The Pine City School Board received the results of a community survey during a presentation this week.
The district worked with School Preceptions, an educational research firm based out of Slinger, WI. The survey was open to school staff, parents, and non-staff/non-parent members of the community.
Breakdown of reported ages for respondents. Taken from School Preceptions presentation.
The survey was sent to gauge the response to an upcoming referendum vote to pay for facility repairs and upgrades. It was sent out to community members in late September. The district received 931 responses, a 16% response rate.
Breakdown of where respondents live. Taken from School Preceptions presentation.
According to the district, the "base plan" for the facilities project would cost $36.6 million. It would include a remodel of the elementary school and repairs to the high school.
Additional projects considered to be considered include a remodel of the kitchen, cafeteria, and library (costing an estimated $3.9 million), an indoor athletic facility (costing an estimated $13.8 million), and an outdoor athletic facility (costing an estimated $4.2 million). The school board is working to secure private donors for the athletic facilities, so those estimates could change.
The Pine City School District also needs to find a new location for its Alternative Learning Center (ALC) because its lease with the Civic Center is set to expire. That project is expected to cost around $3.6 million. Currently, the district is looking at two options for a new location - the old car dealership building across from the high school or adding onto the high school to house the program.
If every project was added to the base plan, it would cost around $62.1 million.
Data from the survey showed that 56.3% of respondents would vote in favor of the $36.6 million referendum to cover the base plan. A further breakdown included:
- 43% of respondents supporting a $43 million referendum
- 32% of respondents supporting a $49 million referendum
- 23.5% of respondents supporting a $56 million referendum
- 18.3% of respondents supporting a $62.1 million referendum
A weighted support analysis of that data reported a majority of the respondents were non-staff/non-parents living within the district.
A screengrab of the estimated tax impact for each bond referendum amount. Taken from School Preceptions presentation.
When considering where the ALC should be located after the lease expires, most of the groups supported using the former car dealership building.
The survey asked respondents to rate how likely they would recommend the school district to family or friends.
According to School Preceptions Project Manager Daren Sievers, Pine City had one piece of data stick out to him.
"There is one outlier that is unlike anything I've seen as I've presented this type of survey 60 or 70 times in the past year, and that is the number of people who gave you [Pine City Schools] a neutral score. They're not saying things are great, but they are also not going to criticize you," Sievers told the board.
Around 28% of people were neutral towards the district in the survey. Despite the outlier, Sievers said that respondents were still positive toward the district.
Community members wanting to view the presentation can do so on the Pine City School District’s website.
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