/Cabinet. (Curriculum / School Improvement Director)

 +  End: Last Word Thanks for your support; I really value the monthly CIAC meetings facilitated by Kathryn and Sarah. (Curriculum / School Improvement Director)



Corbett School District

 +  End: Last Word Great help from Ricky L. and Ovid B. at the CTA Synergy Help Desk. Excellent help from Wayne Wenthin in Network Services. (Technology Services Director)



David Douglas School District

 +  Instruction Services: Positive Comments I appreciate the advisory groups and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in job alike positions. (Curriculum / School Improvement Director)

 ±  School Health Services: Quality I do not have any data on how many of our families are served by the Child Insurance Enrollment service. We try to do trainings in our district whenever possible to meet the needs of our staff easily. In those cases, MESD nurses have been very helpful and accommodating. When we have to have staff go to MESD for a training, it is difficult because the times do not always work with our school day. However, I understand the challenge of trying to meet all of our needs. (Student Services Director)

 ±  School Health Services: Reliability I rated nursing as 'reliable" this year rather that "extremely reliable" because the shortage impacted DDSD greatly. However, this year is not the norm and we have been extremely fortunate to have high quality and dedicated nurses in DDSD. (Student Services Director)

 ±  School Health Services: Effectiveness Without health students who attend school on a regular basis, we cannot educate them. All of these services help students stay in school and be healthy. (Student Services Director)

 =  Special Education Services: Overall Satisfaction We have only used the Behavioral Consultation Team once so far (Student Services Director)

 +  Special Education Services: Positive Comments I appreciate the positive attitude of the MESD Director and Administrative staff. There is a team approach to serving districts. (Student Services Director)

 <  End: Needed Services Website ADA compliance support (Communications Director)

 <  End: Needed Services 1. Convene AT specialists across districts, if others are interested. 2. It would be helpful to have Helensview under Student Services. Most of the Student Service Directors oversee alternative education programs and there is a disconnect when we do not have Kathryn Skimmas at our SEAC meetings and HV is not included in conversations. 3. More intersections or updates with what is happening with Curriculum Directors so we can look for ways to connect special education with general education. (Student Services Director)

 <  End: Use MESD Services More Behavior trainings for staff would be useful. (Student Services Director)

 ±  End: Survey Feedback Open ended questions are useful. But some multiple choice questions can be, too, specifically in suggesting a response that I may not have thought of in an open-ended format. (Communications Director)

 +  End: Survey Feedback I appreciated the format. (Student Services Director)

 +  End: Last Word Thank you for the work over the last few years for transparency and customer service. We've come a long way and it feels like we are in a very collaborative and productive period working together for our students. I also feel Todd was an excellent hire! (Student Services Director)



Gresham Barlow School District

 <  End: Needed Services Social Media Archiving, Website software for monitoring ADA accessibility, graphic design. (Communications Director)

 <  End: Needed Services Information security review/support beyond network security. Support in SIS reporting and customization. (Technology Services Director)

 <  End: Use MESD Services More It is always helpful when MESD vets various vendors and can get products for districts at a reduced rate. (Communications Director)

 +  End: Last Word Just that we appreciate the support we receive from MESD Tech Services and Network Services. (Technology Services Director)



Parkrose School District

 <  Instruction Services: Positive Comments Work more closely with District Directors (Business Manager)

 –  End: Needed Services I would really like more in the area of curricular support. So much of our work is the same that it seems illogical for each district to need a team of content experts. (Technology Services Director)

 –  End: Use MESD Services More I would REALLY like it to be cost effective for us to use MESD student placements more. (Technology Services Director)

 –  End: Survey Feedback TO LONG (Business Manager)

 +  End: Survey Feedback This was fine. Not too long. (Technology Services Director)

 ±  End: Last Word I feel very good about the admin changes made in the last few years and imagine there may be more work to be done there. Would really like ESD to be able to shift from being support in some areas to being the lead -- id est, not just responding to district needs and requests but really being able to provide guidance and leadership in the directions districts should be going -- content areas, behavioral supports, attendance, business practices, RTI work, etc. (Technology Services Director)



Portland Public School District

 +  School Health Services: Responsiveness Ann Vrabel is excellent to work with. She is responsive, a problem solver and is solutions focused. (Student Services Director)

 +  School Health Services: Positive Comments I like the fact that we moved to SHAs this year. It has been a learning opportunity for us, but Ann has been great in helping to problem solve with us. (Student Services Director)



Reynolds School District

 <  End: Needed Services It would be helpful if Sean Woodard, the MESD HR Director played a more active role in the ad-hoc East County HR Directors' group. He has attended some of our luncheons but it would be great to meet with him and discuss potential ways in which MESD could help the districts in Human Resources. Maybe there is not the time to do this but I think it could be a great resource. The prior HR Director, Heyke Nickerson, was not actively involved with our group either. (Human Resources Director)

 <  End: Needed Services Instructional technology training would be beneficial to supplement our own Technology TOSA, but I don't know how the logistics would work for that. (Technology Services Director)

 –  End: Survey Feedback Some of the software applications are used completely by other departments, so I had to consult them about OrMEd and AESOP. (Technology Services Director)

 +  End: Last Word They support staff we work with for iVisions, Synergy, and network support are great to work with. (Technology Services Director)



Riverdale School District

 ±  School Health Services: Quality Immunizations rated poorly due to an accident which is a one off for this year. Generally awesome service. (HS Principal, Student Services Director, Special Education Coordinator)

 <  End: Needed Services To be honest, I just learned there might be services I can access through MESD related to communications that I didn't know before. Prior, I only knew of support through CTA and support specialists in the schools. I'd love to learn more. I am already excited about webmaster support for website accessibility, and the possibility of future support for launching social media for our district. And, it helps to know there's someone to turn to in a crisis if I'm overloaded. I did not know that before. (Communications Director)

 <  End: Use MESD Services More Learning what's available. As a one-woman show, I'm all for help! (Communications Director)

 <  End: Survey Feedback I think it would be helpful to provide a list of services that are available, so we can check off what we've used and what we might use in the future. That would help us know how to answer your questions about what additional services we'd like to see. (Communications Director)

 +  End: Last Word I am thrilled with the new approachability of MESD staff and willingness to support and collaborate over the past couple years. I sense a difference and appreciate the tone.  (HS Principal, Student Services Director, Special Education Coordinator)