K12 Insight Proposal 12-24 E-Version (Public)

Transcription

Proposal of Services for
The Cooperative Purchasing Network (TCPN)
Response to:
Solicitation Number 12-24
Request for Proposal
Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools
Submitted by:
K12 Insight
13454 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 440
Herndon, VA 20171
(703) 956-6460 ext. 314
Because Perspective Matters
March 26, 2012
Mr. Jason Wickel
Senior Vice President
TCPN
11280 West Road
Houston, TX 77065
Dear Mr. Wickel,
Zarca Interactive, Inc. ADBA K12 Insight is pleased to submit this proposal in line with your
Solicitation #12-24 for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools. Helping school
districts build higher levels of engagement with their stakeholders represents the core of our competence
as an organization. We are excited to have this opportunity whereby we may be able to offer our solution
to districts around the country through TCPN.
We have worked with over 300 school districts around the country. The need for public schools
to build higher levels of engagement has never been more urgent. The advent of Social Media has
fundamentally altered the landscape for public schools and it will never go back to how things were
before the Internet and Social Media. As our proposal clearly outlines, we are an organization with proven
experience and expertise to service the requirements you have listed in the RFP.
Every district is unique in its goals, history and challenges and opportunities before it. We do not
believe that a one-size-fits-all solution for all districts. Our proposal details the combination of technology
and human expertise that are necessary to create a customized solution for each school district. We also
have the capacity to address the volume of business that is likely to result from a contract awarded by
TCPN. As our references will tell you, we are not satisfied until our client districts are satisfied.
Please consider our proposal in detail. We welcome questions and comments. We hope to be
selected and look forward to serving school districts around the country together with TCPN.
Sincerely,
Suhail Farooqui
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) TAB 1 – VENDOR CONTRACT AND SIGNATURE FORM
VENDOR CONTRACT
Between
Zarca Interactive, Inc. ADBA K12 Insight
and
THE COOPERATIVE PURCHASING NETWORK (TCPN)
For
The following pages will constitute the contract between the successful vendor(s) and The
Cooperative Purchasing Network (hereinafter referred to as “TCPN”), having its principal place of
business at 11280 West Road, Houston, TX 77065. Respondent shall include in writing any required
exceptions or deviations from these terms, conditions, and specifications. If agreed to by TCPN, they
will be incorporated into the final contract
This contract consists of the provisions set forth below, including provisions of all attachments
referenced herein. In the event of a conflict between the provisions set forth below and those
contained in any attachment, the provisions set forth below shall control.
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Cancellation for non-performance or contractor deficiency:
TCPN may terminate any contract if Members have not used the contract, or if purchase volume is
determined to be “low volume” in any 12-month period. TCPN reserves the right to cancel the whole
or any part of this contract due to failure by contractor to carry out any obligation, term or condition of
the contract. TCPN may issue a written deficiency notice to contractor for acting or failing to act in
any of the following:
x
x
x
x
x
x
Providing material that does not meet the specifications of the contract;
Providing work and/or material that was not awarded under the contract;
Failing to adequately perform the services set forth in the scope of work and specifications;
Failing to complete required work or furnish required materials within a reasonable amount of
time;
Failing to make progress in performance of the contract and/or giving TCPN reason to believe
that contractor will not or cannot perform the requirements of the contract; and/or
Performing work or providing services under the contract prior to receiving a TCPN reviewed
purchase order for such work.
Upon receipt of a written deficiency notice, contractor shall have ten (10) days to provide a
satisfactory response to TCPN. Failure to adequately address all issues of concern may result in
contract cancellation.
Upon cancellation under this paragraph, all goods, materials, work,
documents, data and reports prepared by contractor under the contract shall become the property of
the Member on demand.
COOPERATIVE PURCHASING
This contract is based on the need for TCPN to provide the economic benefits of volume purchasing
and reduction in administrative costs through cooperative purchasing to schools and other Members.
Although contractors may restrict sales to certain public units (for example, state agencies or local
government units), any contract that prohibits sales from being made to public school districts may
not be considered. Sales without restriction to any Members are preferred.
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Cooperative purchasing agreements: Cooperative Purchasing Agreements between TCPN and its
Members have been established under state procurement law.
Cooperative purchasing contracts: Offeror agrees all prices, terms, warranties, and benefits
granted by offeror to Members through this contract are comparable to or better than the equivalent
terms offered by offeror to any present customer meeting the same qualifications or requirements
Customer Support
The vendor shall provide timely and accurate technical advice and sales support to TCPN staff and
TCPN participants. The vendor shall respond to such requests within one (1) working day after
receipt of the request.
Assignment of Contract
No assignment of contract may be made without the prior written approval of TCPN. Purchase
orders and payment can only made to awarded vendor unless otherwise approved by TCPN.
Awarded vendor is required to notify TCPN when any material change in operations is made that
may adversely affect TCPN’s members, (i.e. bankruptcy, change of ownership, merger, etc.)
FORM OF CONTRACT
Contract type: The term contract shall be a percent of discount off manufacturer’s price list or
catalog, or fixed price, or a combination of both with indefinite quantities.
Form of contract: The form of contract for this solicitation shall be the Request for Proposal, the
awarded proposal(s) and best and final offer(s), and properly issued and reviewed purchase orders
referencing the requirements of the Request for Proposals. If a firm submitting an offer requires
TCPN and/or Member to sign an additional agreement, a copy of the proposed agreement must be
included with the proposal.
Parol evidence: The contract, as specified above, represents the final written expression of
agreement. All agreements are contained herein and no other agreements or representations that
materially alter it are acceptable.
Vendor contract documents: TCPN will review proposed vendor contract documents. Vendor’s
contract document shall not become part of TCPN’s contract with vendor unless and until an
authorized representative of TCPN reviews and approves it.
LICENSES
Contractor shall maintain in current status all federal, state and local licenses, bonds and permits
required for the operation of the business conducted by contractor. Contractor shall remain fully
informed of and in compliance with all ordinances and regulations pertaining to the lawful provision of
services under the contract. TCPN reserves the right to stop work and/or cancel the contract of any
contractor whose license(s) expire, lapse, are suspended or terminated.
All applicable software license agreements, warranties or service agreements that were entered into
between Vendor and Customer under the terms and conditions of the Contract shall survive the
expiration or termination of the Contract. All Purchase Orders issued and accepted by Order Fulfiller
shall survive expiration or termination of the Contract.
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Disclosures
Respondent affirms that he/she has not given, offered to give, nor intends to give at any time
hereafter any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, trip,
favor or service to a public servant in connection with this contract.
Include a complete description of any and all relationships that might be considered a conflict of
interest in doing business with participants in TCPN.
The respondent affirms that, to the best of his/her knowledge, the offer has been arrived at
independently, and is submitted without collusion with anyone to obtain information or gain any
favoritism that would in any way limit competition or give an unfair advantage over other vendors in
the award of this contract.
Renewal of Contract
Unless otherwise stated, all contracts are for a period of three (3) years with an option to renew
annually for an additional two (2) one –year extensions. TCPN shall review the contract prior to the
renewal date and notify the current awarded vendor each year of the contract renewal. Awarded
vendor shall honor the administrative fee for any sales occurred beyond 30 days on any sales made
based on a TCPN contract whether awarded a renewal or not. TCPN reserves the right to exercise
two (2) one-year extensions at the same time.
Funding Out Clause
Any/all contracts exceeding one (1) year shall include a standard “funding out” clause. A contract for
the acquisition, including lease, of real or personal property is a commitment of the entity’s current
revenue only, provided the contract contains either or both of the following provisions:
Retains to the entity the continuing right to terminate the contract at the expiration of each budget
period during the term of the contract and is conditioned on a best efforts attempt by the entity to
obtain appropriate funds for payment of the contract.
Ordering Procedures
Purchase orders are issued by participating entities to the awarded vendor stating “Per TCPN
Contract”.
Audit rights
Supplier shall, at Supplier’s sole expense, maintain appropriate due diligence of all purchases made
by Region 4 ESC and any entity that utilizes this Agreement. TCPN and Region 4 ESC each reserve
the right to audit the accounting for a period of three (3) years from the time such purchases are
made. This audit right shall survive termination of this Agreement for a period of one (1) year from
the effective date of termination. TCPN shall have the authority to conduct random audits of
Supplier’s pricing that is offered to eligible entities at TCPN's sole cost and expense.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that TCPN is made aware of any pricing being offered to
eligible agencies that is materially inconsistent with the pricing under this agreement, TCPN shall
have the ability to conduct an extensive audit of Supplier’s pricing at Supplier’s sole cost and
expense. TCPN may conduct the audit internally or may engage a third-party auditing firm. In the
event of an audit, the requested materials shall be provided in the format and at the location
designated by Region 4 ESC or TCPN.
