Board Hosts 3rd Community Focus Group Session
Over 40 Community Members Participate
April 14, 2009
The Meridian CUSD #223 School Board hosted its third community focus group session on Monday, April 13th at Stillman Valley High School. The purpose of the of the focus group was for the School Board to gain a better understanding of the participating community members perspectives on
Each School Board member and administrator had invited five community members to participate in the session, which had the goal of representing a cross section of the community. The invited community members were asked to R.S.V.P.. After the RSVP deadline, the School Board opened up participation to any willing community member to fill out slots for those who could not attend.
During the first part of the program, District Superintendent Bob Prusator provided student achievement, demographic and financial information to the focus group. Next, the participating community members were randomly divided into six small groups. Serving as facilitators in the groups were Meridian CUSD #223 administrators and directors. A Meridian School Board member was assigned to each group. The groups were asked to respond to five topics: 1) Facilities; 2) Transportation; 3) Student Discipline; 4) Safety/Security; and 5) Scheduling (8 block). The groups were also asked to respond to the status of trust between the community and school district.The small group component of the session lasted approximately sixty minutes.
During the final part of the focus group session, each group reported to the full group the five highest priority items that were discussed in their small group. Each group also reported a composite trust score, which was ranked on a scale of one to ten.
The session provided the School Board with meaningful information and feedback on the perspectives of the community. The District's next task is to compile all of the feedback and utilize it in order to assist in establishing improvement goals for the next school year
