Encouraging Honesty In Safety Surveys
One value that we Americans have always put a premium on is honesty. As children, we were taught that honesty is the best policy. As adults, we are taught (mostly by experience, I believe) that coming clean works wonders. However, being honest seems to be a complicated thing these days. With the repercussions of being honest NOT always a good thing, it is understandable that many people find the necessity to tell so called white lies.
It seems that this is the case with majority of school safety surveys – at least according to Rhonda Thurman, school board member of Hamilton County. According to her:
The superintendent has a discipline committee and that’s great, but I’m not so naive as to think that if people have a problem, they’ll tell the superintendent.
She does have a point. If every school teacher were honest about the situation in their schools, they might incur the wrath of their superintendent, especially if the report somehow involves neglect on the part of the superintendent and his staff. So what is Ms. Thurman’s plan of action?
She and her reformed Hamilton County Board of Education discipline committee plan on making available a survey that will be completely anonymous. The idea is to make copies of the survey online – printable, of course. People who want to voice out their thoughts and concerns can then have copies printed out and then mail the survey anonymously.
I like the idea. It encourages people to be totally honest about what they think. The anonymity removes the element of fear – the fear of repercussions. This works in many other situations, in fact. That is why many surveys do not really collect the personal data of the respondents.
One concern that I have, however, is that the lack of accountability. Anonymity is like a double edged sword. On the one hand, it does encourage people to tell the truth, whether or not it is positive. On the other hand, anonymity might make some people feel free to merely bash the system and provide criticism that is not constructive. This can arise from the feeling of impunity that they may acquire from the anonymity.
I suppose that the success of the program would then depend on how the committee can weed out good feedback from the “trash.” The responsibility now lies in the hands of the people who are to analyze the data that they gather. At least, using this plan, more people will hopefully come out into the open and be honest about the safety issues in their schools.
Do you agree with me?
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Posted on June 4th, 2008 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, News, Parents, People Involved, School Safety Issues
Deborah,
I have some information I would like to share with you. Is there an alternate way to send you an email?
Catherine