By Margaret Hopper

After an Investigation of Public Records Act request, the Beat received the surveys done to determine community, staff and student support for a four-day school week.

The survey was presented in a number of portions; first, a list of five survey questions followed by numbers and percentages for the three differing groups, parents, staff and community. Then the same groups had their comments listed under GÇ£no support,GÇ¥ GÇ£no opinion,GÇ¥ and GÇ£support.GÇ¥

As stated in the news article http://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/36406-silver-school-board-disapproves-four-day-schedule-3-2 , there were plans for student results, too, but Silver Schools technology director Ben Potts said at the meeting that those responses came in so late that time ran out for including them. It was noted that the responding students were 76 percent for it, but their other responses were not given.

Of the just over 600 parents who responded to whether the 4-day week would fit their family, 62 percent said yes, 26 percent, no, and 12 percent, unsure. On the question of how the change would benefit their student(s), 41 percent said it would benefit, 31 percent said no impact, and 28 percent said it would disrupt.

Did they attend the informational meeting? 35 percent said yes, 65 percent said no. Would affordable child care on Fridays be a problem? 61 percent said no, 25 percent, yes, and 14 percent were unsure. Would they support a 4-day week? 63 percent said yes, 8 percent had no opinion and 29 percent said no.

The negative comments offered seemed to focus on child care, loss of food, or fears that those not supervised on Fridays would get themselves into trouble, at any age. The District attempted to address some of those concerns in the board meeting, and both Bianca Padilla, Juvenile Probation Department, and Andie Portillo, of the Museum, had suggested some counters to these objections during the meeting. Community, too, could have added to that effort.

Understandably, the two-thirds of parents who admitted they had not attended the preparatory meetings would not know that community was concerned for them and might have some plans to help. Other commenters sympathized but pointed out that childcare was not the major reason for sending children to schools. And there could be other solutions.

The staff survey showed that 48 percent worked with elementary students, nearly 17 percent with mid-level, nearly 21 percent with high school, and 14.5 percent with mixed levels. 85.2 percent supported a 4-day week; about 8 percent did not. 67.5 percent thought the students would benefit academically; 12.2 percent thought it would be disruptive.

77 percent said they would benefit personally, where 5.4 percent said they would be disrupted. 86.3 percent said it would improve morale; 3.9 percent said morale would be diminished. If Silver didnGÇÖt switch to a 4-day week, 52.7 percent said they would not seek a different district, but 30.9 percent said they might, and 16.4 percent said they would.

When asked if they supported the 4-day week, 64.3 percent of community said yes; 33 percent said no. And, how would this affect academics? 55.5 percent said they would benefit, while 30.7 percent said the change would be disruptive. How would it affect the community of Silver City? 53.5 said it would benefit. 38.8 percent said it would be disruptive.

The no-opinion responses were there, but rather low, and in some instances, had to be subtracted away from the other categories to be learned. (As Potts said earlier, time was very short to get the results out; co-workers noted he had worked long and hard to get it all done.) Two other community responses included a comparison of perceived increases or decreases, as shown below. As the results do not add up to 100, it can be assumed that the difference is GÇ£no opinion.GÇ¥

On Student Employment, 52.4 percent said it would increase; 4.5 percent thought it would decrease. 65.5 percent said Family Activities would increase; 5.4 said this would decrease. 31.8 percent said business opportunities would increase, but 20.8 thought they would decrease. 33 percent said community (involvement?) would increase; 31.6 percent said that would decrease. 36.6 percent indicated that social services would increase, and 28.9 percent said they would decrease. 28 percent said crime would increase; 31.4 percent said it would decrease.

The word is that the District made strong efforts to involve as many people as possible, while trying to avoid biased results. Parents were given much opportunity to respond, even if they did not. Many people worked long and hard to do in a few months what Cobre said it had taken much of two years to put together.