A Wednesday night discussion about the wording of school policies resulted in a long discussion among Hamilton Southeastern School Board members and required one person making a public comment to have his microphone muted when he refused to stop speaking once the 3-minute time limit expired.
The policy discussion centered on whether the school corporation should use an opt-in policy for surveys and some other school activities that are currently opt-out for parents. Some board members seemed to favor requiring parents to opt-in to activities such as the Panorama survey of students, rather than the current system allowing parents to opt-out.
Some board members expressed concern that the opt-in would not allow enough participants in a process such as the Panorama survey because the participation would not be high enough to provide enough data.
Michelle Fullhart said many parents don’t respond either way to an opt-in or opt-out, meaning fewer families would end-up participating in an opt-in process.
The board considered the policy changes over access to instructional materials, consent for participation, curriculum and animals on school property. You can find links to all the proposed changes and consolidation of polices at this link. (Access Board Meeting October 13, view the agenda, and Information Item 6.03)
This was an information item on the agenda so no vote was taken. It appears the policy changes will be considered again by the school district’s policy committee and considered by the board in a future session.
The problem is that, opt-in or opt-out, you introduce a selection bias to the survey. This diminishes the validity of the results, and makes it a less useful tool for the corporation. Therefore, wasted money. We are in an era where people make things up and it spreads virally on social media. It’s important for good decision-making processes to have good data sets where you understand the methods and provenance.
I don’t understand the opposition to this survey. Right now, there is a small but vocal minority dominating the news on this topic (and others), and a largely silent majority that is fine with things as they are. It’s the “nobody calls customer service when things are working” scenario. If there is a survey that includes all (or even nearly all) students, this keeps the attention on the overall picture in our schools and diminishes the impact of the squeaky wheel. Conversely, a survey with obvious selection bias is of little or no utility, and allows the squeaky wheel to continue to garner disproportionate levels of attention.
I have yet to hear what any of the concerns actually are. Every other complaint from this group is similar in shape. It’s only “we’re opposed to this”, and never “this is what we want instead” or “this is how to make it better”. Complaints are noise … propose constructive, alternate solutions. What is it that you actually want? Or is it only fear, uncertainty, and doubt? And control.
Opt-In or Opt-Out debate is thinking past the sale.