Thursday, May
19, 2005
Wayland Town
Building
School
Committee Conference Room
Attendees
HSBC members:
Lea Anderson, Dianne Bladon, Brian Chase, Jim Howard, Eric Sheffels,
Steve Tise
Absent: Josh Bekenstein, Steve Breit, Mary Lentz, Joe Lewin, Cindy
Lombardo
Ex Officio
members: Bob Gordon,
Fred Knight
Call to order
– HSBC chairman
Lea Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
Discussion on
survey – Lea
updated the group on the survey progress since the last HSBC meeting in
March. Feedback received at that
meeting and subsequently from committee members, market researchers, and
several community members was the following:
-
The survey should be brief, simple, and direct.
-
The survey may not be Òstatistically validÓ, but will help the HSBC focus on
general areas of concern.
-
Other methods of gathering information can be used later. Based on the results of this initial
survey, the HSBC can follow up with telephone surveys, focus groups, public
forums, or informal gatherings.
Cost of
mailed survey – Lea
reported that she and HSBC member Dianne Bladon had received a range of
estimates for conducting the survey.
The estimates are as follows:
1. Lowest cost option $300
Includes
duplicating (2,000 copies), placing around town in library, schools, senior
center,
setting
up web version
2. Medium cost option $4,050
Includes
duplicating and mailing out to 8,000 registered voters, setting up web version,
return
postage for 400 surveys
3. Highest cost option $10,000
Includes
professional services of formatting, printing, postage for 8,000 pieces going
out and 400 coming in, coding, verbatims, data entry, cleaning/tabulations,
Internet survey set-up and project management
Dianne explained
that there is a $0.97 charge per piece for surveys coming back by mail under
the bulk mail permit. She agreed
that we would encourage people to put a stamp on the returned survey. These estimates are based on 400
surveys being returned by mail. If
many more are returned without a stamp, the estimates for options 2 and 3 could
be understated. She reported that
most people responding to a math curriculum mailed survey conducted by the
School Department used the Internet response option. We will clearly state that method of response on our survey.
Dianne reported
that there are volunteers in town willing to key the data and analyze the
survey. If there is a need for
professional help in analyzing the data (under option 1 or 2), the estimated
additional cost is $1,500.
Comments from
the group were:
- We could do a
combination of options 1 and 2, that is, put copies of the survey around town
and mail it to registered voters.
- Would there be
an issue regarding trust if we did the analysis ourselves?
- The survey
should be due back 2 or 3 weeks after it goes out, no more.
- This version
of the survey is much better than the 4-pager reviewed in March.
The group came
to the consensus that mailing 8,000 surveys to registered voters was preferable
to placing the survey around town.
It would reach a much wider range of citizens, not just parents of
school aged children or library users.
Dianne reported
that a group of volunteers is piloting the survey to about 20 people in town to
get one last round of feedback on the clarity of the questions.
Revisions to
the survey – Several
revisions were suggested to further clarify the survey questions. There was consensus to specifically
state dollar amounts in asking the question about the importance of state
reimbursement in voterÕs decisions last January. Dianne will incorporate the suggested changes to be part of
the pilot.
Motion
– A motion was
made by Dianne Bladon and seconded by Eric Sheffels to approve the minutes of
HSBC meeting #33 held on Monday, March 28, 2005.
Vote – The motion was approved unanimously (6 in
favor, 0 opposed).
Motion
– A motion was
made by Jim Howard and seconded by Eric Sheffles to authorize the expenditure
of up to an estimated (due the uncertainty of the number of surveys returned)
$5,000 to conduct the survey.
Vote - The motion was approved unanimously (6 in
favor, 0 opposed).
Next Steps: The pilot of the latest version of the
survey will be conducted over the next week. The survey will go out in early June.
Observers:
Pat Abramson, Gary Schlep, Michael Short
Comments and questions from observers:
- A copy of the recent
Globe article on funding of school building projects was handed to the
committee. The article explained
the increase in the estimated cost of funding the current list of approved
projects from the original estimate of $5 billion to $6.5 billion.
- The HSBC should mail
8,000 surveys, but not leave any around town to control the risk of people
filling out more than one survey.
- People could turn
survey in at Special Town Meeting in the fall.
- Require people to put a
stamp on the survey in order to return it.
- Try to reduce feelings
of distrust. For example, the HSBC
should have published the full cost of the project including interest payments.
- HSBC needs to be
prepared for answers they get from survey respondents.
Adjournment
– The HSBC
adjourned at 8:45 p.m.