Contract placed on hold
TCPN shall have the ability to place a contract on hold, if it is deemed necessary to address ongoing
problems with an awarded contract. Details of the decision to place the contract on hold shall be
provided in a written deficiency notice. A reasonable amount of time shall be provided to contractor
to address issues in the written deficiency notice.
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Novation
If contractor sells or transfers all assets or the entire portion of the assets used to perform this
contract, a successor in interest must guarantee to perform all obligations under this contract. TCPN
reserves the right to accept or reject any new party. A simple change of name agreement will not
change the contractual obligations of contractor.
Order of precedence
In the event of a conflict in the provisions of the contract as accepted by TCPN, the following order of
precedence shall prevail:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Special terms and conditions
General terms and conditions
Specifications and scope of work
Attachments and exhibits
Documents referenced or included in the solicitation
Inspection & Acceptance
Contractor shall deliver said materials purchased on this contract to the TCPN member issuing a
Purchase Order. Conforming product shall be shipped within 7 days of receipt of Purchase Order. If
delivery is not or cannot be made within this time period the contractor must receive authorization
from the purchasing agency for the delayed delivery. At this point the participating entity may cancel
the order if estimated shipping time is not acceptable.
If defective or incorrect material is delivered, purchasing agency may make the determination to
return the material to the contractor at no cost to the purchasing agency. The contractor agrees to
pay all shipping costs for the return shipment. Contractor shall be responsible for arranging the return
of the defective or incorrect material.
SITE REQUIREMENTS
Cleanup: Contractor shall clean up and remove all debris and rubbish resulting from their work as
required or directed by Member. Upon completion of the work, the premises shall be left in good
repair and an orderly, neat, clean and unobstructed condition.
Preparation: Contractor shall not begin a project for which Member has not prepared the site, unless
contractor does the preparation work at no cost, or until Member includes the cost of site preparation
in a purchase order. Site preparation includes, but is not limited to: moving furniture, installing wiring
for networks or power, and similar pre-installation requirements.
Registered sex offender restrictions: For work to be performed at an schools, contractor agrees
that no employee or employee of a subcontractor who has been adjudicated to be a registered sex
offender will perform work at any time when students are or are reasonably expected to be present.
Contractor agrees that a violation of this condition shall be considered a material breach and may
result in the cancellation of the purchase order at the Member’s discretion. Contractor must identify
any additional costs associated with compliance of this term. If no costs are specified, compliance
with this term will be provided at no additional charge.
Safety measures: Contractor shall take all reasonable precautions for the safety of employees on
the worksite, and shall erect and properly maintain all necessary safeguards for protection of workers
and the public. Contractor shall post warning signs against all hazards created by its operation and
work in progress. Proper precautions shall be taken pursuant to state law and standard practices to
protect workers, general public and existing structures from injury or damage.
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Smoking: Persons working under the contract shall adhere to local smoking policies. Smoking will
only be permitted in posted areas or off premises.
Stored materials: Upon prior written agreement between the contractor and Member, payment may
be made for materials not incorporated in the work but delivered and suitably stored at the site or
some other location, for installation at a later date. An inventory of the stored materials must be
provided to Member prior to payment. Such materials must be stored and protected in a secure
location, and be insured for their full value by the contractor against loss and damage. Contractor
agrees to provide proof of coverage and/or addition of Member as an additional insured upon
Member’s request. Additionally, if stored offsite, the materials must also be clearly identified as
property of buying Member and be separated from other materials. Member must be allowed
reasonable opportunity to inspect and take inventory of stored materials, on or offsite, as necessary.
Until final acceptance by the Member, it shall be the Contractor's responsibility to protect all materials
and equipment. The Contractor warrants and guarantees that title for all work, materials and
equipment shall pass to the Member upon final acceptance. Payment for stored materials shall not
constitute final acceptance of such materials.
Invoices
The awarded vendor shall submit invoices to the participating entity clearly stating “Per TCPN
Contract”. The shipment tracking number or pertinent information for verification shall be made
available upon request.
Tax Exempt Status
Since this is a national contract, knowing the tax laws in each state is the sole responsibility of the
vendor.
Reporting
The awarded vendor shall electronically provide TCPN with a detailed monthly or quarterly report
showing the dollar volume of all sales under the contract for the previous month or quarter. Reports
shall be sent via e-mail to TCPN offices at [email protected]. Reports are due on the fifteenth
(15th) day after the close of the previous month or quarter. It is the responsibility of the awarded
vendor to collect and compile all sales under the contract from participating members and submit
one (1) report. The report shall include at least the following information as listed in the example
below:
Vendor Name
TCPN Report
Month or Quarter
Entity Name
Zip Code
State
PO or Job#
Total
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Sale Amount
Payments
The entity using the contract will make payments directly to the awarded vendor.
Pricing
The awarded vendor agrees to provide pricing to TCPN and its participating entities that are the
lowest pricing available and the pricing shall remain so throughout the duration of the contract. The
awarded vendor agrees to lower the cost of any product purchased through TCPN following a
reduction in the manufacturer or publisher's direct cost. Price increases must be approved by TCPN.
However, the awarded vendor must honor previous prices for thirty (30) days after approval and
written notification from TCPN if requested. All price increases must be supported by manufacture
documentation, or a formal cost justification letter.
All pricing submitted to TCPN shall include the administrative fee to be remitted to TCPN by the
awarded vendor. It is the awarded vendor’s responsibility to keep all pricing up to date and on file
with TCPN. All price changes shall be presented to TCPN for acceptance, using the same format as
was accepted in the original contract.
All deliveries shall be freight prepaid, F.O.B. destination and shall be included in all pricing offered
unless otherwise clearly stated in writing.
Price reduction and adjustment
Price reduction may be offered at any time during contract and shall become effective upon notice of
acceptance from TCPN. Special, time-limited reductions are permissible under the following
conditions: 1) reduction is available to all Members equally; 2) reduction is for a specific time period,
normally not less than thirty (30) days; 3) original price is not exceeded after the time-limit; and 4)
TCPN has approved the new prices prior to any offer of the prices to a Member. Contractor shall offer
TCPN any published price reduction during the contract period.
PRODUCT LINES
Current products
Proposals shall be for materials and equipment in current production and marketed to the general
public and education/government agencies at the time the proposal is submitted.
Discontinued products: If a product or model is discontinued by the manufacturer, contractor may
substitute a new product or model if the replacement product meets or exceeds the specifications and
performance of the discontinued model and if the discount is the same or greater than the
discontinued model.
New products/Services: New products and/or services that meet the scope of work may be added
to the contract. Pricing shall be equivalent to the percentage discount for other products. Contractor
may replace or add product lines to an existing contract if the line is replacing or supplementing
products on contract, is equal or superior to the original products offered, is discounted in a similar or
to a greater degree, and if the products meet the requirements of the solicitation. No products and/or
services may be added to avoid competitive procurement requirements. TCPN may require additions
to be submitted with documentation from Members demonstrating an interest in, or a potential
requirement for, the new product or service. TCPN may reject any additions without cause.
Options: Optional equipment for products under contract may be added to the contract at the time
they become available under the following conditions: 1) the option is priced at a discount similar to
other options; 2) the option is an enhancement to the unit that improves performance or reliability.
Product line: Offerors with a published catalog may submit the entire catalog. TCPN reserves the
right to select products within the catalog for award without having to award all contents. TCPN may
reject any addition of equipment options without cause.
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Administrative Fees
The awarded vendor agrees to pay administrative fees to TCPN as calculated as follows: (Sales
will be calculated for fiscal year of January 1st through December 31st and reset each year)
Annual Sales Through Contract
Administrative Fee
0 - $50,000,000
2%
$50,000,001 - $100,000,000
1.75%
$100,000,001 - $150,000,000
1.5%
$150,000,001 - $200,000,000
1.25%
$200,000,001 - $500,000,000
1%
$500,000,001 - $1,000,000,000
0.75%
$1,000,000,000+
0.5%
Warranty conditions
All supplies, equipment and services shall include manufacturer's minimum standard warranty and
one (1) year labor warranty unless otherwise agreed to in writing.
Indemnity
The awarded vendor shall protect, indemnify, and hold harmless TCPN and its participants,
administrators, employees and agents against all claims, damages, losses and expenses arising out
of or resulting from the actions of the vendor, vendor employees or vendor subcontractors in the
preparation of the solicitation and the later execution of the contract. Any litigation involving TCPN,
its administrators and employees and agents will be in Harris County, Texas. Any litigation involving
TCPN’s members shall be in the jurisdiction of the participating agency.
Franchise Tax
The respondent hereby certifies that he/she is not currently delinquent in the payment of any
franchise taxes.
