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survey that was given to kids
Topic Started: Nov 1 2006, 07:56 AM (4,462 Views)
SJC
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Principal
So do you think any Frost students will be able to do a project where they poll one of the Houses at Johnson? It’s a public school so I don't know why one student would be allowed to do something that all the kids weren't entitled to do.
Would a Frost student be able to poll the kids about any subject without approval or knowledge of their parents? What if it asked how may of them have ever experienced sexual abuse? I just can't buy that this would have been approved and delivered to all these students if it didn't dovetail with the interests of LPS administration.

Ultimately, my issue is that if the survey has a negative result it will never see the light of the day but if it has a positive result the front page of the Observer will exclaim "Kids Love the LI!"


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mikefromholland
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Principal
SJC
Nov 3 2006, 01:17 PM
So do you think any Frost students will be able to do a project where they poll one of the Houses at Johnson?  It’s a public school so I don't know why one student would be allowed to do something that all the kids weren't entitled to do.
Would a Frost student be able to poll the kids about any subject without approval or knowledge of their parents?  What if it asked how may of them have ever experienced sexual abuse?  I just can't buy that this would have been approved and delivered to all these students if it didn't dovetail with the interests of LPS administration. 

Ultimately, my issue is that if the survey has a negative result it will never see the light of the day but if it has a positive result the front page of the Observer will exclaim "Kids Love the LI!"

In that case, I give the participants on this forum permission to borrow ideas from my letter to the editor published in the June 16, 2004 Holland Sentinel... this was in response to a pro-focus school parent claiming we should ask kids if they liked the focus schools after the 1st year ....

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/061...061604019.shtml

Copyright © 2004 Holland Sentinel

Let the kids have what they want

To the Editor:

A recent letter-writer stated that we should ask the children what they think of focus schools. Following this line of thought, I make the following suggestion.

Holland should implement a new system of "recess schools." Children would be free to use the playground all day, except for a 15-minute "learning break." On rainy days, they could play games or watch movies inside.

Almost every child I asked thought this would be a great system. Kids from surrounding districts would be begging their parents to let them go to school in Holland. Charter schools would be deserted.

Consider the savings from a system that needs fewer teachers. Playground aides are a lot cheaper to hire. The expenses of textbooks, supplies and copying would be greatly reduced also.

There's been peer-reviewed research showing that happy children perform better on standardized tests. Our test scores are sure to go up.

Yes, there will be a few troublemaking parents who dispute this idea, and maybe a couple of school board members who raise questions. But there are always a few whiners who never really give good ideas a chance from the beginning. Let's not allow them to stop a team effort from going forward.

Michael Misovich,

Holland
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garfield
Principal
Say what you want about this survey, but our fifth graders do projects every year where they come in and survey each class in the school and then use their results for a project they are doing. Thats 120 children in groups of 2 or 3 going around the school asking different questions to other kids in the school. I don't think getting permission for every one of these surveys is feasible! You may not like the topic, but surveys are given to the children for a variety of reasons and lessons.
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Administrator
Administrator
garfield
Nov 5 2006, 10:06 AM
Say what you want about this survey, but our fifth graders do projects every year where they come in and survey each class in the school and then use their results for a project they are doing. Thats 120 children in groups of 2 or 3 going around the school asking different questions to other kids in the school. I don't think getting permission for every one of these surveys is feasible! You may not like the topic, but surveys are given to the children for a variety of reasons and lessons.

I think you are right Garfield. This is something that I think has gone on in the past. This is one of the reasons I supported the recall. The level of trust has fallen so low that everyone needs to question the motive of everything, and justifiably so.
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CKlockner
Principal
garfield
Nov 5 2006, 09:06 AM
Say what you want about this survey, but our fifth graders do projects every year where they come in and survey each class in the school and then use their results for a project they are doing. Thats 120 children in groups of 2 or 3 going around the school asking different questions to other kids in the school. I don't think getting permission for every one of these surveys is feasible! You may not like the topic, but surveys are given to the children for a variety of reasons and lessons.

My kids have been in LPS schools for 11 years and I have never heard of this happening. Perhaps its just certain schools that do these surveys? And I doubt that most people would be concerned about the surveys if something had come home explainng the hows and whys about it.
Many people in this community do not have alot of TRUST in LPS any more.
Wonder why?
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Aunt Bea
Principal
In Kindergarten centers, every week the kids do a class survey. This is to help them with basic math concepts. They will go and survey each of their class mates on any given topic (Do you like red apples or green apples?) and then chart their results. As far as I can see, this is just a more advanced example of something our kids have been doing since they were 5. I hear your argument here that it is "justifiable" that you do not trust what goes on in schools, but this seems really out there. Even Steve Futrell begged CLFL supporters at the beginning of the school year to apply some reason and avoid nit-picking. This is a student project. Seems like it should be left alone.
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Administrator
Administrator
You are probably right. It will only be an issue if it ends up in an Observer article or some kind of LPS pamphlet. Then you would know the true motive, which would obviously mean it was politically motivated.
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ILIkeLI
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Principal
Aunt Bea
Nov 5 2006, 02:26 PM
In Kindergarten centers, every week the kids do a class survey.  This is to help them with basic math concepts.  They will go and survey each of their class mates on any given topic (Do you like red apples or green apples?) and then chart their results.  As far as I can see, this is just a more advanced example of something our kids have been doing since they were 5.  I hear your argument here that it is "justifiable" that you do not trust what goes on in schools, but this seems really out there.  Even Steve Futrell begged CLFL supporters at the beginning of the school year to apply some reason and avoid nit-picking.  This is a student project.  Seems like it should be left alone.

