At their most recent meeting, the Mid-Prairie School Board received a presentation from their School Improvement Advisory Committee about a district needs assessment. Superintendent Mark Schneider explains, every school district in Iowa has an advisory committee that looks at ways to improve the school in a variety of ways. The Mid-Prairie committee was asked to come up with a survey, which will be sent via email to parents in the district, and they will be able to complete it anonymously. Parents without access to email or computers will be able to take the survey at the Kalona or Wellman Public Libraries, or at any of the schools.

According to Schneider, the survey will contain a wide variety of questions about the district, including school safety, school culture, and academics. The results of the survey will give the school a kind of map that can be sorted based on certain criteria. Schneider adds, “Based on that information, we’ll make plans on how we can improve what we do at Mid-Prairie. Because no matter how good we are, we can always get better.” Once parents receive the survey, Schneider says they’ll have two weeks to take it. It’s estimated to take around 15 minutes to complete. As an added incentive, the school will randomly select two parents who complete the assessment to receive $50 gift certificates. To learn more about the district needs assessment, listen to the In Touch with Southeast Iowa interview with Schneider at KCIIRadio.com.