Marketing
Awarded vendor agrees to allow TCPN to use their name and logo within website, marketing
materials and advertisement. Any use of TCPN name and logo or any form of publicity, inclusive of
press releases, regarding this contract by awarded vendor must have prior approval from TCPN.
Supplemental Agreements
The entity participating in the TCPN contract and awarded vendor may enter into a separate
supplemental agreement to further define the level of service requirements over and above the
minimum defined in this contract i.e. invoice requirements, ordering requirements, specialized
delivery, etc. Any supplemental agreement developed as a result of this contract is exclusively
between the participating entity and awarded vendor. TCPN, its agents, members and employees
shall not be made party to any claim for breach of such agreement.
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Certificates of Insurance
Certificates of insurance shall be delivered to the TCPN participant prior to commencement of work.
The insurance company shall be licensed in the applicable state in which work is being conducted.
The awarded vendor shall give the participating entity a minimum of ten (10) days notice prior to any
modifications or cancellation of policies. The awarded vendor shall require all subcontractors
performing any work to maintain coverage as specified.
Legal Obligations
It is the Respondent’s responsibility to be aware of and comply with all local, state, and federal laws
governing the sale of products/services identified in this RFP and any awarded contract and shall
comply with all while fulfilling the RFP. Applicable laws and regulation must be followed even if not
specifically identified herein.
Protest
Any protest of an award or proposed award must be filed in writing within ten (10) days from the date
of the official award notification and must be received by 5:00 pm CDT. No protest shall lie for a
claim that the selected Vendor is not a responsible Bidder. Protests shall be filed with the Director of
TCPN and shall include the following:
x Name, address and telephone number of protester
x Original signature of protester or its representative
x Identification of the solicitation by RFP number
x Detailed statement of legal and factual grounds including copies of relevant documents; and
the form of relief requested
x Any protest review and action shall be considered final with no further formalities being
considered.
Force Majeure
If by reason of Force Majeure, either party hereto shall be rendered unable wholly or in part to carry
out its obligations under this Agreement then such party shall give notice and full particulars of Force
Majeure in writing to the other party within a reasonable time after occurrence of the event or cause
relied upon, and the obligation of the party giving such notice, so far as it is affected by such Force
Majeure, shall be suspended during the continuance of the inability then claimed, except as
hereinafter provided, but for no longer period, and such party shall endeavor to remove or overcome
such inability with all reasonable dispatch.
The term Force Majeure as employed herein, shall mean acts of God, strikes, lockouts, or other
industrial disturbances, act of public enemy, orders of any kind of government of the United States or
the State of Texas or any civil or military authority; insurrections; riots; epidemics; landslides;
lighting; earthquake; fires; hurricanes; storms; floods; washouts; droughts; arrests; restraint of
government and people; civil disturbances; explosions, breakage or accidents to machinery,
pipelines or canals, or other causes not reasonably within the control of the party claiming such
inability. It is understood and agreed that the settlement of strikes and lockouts shall be entirely
within the discretion of the party having the difficulty, and that the above requirement that any Force
Majeure shall be remedied with all reasonable dispatch shall not require the settlement of strikes and
lockouts by acceding to the demands of the opposing party or parties when such settlement is
unfavorable in the judgment of the party having the difficulty
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Prevailing Wage
It shall be the responsibility of the Vendor to comply, when applicable, with the prevailing wage
legislation in effect in the jurisdiction of the purchaser (TCPN or its Members). It shall further be the
responsibility of the Vendor to monitor the prevailing wage rates as established by the appropriate
department of labor for any increase in rates during the term of this contract and adjust wage rates
accordingly.
Miscellaneous
Either party may cancel this contract in whole or in part by providing written notice. The cancellation
will take effect 30 business days after the other party receives the notice of cancellation. After the
30th business day all work will cease following completion of final purchase order.
TCPN reserves the right to request additional items not already on contract at any time.
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STATE NOTICE
Pursuant to certain state notice provisions, including but not limited to Oregon Revised Statutes
Chapter 279A.220, the following public agencies and political subdivisions of the referenced public
agencies are eligible to register with TCPN and access the Master Agreement contract award made
pursuant to this solicitation, and hereby given notice of the foregoing request for proposals for
purposes of complying with the procedural requirements of said statutes:
Nationwide:
State of Alabama
*
State of Alaska
State of Hawaii
State of Idaho
State of
Massachusetts
State of Michigan
State of Arizona
State of Illinois
State of Minnesota
State of Arkansas
State of
Indiana
State of Iowa
State of
Kansas
State of
Kentucky
State of
Louisiana
State of Maine
State of Mississippi
State of California
State of Colorado
State of
Connecticut
State of Delaware
State of Florida
State of Georgia
State of
Maryland
State of Missouri
State of Montana
State of Nebraska
State of Nevada
State of New
Hampshire
State of New Jersey
State of New
Mexico
State of New
York
State of North
Carolina
State of North
Dakota
State of Ohio
State of
Oklahoma
State of
Oregon
State of
Pennsylvania
State of Rhode
Island
State of South
Carolina
State of South
Dakota
State of
Tennessee
State of Texas
State of Utah
State of Vermont
State of Virginia
State of
Washington
State of West
Virginia
State of
Wisconsin
State of
Wyoming
District of
Columbia
Lists of political subdivisions and local governments in the above referenced states/districts may be
found at http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml and
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Local.shtml
*Some public agencies and political subdivisions of these states may be restricted by state statutes
that limit competition among cooperative purchasing organizations by only allowing use of purchasing
cooperatives sponsored by certain National Associations.
Certain Public Agencies and Political Subdivisions:
Cities, Towns, Villages, and Boroughs including but not limited to:
CITY OF ADAIR VILLAGE
CITY OF ASHLAND
CITY OF AUMSVILLE
CITY OF AURORA
CITY OF BEAVERTON
CITY OF BOARDMAN
CITY OF BURNS
CITY OF CANBY
CITY OF CANYONVILLE
CITY OF CLATSKANIE
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CITY OF COBURG
CITY OF CONDON
CITY OF LA GRANDE
CITY OF LEBANON
CITY OF MILL CITY
CITY OF MILWAUKIE
CITY OF MOSIER
CITY OF NORTH PLAINS
CITY OF OREGON CITY
CITY OF PILOT ROCK
CITY OF PORTLAND
CITY OF POWERS
CITY OF RIDDLE
CITY OF SANDY
CITY OF SCAPPOOSE
CITY OF SHADY COVE
CITY OF SHERWOOD
CITY OF ST. PAUL
CITY OF TIGARD, OREGON
CITY OF TUALATIN, OREGON
CITY OF WARRENTON
CITY OF WILSONVILLE
CITY OF WINSTON
LEAGUE OF OREGON CITIES
PORTLAND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
CITY OF BATON ROUGE
CITY OF BOSSIER CITY
CITY OF KENNER
CITY OF LAFAYETTE
CITY OF LAKE CHARLES
CITY OF METAIRIE
CITY OF MONROE
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
CITY OF SHREVEPORT
Counties including but not limited to:
BOARD OF WATER SUPPLY
COUNTY OF HAWAII
MAUI COUNTY COUNCIL
CADDO PARISH
CALCASIEU PARISH
EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH
JEFFERSON PARISH
LAFAYETTE PARISH
LIVINGSTON PARISH
ORLEANS PARISH
PLAQUEMINES PARISH
RAPIDES PARISH
SAINT TAMMANY PARISH
TERREBONNE PARISH
WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH
K-12 including but not limited to:
BEAVERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BEND-LA PINE SCHOOL DISTRICT
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BROOKING HARBOR SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 17-C
CANYONVILLE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
CASCADES ACADEMY OF CENTRAL OREGON
CENTENNIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
CENTRAL POINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.6
CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 13J
COOS BAY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.9
COUNTY OF YAMHILL SCHOOLD DISTRICT 29
CULVER SCHOOL DISTRICT
DALLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.2
DAVID DOUGLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT
DAYTON SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.8
DE LA SALLE N CATHOLIC HS
DESCHUTES COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.6
DUFUR SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 29
ESTACADA SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.10B
FOREST GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT
GLADSTONE SCHOOL DISTRICT
GRANTS PASS SCHOOL DISTRICT 7
GREATER ALBANY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
HEAD START OF LANE COUNTY
HIGH DESERT EDUCATION SERVICE DISTRICT
HOOD RIVER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
JACKSON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.9
JEFFERSON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 509-J
JEFFERSON SCHOOL DISTRICT
KLAMATH FALLS CITY SCHOOLS
LAKE OSWEGO SCHOOL DISTRICT 7J
LANE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 4J
LINCOLN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
LINN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 95C
LOST RIVER JR/SR HIGH SCHOOL
LOWELL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.71
MARION COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
MARION COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 103
MCMINNVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NOAO
MEDFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT 549C
MITCH CHARTER SCHOOL
MONROE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.1J
MULTISENSORY LEARNING ACADEMY
MUL TNOMAH EDUCATION SERVICE DISTRICT
NEAH-KAH-NIE DISTRICT NO.56
NESTUCCA VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.101
NOBEL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
NORTH BEND SCHOOL DISTRICT 13
NORTH CLACKAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT
NORTH WASCO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 21
NORTHWEST REGIONAL EDUCATION SERVICE DISTRICT
ONTARIO MIDDLE SCHOOL
