MARYSVILLE – In its continued efforts to increase dialogue with the public, the Marysville School District has a new website for Community Engagement.

The site is www.marysville.thoughtexchange.com.

The goals of the site are to build trust and transparency, to help people connect with schools, and to share information using technology about strengths and weaknesses in the district.

“Collaborating and engaging with our public is more important now than ever,” said Becky Berg, district superintendent. “We are accountable to the people we serve so their voice is vital.”

The district used more-traditional methods such as meetings, town hall gatherings and community coffees to gather input on what the Marysville community wants from its schools last year. This year it is also including a more-modern approach, online, to not only gather information, but also report back to the community results from those surveys.

“In person engagement is wonderful, but there is only so much human capacity to ask open-ended questions, meet with groups and gather people’s input,” she said.

A survey taken last summer provides a perfect example how more information can be gathered more quickly using online methods.

In the survey, 2,062 people participated. The results are available on the new site.

If you go to the site, you can find out the results from the 23 schools in the district.

For example, one of the questions had to do with what needs to be done to improve the school? If you click on 10th Street School, the parents there by far say parent-teacher communication. But if you click on the Arts and Technology school, parents want discipline enforced.

Another question dealt with what is working well? If you click on Tulalip Heritage school, the parents there say cultural lessons. At Cedarcrest Middle School, they like being able to check grades online.

Finally, the last question asks what else is needed at school? At Marysville Pilchuck parents say community-based learning and work experience. While at Marysville Middle School they say more field trips.

District-wide highlights include:

Strengths

• Our staff truly care for students

• Staff collaborate around student learning

• Teachers are committed to student success

• Good communication between staff and parents

• Smaller classes and smaller schools = greater success

Opportunities for Improvement

• Improve communication between parents and teachers

• Have a clear, consistent discipline system

• Provide more, up-to-date technology

• Allow for greater diversity in learning needs

• Add more electives or allow program cross over