Ninety-five members of the newly formed Community Response Team, or CRT, showed up Monday evening for their first chance to weigh in on the high school space planning process. Unfortunately, the technology to capture their responses was AWOL.
Instead of using computerized touch pads to record and tabulate their replies instantly, members of the CRT provided their answers on paper. The results, which would have been displayed immediately in the high school auditorium, must now be tabulated manually by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
Pam Rewey, a WASB representative on site for the meeting, said the information should be available later this week. Sun Prairie Today will post the results.
When the technology works, it displays the information as bar graphs, so participants can see how fellow group members' views are distributed.
Fixing the glitch
After the meeting, school board president Mary Ellen Havel Lang discussed a plan to test the technology in the auditorium before the CRT meets next.
This group, which includes randomly chosen registered voters as well as 10 high school delegates, will meet four more times as a means of determining if the High School Planning Team is on track.
What they voted on
All of Monday's questions were based on the following problem statement and some related factors -- the result of an intense fact-gathering process that began in October:
High school space is needed. The existing high school, by board guidelines, contains barriers to learning due to growing enrollments. The solution must be cost effective.
Steve Havens, a Sun Prairie resident who has been facilitating the planning through a process called Choosing by Advantages, said the goal is to find consensus. "We need the show of support for the problem statement.
"If the support is not there," he said, "then we have to adjust the problem statement. Once we get the numbers, we'll know the level of support."
Havens said tallies of more than 50 percent will constitute support -- "but we will be sensitive to close calls."
Participant reaction
Throughout the evening, various participants asked for clarifications on questions. Some indicated they wanted more information on which to base their replies.
As she left the auditorium, CRT member Laura Grove said the process "was more black and white" than she'd anticipated. "I thought there would be more discussion, more openness. But it was more just answering specific questions we were asked."
Anna Berberet, 17, one of the CRT's high school representatives, said that despite the technology glitch, she felt the meeting went well.
Now that members have a better understanding of how the process works, she added, "I think future meetings will be a lot better."
For more information on the high school planning process, visit the Sun Prairie Area School District Web site.