OREGON TRAIL SCHOOL DISTRICT NOA6
PHOENIX TALENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NOA
PORTLAND JEWISH ACADEMY
PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
REDMOND SCHOOL DISTRICT
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REYNOLDS SCHOOL DISTRICT
ROGUE RIVER SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.35
ROSEBURG PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCAPPOOSE SCHOOL DISTRICT 1J
SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT 10
SHERWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT 88J
SOUTH LANE SCHOOL DISTRICT 45J3
SOUTHERN OREGON EDUCATION SERVICE DISTRICT
SPRINGFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.19
SWEET HOME SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.55
THE CATLIN GABEL SCHOOL
TIGARD-TUALATIN SCHOOL DISTRICT
WEST LINN WILSONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
YONCALLA SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.32
CADDO PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
CALCASIEU PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
JEFFERSON PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
LIVINGSTON PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL DITRICT
TERREBONNE PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT
Higher Education
BIRTHINGWAY COLLEGE OF MIDWIFERY
BLUE MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
CENTRAL OREGON COMMUNITY COLLEGE
CHEMEKETA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
CLACKAMAS COMMUNTIY COLLEGE
COLUMBIA GORGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY
KLAMATH COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
LEWIS AND CLARK COLLEGE
LINFIELD COLLEGE
LINN-BENTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY
MT. HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MULTNOMAH BIBLE COLLEGE
NATIONAL COLLEGE OF NATURAL MEDICINE
NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN COLLGE
OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
OREGON UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
REED COLLEGE
ROGUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SOUTHWESTERN OREGON COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TILLAMOOK BAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
UMPQUA COMMUNTIY COLLEGE
WESTERN STATES CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY
ARGOSY UNIVERSITY
Page 21 of 43
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY-HAWAII
COLLEGE OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS
RESEARCH CORPORATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
State Agencies
BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS
OFFICE OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
OFFICE OF THE STATE TREASURER
OREGON BOARD OF ARCHITECTS
OREGON CHILD DEVELOPMENT COALITION
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
OREGON LOTTERY
OREGON OFFICE OF ENERGY
OREGON STATE BOARD OF NURSING
OREGON STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
OREGON STATE POLICE
OREGON TOURISM COMMISSION
OREGON TRAVEL INFORMATION COUNCIL
SANTIAM CANYON COMMUNICATON CENTER
SEIU LOCAL 503, OPEU
ADMIN. SERVICES OFFICE
HAWAII CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
HAWAII HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATION
SOH-JUDICIARY CONTRACTS AND PURCH
STATE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
STATE OF HAWAII
STATE OF HAWAII
STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
STATE OF LOUISIANA
STATE OF LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Page 22 of 43
GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS ACCEPTANCE FORM
Signature on the following page certifies complete acceptance of the General Terms and
Conditions in this solicitation, except as noted below (additional pages may be attached, if
necessary).
Check one of the following responses to the General Terms and Conditions:
We take no exceptions/deviations to the general terms and conditions
(Note: If none are listed below, it is understood that no exceptions/deviations are
taken.)
We take the following exceptions/deviations to the general terms and conditions. All
exceptions/deviations must be clearly explained. Reference the corresponding general
terms and conditions that you are taking exceptions/deviations to. Clearly state if you
are adding additions terms and conditions to the general terms and conditions.
Provide details on your exceptions/deviations below:
(Note: Unacceptable exceptions shall remove your proposal from consideration for
award. TCPN shall be the sole judge on the acceptance of exceptions/deviations and
TCPN’s decision shall be final. )
Page 23 of 43
TAB 2 – QUESTIONNAIRE
Please provide responses to the following questions that address your company’s operations,
organization, structure and processes for providing products and services.
1. States Covered
Bidder must indicate any and all states where products and services can be offered.
Please indicate the price co-efficient for each state if it varies.
50 States & District of Columbia (Selecting this box is equal to checking all boxes below)
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
All U.S. Territories & Outlying Areas (Selecting this box is equal to checking all boxes below)
American Samoa
Federated States of Micronesia
Guam
Midway Islands
Northern Marina Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
2. Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) and (HUB) Participation
It is the policy of some entities participating in TCPN to involve minority and women business
enterprises and historically utilized businesses (HUB) in the purchase of goods and services.
Respondents shall indicate below whether or not they are an M/WBE or HUB certified.
a. Minority/Women Business Enterprise
Respondent certifies that this firm is an M/WBE
Yes
No
b. Historically Underutilized Businesses
Respondent certifies that this firm is a HUB
Yes
■ No
Page 25 of 43
3. Residency
VA
Herndon
Responding Company’s principal place of business is in the city of___________State
of ___.
4. Felony Conviction Notice
Please check applicable box:
A publicly held corporation; therefore, this reporting requirement is not applicable.
X
Is not owned or operated by anyone who has been convicted of a felony.
Is owned or operated by the following individual(s) who has/have been convicted of a
felony.
x If the 3rd box is checked, a detailed explanation of the names and convictions must be
attached.
5. Processing Information
Company contact for:
Contract Management
Pamela Mantis
Contact Person: __________________________________________
Vice President of Operations
Title: ___________________________________________________
Zarca Interactive ADBA K12 Insight
Company: _______________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________
Herndon
VA
City: ___________________
State: _____________
Zip: 20171_____
Phone: 703-956-6460
Fax: 703-852-3901
_____
Email: [email protected]
_____
Billing & Reporting/Accounts Payable
Pamela Mantis
Contact Person: __________________________________________
Title: ___________________________________________________
Company: _______________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________
Herndon
VA
City: ___________________
State: _____________
Zip:20171_____
Phone: 703-956-6460
Fax: 703-852-3901
_____
_____
Page 26 of 43
Marketing
Rochelle Levy
Contact Person: __________________________________________
Senior Director of Marketing Communications
Title: ___________________________________________________
Company: _______________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________
Herndon
VA
City: ___________________
State: _____________
Zip:20171_____
Phone: 703-956-6460
Fax: 703-852-3901
_____
_____
6. Distribution Channel: Which best describes your company’s position in the distribution
channel:
7.
Manufacturer direct
Certified education/government reseller
Authorized distributor
Manufacturer marketing through reseller
Value-added reseller
Other __________________________
Pricing Information
x
In addition to the current typical unit pricing furnished herein, the Vendor agrees to offer all
future product introductions at prices that are proportionate to Contract Pricing.
Yes
No
(If answer is no, attach a statement detailing how pricing for TCPN participants would be calculated.)
x
Pricing submitted includes the required TCPN administrative fee.
Yes
No
Yes
No
(Fee calculated based on invoice price to customer)
x
Additional discounts for purchase of a guaranteed quantity?
8. Cooperatives
List any other cooperative or state contracts currently held or in the process of securing
Cooperative/State Agency
Discount
Offered
Eastern Suffolk BOCES
none
Page 27 of 43
Expires
Annual Sales
Volume
renewed annually
2012 - $1million
Tab 3: Company Profile
Please provide the following:
1. Company’s official registered name.
The company’s official registered name is Zarca Interactive, Inc.
The company is also registered to do business as K12 Insight and in this proposal it is referred to
as K12 Insight.
2. Brief history of your company, including the year it was established.
Zarca Interactive ADBA K12 Insight was established in 2002 and is registered as a Delaware C
Corporation. Since then, K12 Insight has continued to provide services to public schools. K12
Insight division of the company serves more than 300 school districts around the United States.
We are exclusive service providers to the American Association of School Administrators
(AASA) and many of its state affiliates – including Texas, New York, Florida, Virginia,
Michigan, Massachusetts, Tennessee and South Carolina. In addition, the National School Public
Relations Association and several state chapters of the National School Board Association use
our solution and expertise in the field of measuring and building stakeholder engagement. The
company has shown year-after-year growth since its inception. All operations have been
profitable since 2006.
3. Company’s Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) number.
12-856-7398
4. Corporate office location.
K12 Insight
13454 Sunrise Valley Drive
Suite 440
Herndon, Virginia 20171
5. List the total number of sales persons employed by your organization within the United States,
broken down by market
We would like to request that the response to this question be excluded from release as Public
Information under Open Records Policy. As a company providing numerous innovations in this
new field of public school Stakeholder Engagement, all information about our marketing strategy
is not relevant to any entity outside of TCPN. This information has the potential to hand
competitive intelligence to third parties, which would be a disadvantage to our firm. We are
pleased to disclose this information to TCPN for the purpose of evaluation in this RFP; however,
we request that this be redacted from any public disclosure. Answer to the question follows
below:
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 6. List the number and location of offices, or service centers for all states being bid in solicitation.
