Survey Going Out on Policy CKA
Written by Andrew-Rossi on February 8, 2018
2400 registered voters in Park County School District 6 can expect to receive a survey in the mail asking their opinion on proposed policy CKA.
The policy, which would allow for school staff members to be armed as a defensive measure in the case of a school shooting, has been the focus of debate among parents, students, and the community at large. Trustee Jenni Rosencranse had urged the board to create a carefully controlled survey that would allow them to make a more informed decision on whether or not to move forward with this policy.
Rosencranse, along with board chair Kelly Simone, consulted survey experts at both Montana State University and the University of Wyoming, who confirmed that sending out between a thousand and 1500 surveys would give an accurate sampling. But at Tuesday evening’s work session, several board members pushed for a larger cross section of the population.
At issue is the cost of the survey. Rosencranse told the board that she expected to invest as little money as possible to gather this information, but both the Universities quoted a price closer to $14,000. After further research, it was determined that the board would work with the county elections office to pull a random sample of registered voters within the school district, and the cost to send out a paper survey would be around $1 per survey.
Another concern of the board is accuracy. While online surveys are convenient and inexpensive, it opens the door for individuals to submit multiple surveys. During the work session, the board settled on details of the survey that would make it difficult for anyone to submit more than one opinion.
The board is scheduled to vote on the first reading of Policy CKA at their next scheduled board meeting on February 20.
