FOCUS GROUP MODERATOR’S GUIDE Vandalia-Butler City Schools DRAFT 3 05/29/07 Focus groups will be held at Time and Place 1) INTRODUCTION a) Triad Research Group b) Purpose: To talk with you about some important issues concerning the future of the Your Schools and we have 2 major topics to cover tonight. ¢) Moderator's role (i) To ask questions and keep the group on track ) A lot of material to cover, so will also be moving group from topic to topic, even though we all might want to say more about each topic d) Participant's role (i) Share your opinions, both positive and negative (ii) No right or wrong answers ) Ground rules (i) One person speaks at a time; no side conversations (ii) No note taking (ii) Turn off cell phones, pagers ) Audio taping for purposes of writing a report, names will not be used. 9) Videotaping/Viewing hh) Questions?2) PERCEPTIONS AND IMAGE OF YOUR SCHOOLS a) Overall Perceptions of Your Schools i) ICEBREAKER: When you think of your schools, what is the first thing that comes into your mind? ii) What would you say are Vandalia-Butler City Schools greatest strengths? ‘And what would you say are your schools greatest weaknesses? b) Communications i) What kind of job is the Vandalia-Butler City Schools doing of communicating with residents in the district? (1) Vandalia-Butler City Schools sends @ newsletter to every home in the district, do you recall receiving it? (a) Do you usually read most, some, only a little or none of the newsletter? (2) The Vandalia Drummer often covers school activities. Do you find valuable information about the schools in the Drummer? (3) Do you ever look at the Vandalia-Butler ‘web page’ for information about the schools? (Steve suggests greater probing on this one to determine whether web use has reached critical mass in this district. For instance, would non- parents even bother to look at the web page? If a majority say no, does that mean that if we don’t do conventional outreach (e.g. newsletters) this vast segment of the population without kids would hear nothing directly from the schools? What about e-mail newsletters like Beavercreek does? Would non-parents appreciate receiving those? (4) What are some other ways the school district could communicate with residents? (6) What don’t you know about the schools that you would like to know? ©) Quality of Education i) How would you rate the quality of education provided by Vandalia-Butler City Schools? Do you think the quality of education is better, worse, or about the same as it was a few years ago? (1) Do you fee! that students are well prepared after graduation, whether it's for college, work or something else? iil) How many of you were aware that the your schools has been rated an Excellent district by the State of Ohio? Just raise your hands. (1) Does knowing that the your Schools received one of the highest academic ranking in the state make any difference to you? (a) When the Your Schools say they are ‘excellent’ and met 23 ‘indicators,’ do you know what they mean by ‘excellent’ and ‘indicators’?3) Financial information a) Now I'd like to talk with you about the Your Schools’ financial situation. The Your Schools had an operating levy for additional money on the ballot in November and the levy passed. By a show of hands, how many of you were aware of this? i) Regardless of how you voted, why do you think people in the school district voted for cor against the school levy? What reasons did they have? (Probe) (lf not mentioned, then ask...) (1) Was it because the schools don't need the money? (2) Was it because the schools were asking for too much money? (3) Was it because taxes are too high and people can't afford to pay more taxes? (4) Was it because the schools waste money? ji) How well informed were you about the school levy? ili) What questions do you have about the levy? What additional information do you need or would be helpful? iv) Did the schools adequately explain why they needed more money and how it would be used? b) The school district is not seeking new money, but will be looking to renew levies already in place. For renewal levies there are no new taxes. By a show of hands, how many of you would vote for a schoo! levy if it was not for new taxes? How many of you would vote against it? And how many of you don't know how you would vote? i) Those of you who are against the school levy, what would have to happen to change your minds to support the levy? ii) Those of you who are undecided, what would you need to know to help you make up your minds on the levy? Those of you who are in favor of a school levy, why do you support it? For the following information, Steve feels moderator should begin with a question along the lines of “Some people have told us that the schools have cut spending in recent years and, in fact, have done a good job of pulling in their belts to make ‘ends meet. Other people have said the opposite, that the schools haven't done enough to economize and trim costs. What do you think? (in the earlier survey, it had been determined that the public was not aware of cuts. Steve suggests the above approach because it will test whether there has been movement.) (Steve would delete c below) c) Has the school adequately explained the cost reductions made over the last five years?d) e) oR Did you know that the schoo! has implemented 3.5 million dollars in outs including administration, teachers, and programs? Did you know that the school implemented a new insurance plan expected to reduce insurance costs by over six million dollars over the next four years? Did you know that the district implemented a severance plan reducing salaries and benefits by 3.4 million dollars and eliminating 6 positions? Were you aware that the State contribution for Vandalia-Butler City Schools is the same amount of money today as it was in 1998? i) Does knowing that make you more likely to support a tax levy for the schools? ii) In your opinion, how likely is it that the state will change the way schools are funded in the next year or two? Steve suggests we check again whether people feel all the commercial growth in Butler Twp. Should “take care of” need for new school funds. 4) FACILITIES PLAN (15 minutes) al ees ) ) ) ) e) f) 9) h) i) k) We also want to talk about school facilities tonight. ‘Are you familiar with all or some of the districts buildings? Which ones? Are the buildings well maintained? Which of the buildings appear to need remodeled or replaced? ‘Are you aware that there have been several assessments done of Vandalia-Butler City ‘Schools’ buildings? Are you aware of the results? Hf not, would knowing the results of the state and local assessments impact your opinion regarding replacement? Do you believe the buildings are similar to those in surrounding districts? Do you believe the buildings adequately support technology and a positive learning environment? Would you favor or approve building a new middle schoo! to replace Morton? Would you favor or approve building a new high school to replace Butler? ‘Would you favor or approve building a new high school and using the current high school building (Butler) as a replacement for Morton Middle School? Would you favor or oppose building a new middle school on the Smith site (in addition to the existing Smith building? m) Would you favor or oppose a long-term facility plan that combined replacement of some buildings with facility upgrades to all of the buildings? (Steve suggests a line of questioning to test whether people still have a bad taste in their mouth over the defeated bond issue, which lost by a huge percentage. For instance, give them. the plan that was defeated, then ask whether the mere fact that such a plan waspresented to voters make them wary of future building plans, even if they don't follow the defeated concept at all. Did the presentation of that plan, in other words, affect their confidence in any worthwhile plan emerging from the BOE? Similarly, would they view a sharply modified plan as a positive step, i . might they then feel that the BOE and administration “heard the message” and responded? Or are they still in a punitive mode (e.g. we'll show them!!!) 5) WRAP UP a) Is there anything else you'd like to say about your schools that you haven't had a chance to say tonight?