Additionally, list the names of key contacts at each location with title, address, phone and e-mail
address.
We are bidding for all 50 states and territories in this solicitation. While we have offices in other
states, our sales operations are centrally administered from our headquarters in Herndon,
Virginia. Information about this location is as follows:
K12 Insight
Contact: Dan Carter
Title: Vice President
Address: 13454 Sunrise Valley Dr., Suite 440, Herndon, VA 20171
Tel: (703) 956-6460 x 314
7. Please provide contact information for the person(s) who will be responsible for the following
areas, including resumes:
a. Sales
Dan Carter
[email protected]
(703) 956-6460 x314
b. Sales Support
Dan Carter
[email protected]
(703) 956-6460 x314
c. Marketing
Rochelle Levy
[email protected]
(703) 956-6460 x139
d. Financial Reporting
Pamela Mantis
[email protected]
(703) 956-6460 x133
e. Executive Support
Suhail Farooqui
[email protected]
(703) 956-6460 x111
8. Define your standard terms of payment.
We invoice clients upon receipt of signed contract and our payments are due net 30
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 9. Who is your competition in the marketplace?
By working closely with our school district customers, we have developed a highly innovative
offering. Since 2002, when we started working with a handful of North Carolina school districts,
we have approached our business as true partners to the school districts that we serve. Over the
years, we have had the benefit of conducting numerous focus groups with superintendents and
sessions with administrators to help us understand how they use our solution and details of their
specific needs. Based on all this feedback, we believe we have laid the foundation for a
completely new offering within public schools.
Every school district in the United States has committed to providing a high level of engagement
for stakeholders through their Strategic Plans and Mission and Vision statements; however, little
is being done in terms of tangible and concrete programs to address this vital area of
commitment. K12 Insight has uniquely developed this offering to address this particular need. We
are not aware of any other organization offering as thorough and comprehensive of a methodical
program for building stakeholder engagement in public school districts.
10. Overall annual sales for last three (3) years; 2009, 2010, 2011
below:
11. Overall public sector sales, excluding Federal Government, for last three (3) years; 2009, 2009,
2011
12. We would like to request that the response to this question be excluded from release as Public
below:
13. What is your strategy to increase market share?
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) competitive intelligence to third parties, which would be a disadvantage to our firm. We are
below:
15. What differentiates your company from competitors?
Districts have always aspired to build greater stakeholder engagement. However, the issue has
acquired a greater sense of urgency because of the emergence of social media and the increased
and growing scrutiny and accountability that public schools face. This challenge has grown so
rapidly that there is nothing else in the marketplace in terms of a comparable solution.
However, since school districts have the desire to provide stakeholder engagement but lack the
practical know-how, we believe competition will develop. The advent of social media in
particular has increased the urgency in most school districts for a comprehensive strategy for
building stakeholder engagement. If districts do not communicate their own fact-based narratives
of their unique opportunities and challenges, their narrative may be created by someone with little
understanding of the reality of public education. We are differentiated by the fact that we stay in
close contact with our 300 school district clients, working as an extension of their various
departments. Our nimble culture allows us to incorporate our constant learning into our offering,
as has been demonstrated numerous times and to which our clients can attest.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 16. Describe your firm’s capabilities and functionality of your on-line catalog/ordering website.
Any district in need of our solution may contact us by phone, complete a form on our website or
email us directly, all of which generate alerts to corresponding salespeople who then reach out to
prospects directly. Due to the consultative nature of our sales process, we have no online catalog
or ordering website.
17. Describe your company’s Customer Service Department (hours of operation, number of service
centers, etc.)
Our Customer Service Department operates from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. Most
of our support is based in our Herndon, Virginia headquarters, but we also have field support staff
in many states, including Texas, Florida, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts.
18. Provide information regarding if your firm, either presently or in the past, has been involved in
any litigation, bankruptcy, or reorganization.
The company has not been involved in any of these aforementioned activities.
Marketing / Sales
1. Detail how your organization plans to market this contract within the first 90 days of the
award date. This should include, but not be limited to:
Information under Open Records Policy. As a company providing numerous innovations in
this new field of public school Stakeholder Engagement, all information about our marketing
strategy is not relevant to any entity outside of TCPN. This information has the potential to
hand competitive intelligence to third parties, which would be a disadvantage to our firm. We
are pleased to disclose this information to TCPN for the purpose of evaluation in this RFP;
however, we request that this be redacted from any public disclosure. Answer to the question
follows below:
a. A co-branded press release within first 30 days
Our in-house expertise with development of such content, along with the use of Waggener
Edstrom distribution channels, ensures that a co-branded press release would appear in
prominent K12 publications, widely read by superintendents and school board members.
b. Announcement of award through any applicable social media sites
K12 Insight maintains an active social media presence through Twitter, Facebook and our
blog. All of these applications provide an effective way for us to get the news out through our
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) channels. Our in-house experts, along with Waggener Edstrom personnel, ensure our ability
to do an effective job in this rapidly emerging marketing channel.
c. Direct mail campaigns
All of K12 Insight’s direct mail campaigns are electronic. We have access to Marketo, a
marketing platform which not only allows us to send out email campaigns but to track their
end-to-end results. Our in-house email campaign team produces high-quality email
campaigns which include visually appealing and relevant content, as well as useful assets for
superintendents. Our marketing efforts focus on not just gaining a sale, but, most importantly,
that our target audience finds our materials educational and informative.
d. Co-branded collateral pieces
Our in-house expertise with development of such content for K12 Insight would work with
TCPN’s marketing team and would be able to create high quality co-branded collateral
pieces.
e. Advertisement of contract in regional or national publications
Through our partnership with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
and over a dozen of its state affiliates, as well as several chapters of National School Boards
Associations, K12 Insight taps into editorial calendars of relevant publications read by
superintendents. We will be able to place editorial columns and advertisements about the
contract, as well as provide relevant information in various national and regional
publications. Some states with partnerships include Texas, New York, Florida, Virginia,
South Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee, among others. We intend to also
advertise the contract in Education Week, District Administrator and similar magazines.
f.
Participation in trade shows
K12 Insight attends more than 15 national and state trade shows and conferences annually,
attended by superintendents and school boards. These include
i.
National Conference on Education (AASA)
ii.
National School Board Association
iii.
Council of the Great City Schools
iv.
Center for Quality leadership (Spring and Fall)
v.
Urban Superintendents Association of America (USAA)
vi.
Texas Association of School Administrators (Winter, Fall)
vii.
Texas Association of Suburban and Mid-Urban Schools
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) viii.
ix.
x.
xi.
xii.
xiii.
xiv.
xv.
New York State Council of School Superintendents (Winter, Fall)
Virginia Association of School Superintendents
New York School Boards Association
North Carolina Association of School Administrators
Georgia Association of School Superintendents
Florida Association of School Administrators
Massachusetts Association of School Administrators
Massachusetts Association of School Committees
At all of these events, K12 Insight enjoys a prominent presence, using these conferences to
share information about our innovative offering with key decision makers. These conferences
often lead to K12 Insight presenting before school district cabinets and boards as part of the
process of selling our solution to those school districts.
g. Dedicated TCPN internet web-based homepage with:
• TCPN Logo
• Link to TCPN website
• Summary of contract and services offered
• Due Diligence Documents including; copy of solicitation, copy of contract and any
amendments, marketing materials
If awarded this contract, K12 Insight fully intends to create a special section on our website
promoting this partnership with each of the items listed above. Our experience has shown that the
overhead associated with procurement is often a significant hurdle for school districts as they
move towards purchasing our services. Being awarded this contract would remove this hurdle for
both K12 Insight and our prospects. It would be to our benefit to create promotional material so
our website visitors could learn about this national contract, thereby reducing their need for
overhead costs tied to the procurement process.
3. Describe how your company will demonstrate the benefits of this contract to eligible entities
if awarded.
Through our work with 300 school districts nationwide, K12 Insight understands that a
critical step in the ability of a school district to procure our services may involve compliance
with their state or local requirements. Towards this, we recognize that it is in the interest of
all concerned school districts, as well as K12 Insight, to ensure that a sense of transparency is
maintained about our solution and pricing. In many instances school districts have asked us
to do sole sourcing, which we have provided successfully. Therefore, we believe that being
awarded a contract of this nature by TCPN would be a tremendous boost to our ability to sell
to public schools. Given these realities, we will immediately highlight the fact that our
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) solution may be purchased through a national organization such as TCPN. A school
administrator would immediately understand the benefit and positive impact that a TCPN
award would bring to any solution and service, including the fact that procurement-related
steps have already been addressed and overcome.
