Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Phone Survey Results

The results of the BCTA Clarksville Survey are now available and included herein:
The survey included 205 individuals (102 female, 103 male) and involved 5 zip code areas:

by Gender




Total
205
100%

F
102
50%

M
103
50%



by Zip




Total
205
100%
 Clarksville
12041
36
18%
 Delmar
12054
55
27%
 Feura Bush
12067
25
12%
 Slingerlands
12159
78
38%
 Voorheesville
12186
11
5%


The first question read:
Closure of the Clarksville Elementary School in the Bethlehem Central School District has been proposed as one way to balance enrollment and financial issues in future years. Please indicate your likely level of support or opposition to this proposed closure. The scale will be very strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, very strongly oppose:

Total
205
100%
Strongly support
26
13%
Somewhat support
23
11%
Somewhat oppose
24
12%
Strongly oppose
122
60%
[dnr] Unsure
10
5%


The next question read:
The closure of the Clarksville Elementary School and the resulting ramifications could be seen as a favorable outcome by some and an unfavorable outcome by others. In your estimation would you consider the closing of Clarksville Elementary, overall, to be a very favorable, somewhat favorable or not at all favorable outcome?

Total
205
100%
Very favorable
15
7%
Somewhat favorable
40
20%
Not at all favorable
140
68%
[dnr] Unsure
10
5%


The results were then sorted by zip code areas and gender:
Question #1


12041
12054
12067
12159
12186
Total

F
M
Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

100%
100%
Strongly support
0%
20%
0%
19%
0%
13%

15%
11%
Somewhat support
3%
0%
8%
24%
9%
11%

12%
11%
Somewhat oppose
8%
15%
4%
10%
36%
12%

11%
13%
Strongly oppose
89%
58%
84%
40%
55%
60%

58%
61%
[dnr] Unsure
0%
7%
4%
6%
0%
5%

5%
5%


Question #2


12041
12054
12067
12159
12186
Total

F
M
Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

100%
100%
Very favorable
0%
11%
0%
12%
0%
7%

9%
6%
Somewhat favorable
0%
15%
20%
31%
27%
20%

23%
17%
Not at all favorable
97%
71%
72%
51%
73%
68%

65%
72%
[dnr] Unsure
3%
4%
8%
6%
0%
5%

4%
6%


Finally, the results available to us as of this date include:

BCSD Poll for Bethlehem CTA - RE: 2.11, Canvassing on Proposed Closure of Clarksville Elementary, Among Selected District Parents

