PONDERAY — In addition to the 70 people who participated in the Lake Pend Oreille School District's strategic planning community meetings in January, nearly 1,200 people completed an online survey.

The strategic planning process began in October in an effort to drive future decisions of the district by outlining needs and goals over the short- and long-term. The ultimate goal is to develop five or six priorities to improve student learning throughout the district, said LPOSD Superintendent Shawn Woodward. The first steps in the process included developing a strategic planning committee and seeking public input.

"(The committee) has reviewed the survey data and has begun the process of establishing draft priorities for our five-year plan," Woodward said as he presented a summary of the data during Tuesday's school board meeting.

Of those who responded to the survey, 401 identified as a parent or guardian of a student in the district, 248 were students, 211 staff members, 111 parents who are also staff members, and 198 community members.

"We did a similar survey about four years ago, so it has been interesting for me to compare the two," Woodward told the board.

One difference is more non-staff members took the survey this time around, which is a "healthy perspective," he said, before moving on to discuss responses to each question on the survey.

The first question was, "What are the greatest challenges or issues LPOSD will face over the next five years?" Maintaining physical facilities was at the top of the list, though Woodward said the percentage listed next to it meant that 62 percent of the 1,200 respondents had that in their top five. They were not required to rank their top five in order. Next on the list, with 46 percent picking it in their top five, was hiring and retaining high quality educators. Providing a rigorous educational program that will prepare students for college and career, maintaining optimal class sizes, and addressing the growing stress on families were popular picks as well.

The next question, "What are the most important skills and abilities students must master to be prepared for a successful future?" garnered answers that focused on soft skills, such as self reliance, independence, organizational skills, leadership skills, ability to collaborate and communication skills.

"Four years ago, there were more people who were picking math and science, or reading and writing — traditional subject areas," Woodward said, adding that none of the traditional subjects were in the top five this time around.

Other questions surrounded evaluation of quality of education, the most effective methods of engaging residents, and financial priorities. Facilities again came up as a financial priority, as did retaining staff, ensuring students are receiving up-to-date educational materials, keeping rural schools open and maintaining class sizes.

Woodward said the summary of responses will be posted on the district's website, though he is still going through the raw data.

"What the raw data does not include are the comments yet," Woodward said. "There were a lot of comments, which is great, but I am still going through and removing anything that is directed at personnel, so that is taking a little bit of time."

The summary does include a breakdown of which answers were in the top five for every group, as well as general responses to open-ended questions, such as, "In your opinion, what is LPOSD doing well?" Answers included advanced opportunities for students and staff excellence, as well as communication and seeking input, though that came up as an area the district needs to improve on as well. As far as what the district could improve, answers surrounded increasing opportunities for students to follow a career path rather than college and developing a long-range plan for improving and replacing facilities.

Because of the recurring theme surrounding facilities, Woodward said that will be a big bucket priority over the next five years. To address aging and deteriorating facilities, the district ran a controversial $55 million plant facilities levy in 2016 that failed.

Woodward asked board members on Tuesday for permission to open up the application process to again form a facilities advisory committee. 

"Our goal is to do is to do things radically different this time around and learn from some of our errors," Woodward said. "... We are looking at wanting to meet beginning in April, so to select a group by then that is well representative of our community."

The committee will consist of about 20 people who will have to commit to two years, Woodward said. The group will meet no more than twice a month, he said, but at least once a month for the next two years. Woodward said they will publish minutes from those meetings, as well as host discussions during each school board meeting, so people can listen, comment and know "exactly" where the committee is at every step along the way.

No official vote was needed by the board to approve the application process, though approval was unanimous.

Woodward said the application will posted on the district's website at lposd.org by the end of next week. There will be an online form to fill out, or applicants can pick up an application at the district office at that time.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.