4. Explain how your company plans to market this agreement to existing government customers.
Our government customers area all public education entities; therefore, our overall responses
to this RFP answer this question.
5. Provide a detailed 90-day plan describing how the contract will be implemented within your
firm.
Stipulations of terms of service provided by TCPN are broadly in line with those of K12
Insight’s so no change is required in day to day sales and marketing and client acquisition
process of K12 Insight. We will train all relevant staff in sales, marketing, sales support,
contracts, and finance within the first two weeks to ensure immediate compliance with our
commitments in this contract.
Our organization uses comprehensive Salesforce Automation Software (salesforce.com)
which in addition to maintaining records of sales activity also provides us with a way to build
rules to conform with rules that we assign ourselves. Salesforce can be customized within two
weeks to ensure full compliance within this contract. We conduct regular trainings with our
sales team as well as our support team so within the first 2 weeks these trainings can be
conducted and audited over the next few months.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 6. Describe how you intend on train your national sales force on the TCPN agreement.
If K12 Insight is awarded this contract, we intend to immediately develop a detailed
curriculum for every department within our organization. This curriculum will be developed
in partnership with TCPN in benefit from other best practices. We will also conduct a
complete legal review and audit to ensure we have full understanding of our obligations and
communicate this to all staff. We will develop an easily understandable PowerPoint-based
curriculum which will be presented to every department, including sales. The session will be
videotaped and uploaded on our intranet for viewing by all members of K12 Insight. This
kind of professional development is routine in our organization and is essential in driving
change at the very fast pace that today’s business climate requires.
Further, the head of sales will ensure through reviews with each member of the sales
organization that key aspects have been fully understood and that the team is able to execute
all aspects of the agreement.
Similar processes of training and training review will occur with sales, marketing, client
services, contracts, accounts receivable, accounts payable and our technology team
responsible for maintenance of Salesforce automation software and partnership departments
within the organization.
7. Acknowledge that your organization agrees to provide its company logo(s) to TCPN and
agrees to provide permission for reproduction of such logo in marketing communications and
promotions.
K12 Insight hereby acknowledges the above statement to be affirmative.
8. Provide the revenue that your organization anticipates each year for the first three (3) years of
this agreement.
Information under Open Records Policy. As a company providing numerous innovations in
this new field of public school Stakeholder Engagement, all information about our marketing
strategy is not relevant to any entity outside of TCPN. This information has the potential to
hand competitive intelligence to third parties, which would be a disadvantage to our firm. We
are pleased to disclose this information to TCPN for the purpose of evaluation in this RFP;
however, we request that this be redacted from any public disclosure. Answer to the question
follows below:
Administration
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 1. Describe your company’s implementation and success with existing cooperative purchasing
programs, if any, and provide the cooperative’s name(s), contact person(s) and contact
information as reference(s).
K12 Insight has partnered with New York State-based BOCES. Specifically, we have
partnerships with Eastern Suffolk BOCES to help New York State districts procure our
services. The partnership has been helpful in making our solution easy to procure.
Contact Person
Ellen Moore
Coordinator, Student Data Services
Education and Information Support Services
Eastern Suffolk BOCES
15 Andrea Road, Holbrook, NY 11741
Phone: 631-419-1688/Fax: 631-244-4003
2. Describe the capacity of your company to report monthly sales through this agreement.
Comprehensive Salesforce automation software exists so that the inception of the TCPN
agreement will be identified and tracked throughout the process; when an opportunity is
converted into an account upon sale, it will reflect in a report. We will code the software such
that an email is triggered upon successful sale so that TCPN receives an email in real-time. At
the end of each month, an automatic report showing district name, contact information, total
contract value, etc. can be sent to our point of contact at TCPN and, accordingly, all financial
obligations will be handled by our partnership programming coordinator.
3. Describe the capacity of your company to provide management reports, i.e. consolidated
billing by location, time and attendance reports, etc. for each eligible agency
Reports at every level are available through sophisticated Salesforce automated software,
where the role of every agency in the sales process is tracked from inception to closing.
Reports created for each agency can be automated to be emailed every month and viewed by
all partners.
4. Please provide any suggested improvements and alternatives for doing business with your
company that will make this arrangement more cost effective for your company and
Participating Public Agencies.
We believe that, if we are selected, the TCPN agreement offers opportunities for us to expand
our business, and is also cost effective and convenient for all participating agencies.
Green Initiatives
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) K12 Insight’s Environmental Policy is as follows:





Conserve natural resources through recycling, minimizing waste and using energy responsibly.
Meet or exceed all applicable government requirements as well as our own requirements of
environmental stewardship.
Promote the health and safety of our community through green practices and environmental
responsibility.
Ensure all employees are aware of environmental concerns and how they are affected.
Conduct audits and self-assessments of our green practices to measure progress and application of
corporate environmental policy.
Vendor Certifications
Not Applicable
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Resumes and Biographical Information for Key Team Members:
Suhail Farooqui
Chief Executive Officer
Suhail Farooqui is the president and chief operating officer of K12 Insight. He founded the company and
grew it from scratch to meet the emerging needs of public schools in the area of building stakeholder
engagement.
Prior to Zarca, Suhail was the senior vice president of engineering at VitalSpring Technologies, an earlystage company providing technology-based solutions to employers to control soaring costs of healthcare
while improving the quality of care. VitalSpring Technologies was backed by MicroStrategy
(NASDAQ:MSTR), the McLean, VA-based leader of Business Intelligence software. Earlier, Suhail
worked as a senior program manager at MicroStrategy where he led software development building
innovative solutions to decongest highway traffic. Suhail started his career as a research scientist with
Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) where he conducted experiments in magnetic resonance imaging and microgravity measurements. His research has been published in refereed journals.
Suhail has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Daniel Carter
Regional Vice President
K12 Insight, Herndon, VA
Highly motivated, career sales person skilled in high-end consultative selling to a broad client base,
accustomed to prospecting new business while maintaining and growing existing accounts. Excellent
listening, negotiation, written and verbal communication skills. Over eight years of personnel
management and financial experience over a multimillion dollar claims operation employing over 80
people. Accomplished in overcoming customer objections and effective closing techniques seeks an
opportunity to join a rewarding Sales, Marketing or Project Management Team within the technology or
educational space.
•
Over 15 years selling IT services, educational solutions and risk management programs to small
& medium business as well as the Fortune 500
•
Achievers Club - Gross Profit leader award 2007
•
Revenue leader – New Accounts 2007
•
Youngest Branch Manager – Crawford & Company, Atlanta, GA
Experience:
National Sales Director, Natural Standard, Inc., Boston, MA
July 2009 – June 2010
Sales Consultant/Vice President (Contract/Temporary) – Qipper, Inc
January 2009 – May 2009
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Account Executive – OnForce, Inc., Lexington, MA
April 2008 – December 2008
Corporate Account Manager – PC Connection, Merrimack, NH
January 2007 – March 2008
Commercial Lines Account Manager & Broker
Insurance Marketing Associates, Worcester, MA
June 2002 – October 2006
Crawford & Company – Worldwide Third Party Adjusting Firm
January 1995 to April 2002
Education:
Fitchburg State College, 1992
Bachelor of Science, Sociology with a minor in Political Science
Pamela Mantis
Responsible for managing all the company’s finances, event planning and HR functions.
Responsible for overseeing the management and coordination of all fiscal reporting activities for the
organization including: organizational revenue/expense and balance sheet reports, reports to funding
agencies, development and monitoring of organizational and contract/grant budgets.
Oversee all purchasing and payroll activity for staff and participants.
Develop and maintained systems of internal controls to safeguard financial assets of the organization.
Experience:
Vice-President for Operations, J.C. Watts Companies Washington, D.C. February 2004 – June 2011
Vice-President for Communications, GOPAC Washington, D. C. July 2001 – February 2004
Deputy Press Secretary, Republican National Committee, Washington, D.C.
Press/Site Advance lead, Mrs. Laura Bush, Washington, D.C. September 2002 – 2004
Assistant Managing Editor, New Urban Entertainment TV, Washington, D.C. May 2000- June 2001
Director of Information Technology, New Urban Entertainment TV, Washington, D.C. Operations
Manager, United States Information Agency, International Bureau of Broadcasting,
Washington, D.C. 1992 – September 1998
Education:
Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public, 1983
Bachelor of Science, Communications
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) NetCert Education Centers, Newington, Virginia
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer ID # 1603449
Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet
A+ Certified Service Technician ID # D91DTT3897
Rochelle Levy
Senior Director of Marketing Communications
Proactive, highly organized communications leader adept at creating and managing consistent targeted
internal and external messaging in fast-paced, deadline-oriented environments.
