By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — The Board of Education was poised to give its blessing to a biennial school climate survey Monday, but held off a week to get one question answered.

The board asked district administrators to find out if an open-ended question, perhaps related to the district’s highly competitive nature, could be added to the survey.

“We talked a lot tonight about competitiveness and pressure,” board Vice Chairwoman Liz Heyer said, referring to a three-hour discussion on an equity study earlier in the meeting.

A climate survey of students, parents and staff is a state requirement, but local school districts have a say in the questions and form used to administer the document. The board has a policy requiring it to review and approve the document.

Because of the pandemic, the district skipped the 2020 survey. This time around, the plan is to offer the survey between May 30 and June 10 to students in grades 3-12, all parents and all staff.

Parents will get a chance to review the survey and opt out if they chose. Students can take the survey on paper instead of online if they choose. The answers will not be used in any identifying manner.

Survey results are expected the week of June 24 and will be presented to the board in the fall.

This time, the district plans to hire Panorama, a firm used in more than 1,500 school districts across the country and 32 Connecticut school districts, to administer the survey.

Assistant Supt. Michael Rizzo said surveys offered by Panorama take less time than the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory previously administrated, and can be customized.

Questions on a Westport survey could be different from those in a district like Bridgeport or even New Canaan, the board was told.

“Areas of focus can be altered,” Rizzo told the board, adding the questions selected can inform other district initiatives and staff professional development, as well as satisfy the state law.

Valerie Babich, the district’s coordinator of psychological services, said the questions asked this year are research backed and clearer than some on past surveys. There are no double-barreled questions that could confuse students, such as asking them if they observe teasing and bullying at school in the same question, she said.

The student survey will focus on school belonging, school climate, grit, school safety, school engagement and school-teacher relations.

The parent survey will ask about family engagement, school climate, grit and school safety.

The teacher and staff survey will ask about belonging, school climate, student grit, well-being, educating all students and school leadership.

“The questions seem pretty relevant and pretty neutral,” board member Dorie Hordon said.

Board Chairwoman Lee Goldstein said she never used to fill out the parent survey because some questions were impossible to answer.

“[Like] ‘How do adults in the building get along?’ I don’t know,” Goldstein said.

In this survey, parents will be asked, among other things, about interactions with teachers, school group and how often they discuss their child’s school with other parents from the school.

On the student survey, a section on grit asks students if they fail a goal how often they try again.

Heyer, however, said an open-ended question specifically about pressure might be in order.

One reason for the equity study, she added, was a low social emotional sense of belonging some students expressed on past surveys.

Although the surveys will be different than those used in the past, Heyer said she hopes information from the new questionnaire will help the district understand if there has been any movement in that respect.

Assistant Supt. Anthony Buono said there is an option for open-ended question, but the district did not opt for it.

“I think we should look into [an open-ended question],” said board member Christina Torres.

District officials plan to talk to Panorama about that possibility, and get back to the board with an answer when it meets May 2.

Linda Conner Lambeck is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.