UPDATE ON CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY ASK
11/30/2020
WE ASKED - SPS ANSWERED.
Last week, Rector Kathy Giles responded to our letter asking the school to undertake a comprehensive campus climate survey administered by a third party. We believe that such an undertaking is a crucial step towards transparency and would evidence a clear commitment to understanding the needs and experiences of current students.
Here's what we heard back:
SPS has been taking surveys for "internal purposes" only. Rector Giles expressed concern that disclosure could "impact students' willingness to participate" and "impair" SPS's ability "to obtain data that reflects the current life of the school."
She also suggested that informed consent" might present a legal barrier to disclosing the results of a campus climate survey. We checked the consent for one of the studies they use, The Independent School Health Check - it appears clearly on their website, on page 14 of their admin manual. The school says they used a different form but declined our request to see it.
Rector Giles stated that the school "can review" the legal provisions and prior presentation, and the Education and Student Life Committee of the Board of Trustees "can discuss" the issue of disclosure and whether our request is "consistent with the informed consent provisions represented" at the time of prior surveys during their next meeting in January.
Our thoughts:
Legal impediments rarely if ever prevent all forms of disclosure, but rather may impact its form - for example, by requiring obfuscation or otherwise compelling a greater level of detail removal. The same can be said of information about past abuses that SPS has not disclosed, citing privacy issues.
It doesn't appear that disclosure has impaired Andover's ability to obtain data, nor any other school that has disclosed survey results.
It is unclear what exactly the Education and Student Life Committee is and what their role and authority consists of. The most recent Google result that they appear in is from 2010.
We hope that "we can review" becomes "we will review" and that the Education and Student Life Committee "can discuss" will become "will discuss and communicate their decision to alumni."