Analysis of Q4 - Is there any other alternative you might suggest before resorting to the closure of Clarksville Elementary?
1.       Noteworthy that for the word ‘close’ and aliases, 27 of 36 responses dealt with an alternative school-related closure – e.g., Eagle, Elsmere and Hamagrael was also mentioned
2.       Other responses related to closure of the administrative offices, older buildings, etc.
3.       ‘Close’ and aliases account for the largest word frequency with those 36 occurrences
4.       District, redistrict, redistricting – 34 times make this word and aliases the second largest word frequency count from the sample question
5.       Of 34, 24 specifically dealt with redistricting or redistrict as alternative options to the closure of Clarksville Elementary
6.        A verbatim list of the responses follows in an as is, as recorded state at the time of interviews, for your perusal and to possibly suggest further analysis:
Note: 99 is a uniform code for no actual or informative response given and those were removed (86) leaving us 121 verbatims with content:
a lack of fore thought from admin and school board
admin to look at teachers salary , insurance and pension costs methods
administration is top heavy and redistrict it again
administrative cuts and closing admin offfices
analyze viability of the closeness of elementary schools redistricting
check to see viability of closing other elementary schools and rental of prop
clarkville will continue to grow with nanotech and we should use caution
close a different elementary closer  to eagle
close and sell eagle school and redistribute students more pub awareness
close eagle
close elesmere or hamagrael
close elsemere and rent out to raise revenue
close elsemere building too old
close elsemere no land too many schools in town
close elsemere older school no room for expansion
close elsemere or glenmont and sell them worth more money
close elsmere due to its real estate value
close elsmere school
close glenmont and sell the property worth more
close hammergrill and sell for revenue
close of elsemere better control budget
close or do something different with elsemere look for other revenues
close the eagle elementary school make eagle a middle school
closing another school that they havent put 3 mil into recently
closing elsemere and move district offices there
closing elsemere and using it as district offices and lease out extra space
closing elsemere elementary
closing elsmere and renting to generate income
consolidate the central offices and contract out the busses instead of buying
could close elsmere and make that district offices and then sell building
cross the board cuts increase efficiency such as busing redistrict
cut back on technology and sports
cut higher paid adminisstrators
cut other services
cut spending
cut technology budget for middle and high school
cutting admin salaries
decrease superintendant salary
dont purchase laptops for jr hi
DONT PUT COMPUTERS INTO EACH KIDS HANDS
early retirement incentives
education before sports sports self funding  a lot to be saved
elesmere is need of renovation worse shape than clarksville
eliminate waste small cuts to make school efficient
elsemere closure
feeze all salaries pension and benefits
freeze pay
get rid of the laptop idea
hire a better consulting firm next time they do a redistricting
if staff would go a year without a pay raise
lay off the big wigs who make all the money
look  labor cntracts and modify them and the bussing sitatin clse adams pl
look at 8 mil for laptops. cut back on sports. clarksville is only one be expa
look at budgetary cuts such as lap tops to middleschol students
look at closing elsemere
look at closing elsemere
look at closing glenmont and leasing it out and make revenue
look at closure of elsmere and use it as commecial
look at extra curricular and sports and why eagle? fisher blvd development?
look at hamagrail school to close it is older and small use for offices
look at outsourcing of bussing or evaluationg if busses are needed
look at whole pic tighten the budget close older buildings redistrict
look closer at the budget to try to avoid this closure
look into conditions of elsemere elmentary
look into tighten their belt cut sports
looking into bus service outside of the district
make it a tech school or some other special school for gifted prgms
more funding option closing elsemere cut deeper into sports
move district office and sell that building
move out of adams and close elsmere admin & athletic exp share staff
moving district offices shut down 90 adams place
no
no
not doing 8 mil computer, cut extra curricular prgms fisher project
not look into new technology for rest of schools
par down administrators at all schools
pay cut for higher political powers
possibility of renegotiation of contract
privatize bus service
raise taxes rebalance classrooms by redistricting
readjust the district lines to even out school population
redistrict
redistrict
redistrict again
redistrict again
redistrict more evenly
redistrict the school district
redistrict to balance out school population
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting
redistricting and closing 90 adams place(do) & relocating that at el school
redistricting bring more students to clarksville
redistricting whole district
reducing salaries of administration.
relocate district office in clarksville
renegotiatesalaries
reorganization of the school board and eagle el was not needed
salary freeze
salary heALTH CARE AND PENSIONS OF ADMIN TEACHERS SRP
slingerlands k-2 and clarksville 3-5 slingerlands is already setup for kinderg
splitting the classes
stop building and keep existing schools open
stop running nearly empty busses
stop spending money dont have
stop spending so much money on technology laptops
teachers not take a salary for a year and also superintendent. do like others
throw out the school board and come up with realistic workable options
tighten belts find savings elsewhere
turn into lab school make it a science and tech school
what about elsmere it needs lots of work
whatever you do do it quick to limit the impact on the children
why did they build eagle
why not look at elsmere school at the same time
you would rather see an elementary school close than split

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Slingerlands and Delmar made up 65% of the population on this survey. Does this mean the majority of families attending Clarksville are not from Clarksville? They are being bused from Sling/Delmar?

Anonymous said...

I think the most valuable information from this survey could be the comments. Unfortunately, we don't have included the reasons why someone would be somewhat anything. I'm sure some fencesitters are concerned about the districts commitment - ie: the school district chooses to keep it open but not give to Clarksville more students or there might be some that would like to see Clarksville stay open but feel it will only be temporary - many parents have been through this before and wonder when the school district is going to stop targeting Clarksville.

James Cable said...

Please note that the Delmar Zip Code 12054 extends to include addresses on Upper Flat Rock Rd on the outskirts of the hamlet of Clarksville so the survey results should be viewed while taking this into account.

Anonymous said...

It's clear that the vast majority of residents don't want the school closed -- 72% is a compelling number. Even more interesting is that the majority of folks from Slingerlands (those that travel up to Clarskville)are opposed to its closure as well. This needs to be shared with Breslin and McEneny.

Anonymous said...

Breslin and Mcneny are more worried about the teacher union lobbyists that will be pounding on their doors everyday tiring to save their step increases and pension pay!! Lets be real about who has more influence!