Lead marketing team for both Zarca and K12 Insight, while acting as the first in-house writer/editor for
all print and electronic content.
Responsible for expanding the Zarca brand and driving lead generation, working with a team of writers,
designers, videographers and programmers.
Write and/or edit all collateral, Requests for Proposals, email campaigns, revised website content and
other materials, reporting directly to the CEO.
Oversee all sales and marketing messaging to ensure clarity and consistency.
Manage and oversee team of marketing associates, including a designer, videographer and event
coordinator.
Collaborate with school district leadership to write pre- and post-survey communication — press releases,
letters to parents, superintendent op-eds — to set the appropriate community expectations, thereby
building and nurturing a climate of trust between the community and the school district.
Write twice monthly blog posts about Zarca offerings; edit for clarity and readability all other blog posts
written by Zarca and K12 Insight employees.
Areas of expertise include:
 Editorial Direction
 Content Development
 Writing & Editing
 Sales & Marketing Communications
 Public Speaking
 Interviewing & Online Research
 Program Management
 Creative Problem Solving
Experience:
Computer Science Corporation (CSC), Falls Church, VA 2009–2011
Senior Writer, Corporate Communications & Marketing
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Computer Science Corporation (CSC), El Segundo, CA 2007–2009
Writer, csc.com
American Institute, Los Angeles, CA 1999–2005
Nonprofit educational and cultural organization
Editorial Director
Education:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Bachelor of Science, Journalism
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) TAB 4 – Evaluation Questionnaire
Products/Pricing (40 Points)
1. Are all products and services being proposed listed under TAB 5 on a corresponding electronic
device?
Yes
No
2. Is there a price list for all available products and services on a corresponding electronic device?
Yes
No
3.
Did you provide the warranty information that is offered by your company as per TAB 7?
Yes
No
4. Will customers be able to verify they received the contract price?
Yes
No
Please explain how they would verify the contract price.
5. What payment methods do you accept?
Invoice Net 30 Pay by Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)
Invoice Net 30 Pay by Check
A. _______________
B. _______________
Performance Capability (30 Points)
1. Did you indicate which states you can deliver to under TAB 2, Question 1?
Yes
No
2. What is the capability of your company to respond to emergency orders?
Please explain what actions you would take.
3. Please provide your company’s average fill rate over the last three fiscal years.
1) _________
2) __________
3) _________
4. Please provide your company’s average on time delivery rate over the last fiscal year. _________
5. Does your company agree to the following statement on shipping charges “All deliveries shall be
freight prepaid, F.O.B. destination and shall be included in all pricing offered unless otherwise
clearly stated in writing.”?
Yes
No
If not please explain. Not Applicable
6. What is your company’s return and restocking policy? Are there any applicable fees?
Please provide a brief description and example. Not Applicable
7. What is your company’s history of meeting shipping and delivery timelines?
8. Will your company be able to meet the one year warranty guarantee as stated on page 14 under
pricing?
Yes
No
If not, please explain.
Page 31 of 43
9. Did you explain your company’s policy on customer service issues as per TAB 3, Question 15?
Yes
No
10. What is your company’s current invoicing process?
11. Did you indicate how your company will implement the contract as per TAB 3, Question 20, and
is it appropriate?
Yes
No
12. Did you provide your Dun & Bradstreet number?
Yes
No
13. Did you provide information on your website and on-line ordering capacities as per TAB 3,
Question 14?
Yes
No
Qualification and Experience (20 points)
1. What is your company’s reputation in the marketplace? Excellent
2. What is the reputation of your products and/or services in the marketplace? Excellent
3. Does your company have past experience with TCPN and/or TCPN members?
If so, please list them and their contact information (Up to five). No
4. Did you list your key employees and their qualifications as per TAB 3, Question 6?
Yes
No
5. Did you provide the locations and sales persons who will work on the contract as per TAB 3,
Question 6 & 7?
Yes
No
6. What past experience does your company have working in the government sector?
7. Did you provide information on working with cooperative purchasing programs as per Tab 3,
Question 24?
Yes
No
8. Did you provide information on any litigation, bankruptcy, reorganization, etc. as per TAB 3,
Question 16?
Yes
No
9. Did you submit at least 10 customer references relating to the products and services within this
RFP, with an equal representation coming from K12, Higher Education and City/County/non-profits
entities as per TAB 6?
Yes
No
Value Add (10 Points)
1. Did you submit a marketing plan as per Tab 3, Question 17?
Yes
No
2. Did you provide a national sales training plan as per Tab 3, Question 21?
Yes
No
Page 32 of 43
Tab 4: Evaluation Questionnaire
Addendum
We would like to provide the following additional response to items in Tab 4.
Product Pricing
Item 4
Will customers be able to verify they received the contract price?
K12 Insight maintains uniform pricing because all contracts become public documents. Given
how close-knit the K12 community is, we believe that leading with high transparency and
uniform pricing are essential to succeeding in this business. We will provide all clients relevant
sections of our agreement with TCPN so they can conform the pricing agreed under this contract.
Performance Capability
Item 2
What is the capability of your company to respond to emergency orders?
We maintain adequate staffing so that we can respond quickly to new clients. The solution is a
consultative solution involving software technology and expert consulting services around it. We
are able to schedule kick-off calls with our clients on the very day of receipt of a signed contract.
The process to service a client’s needs is well-defined but also has flexibility to respond to
urgency on the part of client. We have never been the bottleneck in the process of servicing a
client.
Item 3
Please provide your company’s average fill rate over the last three fiscal years.
The solution is a consultative solution involving software technology and expert consulting
services around it. It is process driven and does not involve shipment of any goods. We are able
to schedule kick-off calls with our clients on the very day of receipt of a signed contract. Kickoff calls and all subsequent meetings are done at the client’s earliest convenience. A customized
solution for the year is ready for implementation within 30 days. Emergency projects can be
launched within a week. This has been the consistent pattern for each of the past three years. Our
clients are not asking for any changes with respect to this.
Item 4
Please provide your company’s average on time delivery rate over the last three fiscal
years.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) The solution is a consultative solution involving software technology and expert consulting
services around it. It is process driven and does not involve shipment of any goods. We have
been available to work at the pace that our client districts are comfortable 100% of the times over
the past three years.
We are able to schedule kick-off calls with our clients on the very day of receipt of a signed
contract. Kick-off calls and all subsequent meetings are done at the client’s earliest convenience.
A customized solution for the year is ready for implementation within 30 days. Emergency
projects can be launched within a week. This has been the consistent pattern for each of the past
three years. Our clients are not asking for any changes with respect to this.
Item 7
What is your company’s history of meeting shipping and delivery timelines?
The solution is a consultative solution involving software technology and expert consulting
services around it. It is process driven and does not involve shipment of any goods. We have
been available to work at the pace that our client districts are comfortable 100% of the times over
the past three years. We are able to execute to such plans 100% of the time.
We are able to schedule kick-off calls with our clients on the very day of receipt of a signed
contract. Kick-off calls and all subsequent meetings are done at the client’s earliest convenience.
A customized solution for the year is ready for implementation within 30 days. Emergency
projects can be launched within a week. This has been the consistent pattern for each of the past
three years. Our clients are not asking for any changes with respect to this.
Item 10
What is your company’s current invoicing process?
Invoices are issued upon receipt of a signed contract. They are payable net 30.
Qualifications and Experience
Item 1
What is your company’s reputation in the marketplace?
From the inception of our company, we have understood that the public school superintendent
community is very close-knit and superintendents talk to their peers in their state and across the
country. Both the good news and bad news have a tendency to be amplified and news travels
fast. We have made a firm commitment to exceed the highest expectations of our most
demanding customers. Our staffing, training and quality monitoring is all executed with an eye
on these facts. We have a superb reputation in the marketplace. Dr. Heath Morrison, the national
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 2011 Superintendent of the year, has made several references to our work in his district for its
quality and our level of commitment to the district’s success. You will also find that all the
references we have provided will attest to this level of commitment and quality of service.
Qualifications and Experience
Item 2
What is your reputation of your products and/or services in the marketplace?
Our products and services are recognized for their innovativeness and timeliness. Our clients rely
heavily on us for our expertise in an area of work that is critical to their success in their districts.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Tab 5: Services
A.
The impact and use of district strategic plans and overall protocols in the working of public
schools.
Given the preponderance of evidence that a higher level of parental and student engagement has a strong
positive impact on the quality of education, most public schools express a commitment to building a high
level of stakeholder engagement in their strategic plans (or equivalent documents such as statement of
goals or balanced scorecards). High engagement levels among teachers and staff correlate directly with
high quality instruction. And, during these times of difficult budgets, having a higher level of engagement
with the general public — including residents who may not have children attending district schools — is
critical to make changes that are necessary to operate with reduced budgets.
