Franklin Regional will not use its Boston counseling team to conduct surveys of students, staff and parents

Franklin Regional School board members have decided not to continue a grant-funded, multi-year survey of students, staff and parents designed to improve communication between all parties.

By a 4-3 vote, the board rejected a proposal to use a “school climate survey” containing questions developed by the Boston Education Panorama. The first round of surveys was sent to Franklin Regional staff and district parents and guardians. Students will not participate in surveys until their second year of the program.

“All surveys would be anonymous and voluntary and would ask questions about issues that could create barriers for families to engage with the district,” said Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Baginski. “Parents are asked how connected they feel, how often they communicate with teachers, what obstacles exist to that engagement. Overall, it would give us a better idea of ​​how to improve our commitment to the family.”

Board members Deb Bucciero, Traci Eshelman Ramey, John Fallat and Deb Wohlin disagreed, voting against approving the surveys at the Oct. 21 meeting. Board members Mark Kozlosky and Josh Zebrak were not present.

“We’ve talked about surveys before,” Bucciero said. “I know that we can freely choose questions in the survey, and that the survey is anonymous and so on. However, I think that when you enter surveys, you get intrusive information about the private lives of families.”

Bucciero referred to: Story from 2021 from the website of Real Clear Education, a school district in Portland, Oregon, where it was published survey results hosted by Panorama.

“They start out asking normal questions, but then they start asking about gender, sexual identity and even suicide,” Bucciero said. “We should teach children the three R’s (“reading, writing, ‘arithmetic’).”

However, many of the survey questions included in the Oregon district’s report are not found in Panorama’s current survey guide or the list of questions teachers can choose from when preparing a survey for their students. The Oregon school’s published report also does not raise any questions about suicide.

None of Panorama’s current questions include references to sexual identity or suicide, and the only question that mentions race is in a section of general questions designed to understand the basic demographics of survey participants.

Both Bagiński and the information on the Panorama website say that student data from anonymous surveys will not be sold or disclosed for advertising purposes.

Franklin Regional administrators hosted and developed a public meeting on Zoom this fall to present the survey program to interested parents list of questions about the program that Bagiński presented at the last board meeting.

“Some of the questions were about what the survey would look like for students, so we felt it was important to develop these questions separately and present them at the May (2025) meeting to seek approval for use (next) fall,” Baginski said.

The first round of surveys would also include school district employees to collect anonymous data on the effectiveness of professional development programs and whether teachers feel supported by the administration.

Board member Scott Weinman, who voted in favor of the surveys, made the case for using them.

“They give us an idea of ​​how parents and teachers view the district and how helpful they think we are,” he said. “Panorama does not share data with any third parties, and school districts select topics based on what they believe works best in their communities.”

Bucciero disagreed.

“I’m not saying our school is doing anything wrong,” she said. “I think we just have to be careful about what we say yes to.” The district wants to do what’s right to help children, and there are children at the school who are struggling and need help with social or mental health issues. But I guess that’s what parents are for.”

Weinman, along with board members Vince Azzolina and Kevin Kurimsky, voted for the surveys, which would cost about $18,000 the first year and $16,000 the next two years.

“I just don’t think broad surveys are effective,” said board member John Fallat. “I would prefer an internal, targeted survey developed by the school rather than a survey developed by a third party. I think the school does a good job of providing a lot of support to teachers and students, but I always side with data privacy.”