SHAWANO, WI- During Monday night’s school board meeting, the Shawano Board of Education was made aware of a survey that was conducted to shed some light on some frustrations that are being felt in the district.
The survey was put together by a former school district employee and district parent Chris Marcks.
Marcks says she put the survey out after hearing from multiple current and former staff members that they were unhappy, and after experiencing some mistreatment herself.
Marcks started by posting videos about the situation but decided to let the board know directly what the teachers and staff are feeling.
“I decided to solicit information from staff members who were scared to speak up for fear of losing their jobs, from what I was told,” Marcks told the board before reading some of the comments.
There were 47 people who responded to the survey and of those, 92 percent are active teachers or professional staff. 51 percent have been with the district for 10 years or more.
Marcks told the board that she learned that 34 percent of those surveyed are actively looking for another job and 81 percent would leave the district if the right opportunity came along.
“89 percent of the respondents who have left or are leaving, shared that they were leaving for a preventable reason”, Marcks told the board.
The survey then asked a series of questions and topics to be graded on a scale of 1-5 with one being the worst and 5 being the best.
When asked about communication, and how well the district communicates, and the timeliness of the communication, 38 of the 47 scored it a 1 or a 2. When asked about transparency, 40 gave it a 1 or 2. When asked, “How much do you trust the information that is being shared by the district, the average score was 1.66 with no 4’s or 5’s.
When asked how well the school board listens to them, the average score was 1.62.
When asked if they know what is expected of them at work, the average score was 3.51 and was just under 3.5 when asked if they felt they were given the proper materials to do their jobs.
The survey then asked for comments on various issues including thoughts and feelings regarding the District leadership.
-I feel as though students are looked at and referred to as $9500, which sickens me!
-What leadership! Leadership is not bullying employees talking at them instead of listening to them. It is not segregating
people, or making people fear for their job! Leadership is working together, allowing everyone to have a voice so we can
make Shawano School District a place where people want to come!
-I feel that they don’t care about the teachers that are in the district teaching. They keep hiring administrators but don’t
seem to care about the people in the classrooms with the students.
-It is alarming how many employees are leaving the district! It is not enough to say, “It is a trend that is happening
everywhere.” That is not a good enough answer.
-You can’t go to anyone with concerns without feeling like your job is at risk. You can’t be honest. You are scared to come
forward with anything. I feel like there is only one person in charge and if you don’t like what they want, too bad. It’s all a dictatorship.
The survey asked what they wanted the school board to know about the situations that are taking place.
-Staff have been told to “figure it out” “If you don’t like it, don’t work here!” And “To keep their mouth shut, they are just a
teacher, what do they know?”
-The community chose them to be our voice! They need to stand up and do what is right for our teachers and children! If
they do not stand up for the rights of teachers and children the quality of education Shawano School District offers will
continue to decrease!
-A lot of teachers and staff are afraid to speak up about problems that arise as they are afraid of being fired. Teachers are
struggling with all the work we are given. Every year there is more and more put on our plate and nothing removed.
-You ABSOLUTELY MUST talk with the teachers in the buildings and find out how they really feel about things. You are
trusting in a superintendent that is driving excellent employees away and will ruin this district! Go into the schools! Find
out what is really going on!
-No one actually asks teachers what is happening in schools. Behaviors are out of control and there are no supports to
help.
Other topics questioned what they felt the most important area that the district tackles to better serve students, what have they learned after a COVID school year, and if they had other feedback for the board.
Marcks said these replies are average at best.
Parents spoke out about the survey results to the board.
“You guys, this is so alarming,” said parent Chelsea Gilling. “These are people who are teaching our children and people who taught us, and for this many concerns, this is alarming. I think we need some apologies here and I think we all need to be on the same page because this saddens me to be reading all of these comments.”
“This is dishearting to me as a parent and I think this needs to be made more public,” Sheila Aumann said. “I have had incredible experiences with all the teachers in the district and I am disheartened to hear that they are this frustrated and they don’t feel heard and they don’t feel that they are able to do their effort in the classroom.”
Gilling, Marcks and Aumann spent most of their time reading the survey comments. Jeana Winslow addressed the board with her own message.
“It hurts my heart,” I did not think there were that many voices that would speak up, and you have almost 50 employees that are coming forward,” she said holding back tears. “I feel there is distrust in our district going on that starts with you guys. We vote you guys in so that you will be the voice of the community, and I truly hope and pray that you guys look at the survey and keep an open mind.”
Winslow said she was disheartened to see only one board member fighting for teachers at the last school board meeting when they passed a pay increase of 1.24 percent.
“After the year we had, that was a real slap in the face to our teachers. I hope that comes back on the agenda and you guys rethink that. 1.24.”
Winslow said the survey showed the teachers agree.
“I don’t care where you have to make cuts, you find it. “We need to prove to them that they matter. Keep them here, we have amazing teachers.”
Since the discussion was held in public comment, the board could not discuss the issue with each other, but School Board President Michael Sleeper did make one comment to the community.
“I can tell that your comments were sincere and from the heart. We all are in this for the same reasons and I am really confident that we will continue to work together for the positive progress of the students in the district.”
See the entire survey below. The survey was given to the school board members prior to the Monday’s meeting.
Listen to the comments from the parents.
Comments from Chelsea Gilling
Comments from Sheila Aumann
Comments from Jeana Winslow
Comments