MBEF surveys district parents, teachers for input on academics, on-campus programs

download — Parents and teachers were surveyed by MBEF for input on academic programs on campus. The survey may determine what programs are continued and are created.

Karli Wallace

Staff Writer

The Manhattan Beach Education Foundation issued its 2018 Teacher and Parent Survey on its website on Jan. 16 and closed the survey on Feb. 1 in order to receive parent input on academics and extracurricular programs.

Parents and teachers from the district’s five elementary schools, Manhattan Beach Middle School and Mira Costa High School responded to the survey, which consisted of 14 questions that asked them to rate the importance of MBEF-funded programs. The survey also let parents give suggestions for programs that MBEF may consider funding in the future, MBEF Executive Director Farnaz Flechner said.

“My understanding is that MBEF is always looking for input and feedback to make sure that their research allocations match with what the community wants because they are working with community funds,” Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said.

Due to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s tight budget, MBEF hopes to sustain the majority of the programs at Costa and will not make any drastic changes in the aftermath of its parent and teacher survey, Flechner said.

“We issue the survey every two years to ensure that our grant making priorities are aligned with those of parents and teachers,” Flechner said.

According to the survey results, parents prioritized class size reduction, drug and alcohol awareness programs and mathematical professional development. Parents rated zero period, STEM electives and social inclusion and innovation as less of a priority.

“[The MBEF survey] definitely shows both concern and interest,” Dale said. “Parents recognize that small class sizes contribute to [Mira Costa’s] success and that there is a concern about the rise in drug and alcohol issues, particularly vaping. The community, aside from being an arts community, is a STEM community. We are an emerging STEM program, especially in the areas of technology and engineering, but we aren’t quite there yet.”

Approximately 40% of the district’s parents responded to the survey and 60% of teachers responded. MBEF’s last survey had 33% parent participation and 75% teacher participation. Parents from Grand View Elementary and Pacific Elementary teachers had a higher response rate, and Costa teachers had the lowest participation in the survey.

“It is our goal to align our strategy with the priorities of parents and teachers,” Flechner said. “As a community based organization, it is important that our decisions are based off of our community’s needs. The input from this survey certainly helps us stay in tune with our base.”