Staff give district high marks on survey but improvement is goal

The Grafton School District hit five-year highs in multiple categories on its recent staff survey, and more people took it than last year.

Supt. Jeff Nelson said of 270 staff members, 234 took the survey (86.6%) compared to 167 (62%) last year.

“We made a bigger emphasis on getting staff to take our surveys,” Nelson said.

“If we’re going to make decisions based on our results, then we want to have as many people taking the survey as possible to make sure our results truly are indicative of all staff and maybe not just someone who’s really happy or really upset or wherever they fall on that spectrum.”

A couple of the areas Nelson and the district wanted to improve were staff satisfaction with the cleanliness of the school, classrooms and office space and that students show respect for staff.

Eighty-four percent of staff members  agree or strongly agree the spaces are clean, up 15% from last year but still below the district’s goal of 90%.

Students showing respect for staff was up to 80%, a 16% increase.

Eighty-eight percent agreed that morale in the work environment is good.

“We are trending in the right direction on the areas that we want improvement on to get to that 90% across the board,” Nelson said.

Among questions with the highest ratings over the last five years (agree or strongly agree with the statement) were:

• 98% say that the vision for our district is clear.

• 98% feel safe in buildings.

• 97% say teachers use data to improve instructional practices to meet the needs of diverse learners.

• 90% have the opportunity to be involved in decisions affecting my work.

• 91% say their principal/supervisor is responsive and addresses concerns effectively.

• 91% say quality work is expected of all students at my school.

• 97% say the staff is working together to improve student teaching and learning.

• 97% of staff would recommend their school or department to a friend.

• 96% say they work in a positive professional work environment.

• 95% are satisfied with the district.

• 94% are comfortable bringing an issue to their supervisor.

• 92% say the principal is an effective instructional leader.

A new part of the survey addressed virtual learning and got mixed results.

Fifty-three percent of staff are satisfied with virtual learning days while 45% say student engagement during those days is moderate to high.

Fifty-five percent support including virtual learning days in the future.

“We don’t make any decisions where it makes that many people unhappy, so we look at how are we doing it. How can we be more effective? How can we have students be engaged more this year? We already have our calendar set. We’re doing these days,” Nelson said.

“Then as we look ahead to future calendars what does that look like?”

Nelson said feedback from the staff, members administrators and parents feedback will be taken into account when making the decision for the 2026-27 school year.