Bea,
The results of this "survey" will most likely become public, either through word of mouth or more formal means. Will you or other supporters be upset if the result aren"t favorable toward the LI. I think you know as well as the rest of us that this was probably motivated by a parent. In my opinion, most middle schoolers would be much more interested in surveying kids on other subjects. I don't think this is nit-picking. It is a highly charged subject, much more so than "what tpe of apple do you like?" Yes, the administration has well earned the distrust they receive.
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rooseveltmom
Principal
mikefromholland
Nov 4 2006, 12:58 AM
SJC
Nov 3 2006, 01:17 PM
So do you think any Frost students will be able to do a project where they poll one of the Houses at Johnson?  It’s a public school so I don't know why one student would be allowed to do something that all the kids weren't entitled to do.
Would a Frost student be able to poll the kids about any subject without approval or knowledge of their parents?  What if it asked how may of them have ever experienced sexual abuse?  I just can't buy that this would have been approved and delivered to all these students if it didn't dovetail with the interests of LPS administration. 

Ultimately, my issue is that if the survey has a negative result it will never see the light of the day but if it has a positive result the front page of the Observer will exclaim "Kids Love the LI!"

In that case, I give the participants on this forum permission to borrow ideas from my letter to the editor published in the June 16, 2004 Holland Sentinel... this was in response to a pro-focus school parent claiming we should ask kids if they liked the focus schools after the 1st year ....

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/061...061604019.shtml

Copyright © 2004 Holland Sentinel

Let the kids have what they want

To the Editor:

A recent letter-writer stated that we should ask the children what they think of focus schools. Following this line of thought, I make the following suggestion.

Holland should implement a new system of "recess schools." Children would be free to use the playground all day, except for a 15-minute "learning break." On rainy days, they could play games or watch movies inside.

Almost every child I asked thought this would be a great system. Kids from surrounding districts would be begging their parents to let them go to school in Holland. Charter schools would be deserted.

Consider the savings from a system that needs fewer teachers. Playground aides are a lot cheaper to hire. The expenses of textbooks, supplies and copying would be greatly reduced also.

There's been peer-reviewed research showing that happy children perform better on standardized tests. Our test scores are sure to go up.

Yes, there will be a few troublemaking parents who dispute this idea, and maybe a couple of school board members who raise questions. But there are always a few whiners who never really give good ideas a chance from the beginning. Let's not allow them to stop a team effort from going forward.

Michael Misovich,

Holland

Too Darn Funny :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Aunt Bea
Principal
ILIKELI-

I wonder why you think this has to have been motivated by a parent? I don't know that.
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ILIkeLI
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Principal
Aunt Bea
Nov 6 2006, 12:10 PM
ILIKELI-

I wonder why you think this has to have been motivated by a parent?  I don't know that.

it just seems highly probable that a parent (on either side of the issue) may want to take advantage of access to that many kids-sanctioned by LPS-to gauge their opinions.
My 5th grader would be much more interested in what kinds of video games his friends prefer or type of music or opinions on professional sports than he would the LI!
It has obviously been completed, so lets wait and see. The results and what is done with them will certainly give us a good indication of where they came from and what motivated the survey.
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Snowman2
4th Grade
My son attends Johnson and he is in the fifth grade. I asked him last night about this survey and he told me he had taken it. They asked him how he felt when he found out he would have to come to Johnson and another questions along those lines. He couldn't remember the exact words used. He told me a lady came in and handed them out to their class. He didn't know her name. I wrote his teacher a note asking the name of this person and her title. I also have a call into the principal. (No response yet). What in the world does this have to do with school and what my son should be learning? What are they going to do with this information? I feel they should not be asking my kid about his "feelings" regarding his school situation. It's like me asking this person who handed out the survey how much money she made last year. Oooh wait, I can't do that. Its none of my business. Neither is how my son feels about Johnson. Its none of your business!!
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Grant1
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We have just begun to fight!
Actually, if she is an employee of the district you have every right to ask and be provided with her salary information..that is public information that belongs to you, I, and every other constituent of the district
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Anna Krome
Principal
So, now "a lady" is administering the "survey"?

Huh? Who is this adult? What does she have to do w/a "survey" of this divisive nature? I thought it was a Frost-student-administered survey.

I'd bet some PTA muffins, it was a PTA person.

BTW, a PTA board member at our school has a school-administered ID, with photo. She looks just like a teacher!

So, now, PTA people are "employees" of LPS? More LPS tax dollars going to support PTA?

Next up: Did your parents have a Recall sign up?
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ILIkeLI
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Principal
Snowman2
Nov 6 2006, 01:21 PM
My son attends Johnson and he is in the fifth grade. I asked him last night about this survey and he told me he had taken it. They asked him how he felt when he found out he would have to come to Johnson and another questions along those lines. He couldn't remember the exact words used. He told me a lady came in and handed them out to their class. He didn't know her name. I wrote his teacher a note asking the name of this person and her title. I also have a call into the principal. (No response yet). What in the world does this have to do with school and what my son should be learning? What are they going to do with this information? I feel they should not be asking my kid about his "feelings" regarding his school situation. It's like me asking this person who handed out the survey how much money she made last year. Oooh wait, I can't do that. Its none of my business. Neither is how my son feels about Johnson. Its none of your business!!

Snowman,
I think that it would be helpful if you could report your findings back here. Maybe this issue could be cleared up once and for all. Just curious, how'd your son react to the questions?
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