Since a commitment to building a higher level of engagement is often a strongly stated goal of most
school districts, K12 Insight, in its work with more than 300 school districts nationwide, ties its activities
to these stated major objectives of district leadership teams and school boards.
K12 Insight’s entire business is in working with public schools and professional associations of school
administrators and school board members. We have extensive experience with, and an appreciation for,
the environment in which school committees and district administrators operate, which enables us to
provide greater effectiveness in the work we do.
While every engagement with a school district is rooted in some common principles, our work within any
school district is 100% customized to meet the unique needs and challenges of that district. We develop a
calendar of engagement initiatives that is aligned with the district’s strategic plan and activities calendar.
There is a well-deliberated rationale for the type of initiatives required and the exact dates on which they
are planned. This is to help districts move away from an ad hoc or reactionary approach.
Past Experience: We have analyzed strategic plans in over 100 school districts.
Demonstrated Expertise: Between internal staff and contractors, K12 Insight employs over a dozen
professionals who have served in school districts as administrators.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) B.
Deployment of surveys as instruments of authentic two-way dialogue between
administrators and survey respondents. The focus of this approach is to not only discover
participants’ preferences, but to understand the reason behind those preferences.
Rarely can a district’s leadership team make a decision based solely on the most popular views expressed
in a survey. School surveys are not referendums. Several other factors go into any public school decision.
While stakeholder input is important, it is only one of a variety of factors. For administrators, gaining an
understanding of the reasons behind their stakeholders’ preferences is equally as important as knowing
what those preferences are. Designing survey questions that seek to inform and educate in an authentic
way, and gain an understanding of the reasons for preferences, is different from traditional surveying.
Building stakeholder engagement requires this kind of experience and expertise.
As an example, a survey which seeks to understand the public’s preference for building a new high school
merely along a yes/no question does not do justice to a vastly more complex reality. In one district where
we did this work, we found that several other important factors needed to be taken into consideration:
a. The existing aging high school building had very high maintenance costs.
b. The architecture of the 60-year-old school building did not permit for the kind of
instruction that is needed to support 21st century learning.
c. Two neighboring districts were building new high schools, and odds were high that many
parents would choice out into those districts. The loss of each child would reduce state
aid by $4,200.
Clearly, the issue is more complex than to be addressed with a yes/no question. In our survey design, we
not only presented the full context of this issue, but we focused more on understanding the reasons why a
respondent supported or opposed the initiative. Presenting a summary of the key reasons helps
administrators better understand the mindset of their stakeholders. Presenting the issue with full context
helps parents, teachers and the community better appreciate the challenges facing administrators. Such
authentic two-way dialogue helps each side better appreciate the other, thereby building bridges of
understanding.
Past Experience and Demonstrated Expertise: We have attached under Tab 10B a draft of a survey
from two school districts to facilitate authentic two-way dialogue:
i.
Agawam Public Schools Survey, MA – Strategic Planning Survey
ii.
Sacramento City Unified, CA – Neighborhood High Schools Survey
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) C.
Deploying surveys in a manner that is both comprehensive and systemic to maximize
engagement-building by enabling authentic two-way dialogue between administrators and
key stakeholders on critical issues before the school district.
K12 Insight has experience in deploying surveys in a manner that is comprehensive and systemic. Our
work in a school district starts with a review of its mission, vision, goals and Strategic Plan. We also
conduct a Survey of Surveyors to build an inventory of all current surveys. Each survey question can
create expectations in the minds of respondents. Reviewing all surveys to ensure that there is one
consistent message being delivered to all stakeholders is critical for successful surveying and ultimately
leads to building higher levels of trust and engagement.
This review ensures that the district offers adequate opportunities for all stakeholders to provide input.
Another goal is to eliminate duplication of effort and redundancy. This is fairly common since
departments are often unaware of what other departments are doing, while the Central Office may not be
aware of survey activities at local sites.
The result of this activity is to jointly develop a Calendar of Surveys, ensuring that every individual and
department receives the survey data they need in a timely manner. It also ensures that while teachers,
staff, students, parents and non-parent residents are all given an opportunity to give input, they are not
over-surveyed. The calendar is thus both comprehensive and systemic in that it takes into account the
schedule of other activities in the entire school system.
Past Experience and Demonstrated Expertise: We have attached under Tab 10C copies of Survey
Calendars for the following school districts:
i.
Shorewood Public Schools, WI
ii.
Danvers Public Schools, MA
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) D.
Developing custom survey questionnaires on both tactical and strategic issues before public
schools.
1.
Strategic issues include school closings, school consolidation, district consolidation,
grade reconfiguration, bond referendums, reduction in workforce, school choice-out,
school choice-in, budget reduction, new school opening, school boundary issues,
school uniforms and community preferences on qualifications, experiences and
characteristics of a new superintendent.
2.
Tactical issues include teacher engagement, student engagement, alumni readiness
for college/workplace, safety, new teacher mentoring effectiveness, staff exit,
professional development needs assessment, technology needs assessment, program
offerings, Central Office support of schools and voice of the student, along with
elements of school climate such as learning environment, student support,
communication, transportation, cafeteria, behavior management, etc.
K12 Insight has experience in deploying custom surveys on all of the topics listed under both categories.
If given the opportunity in an interview, K12 Insight shall gladly provide samples of these surveys, as
well as names of districts where these surveys have been deployed. This has not been included here to
keep the volume of material manageable.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) E. Conducting and incorporating into questionnaire design the key themes that emerge from
focus groups of administrators, teachers and staff, parents, students and other residents.
Teachers and staff often complain of irrelevance of survey questions. Questionnaires are often the subject
of criticism by parents as well. While some questionnaires may be justifiably criticized for poor design,
often the criticism is rooted in the fact that administrators do not clearly communicate the purpose and
limitations of the surveys themselves. Our work in public schools emphasizes Pre-Survey Communication
to ensure that the scope and limitations of a survey are clearly understood by survey participants before
they are invited to participate. A highly effective way to go about this is to invite them to the process of
questionnaire design. A focus group is an excellent way to do this. When it is made clear that the
questionnaire was designed by direct input from prospective participants, there is greater confidence in
the survey and the process. This lends greater credibility and increases the effectiveness of the process
with respect to engagement.
Past Experience and Demonstrated Expertise: We have attached under Tab 10E a copy of a letter from
a superintendent inviting parents to a stakeholder survey focus group in Sacramento City Unified, CA.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) F. Developing custom survey questionnaires with the goal of building engagement and
providing transparency for each of the following stakeholder groups:
1. Parents of children attending district’s pre-K through 12th grades
2. Parents of children who do not attend the district’s schools
3. Parents of children who have recently opted out of district schools
4. Parents who send their children to the district’s schools but do not reside in the
district
5. Residents who do not have children of school age
6. Teachers and staff (classified and non-classified)
7. District administrators
8. Students
9. Alumni
10. Business Leaders
11. Leaders of community–based/civic organizations in the district
12. Members of School Board
K12 Insight conducted more than 1,000 customized surveys during the 2010-11 school year and is on
track to conduct nearly 1,500 customized surveys in the 2011-12 school year. These surveys have
involved each of the stakeholder groups listed above. The following are common types of surveys
administered to each stakeholder group. The list of the type of surveys in each case is not exhaustive.
Stakeholder Group
Parents of children attending district’s pre-K
through 12th grades
Parents of children who do not attend the district’s
schools
Parents of children who have recently opted out of
district schools
Parents who send their children to the district’s
schools but do not reside in the district
Residents who do not have children of school age
Teachers and staff (classified and non-classified)
District administrators
Students
Alumni
Type of Surveys
- School Climate Survey
- Budget Survey
- Strategic Planning Survey
- School Choice Survey
- Budget Survey
- Adult Education Needs
- School Budget
- School Climate Survey
- Budget Survey
- Teacher/Staff Engagement
- Prof Development Needs Assessment
- Technology Needs Assessment
- 360 Survey
- Budget Survey
- Student Engagement
- School Climate
- Safety Survey
- Youth Risk Behavior
- College and Workforce Readiness
- Effectiveness of Counselor Program
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Business Leaders
Leaders of community–based/civic organizations in
the district
Members of School Board
- Partnership Opportunities
- Needs Assessment
- Partnership Opportunities
- Needs Assessment
- Visioning Survey/Strategic Planning
- Community Priorities
- Self Evaluation
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) G. Communications preceding deployment of surveys. This must include ability to provide
assistance in preparing the following:
a. Press releases to local and regional media
b. Op-ed in local and regional media
c. Letters to parents, teachers and staff, students, alumni
d. Scripts for all-call systems
K12 Insight employs communications experts with considerable experience in working inside public
schools. Building engagement through surveys means experience and expertise in communication must
be emphasized on equal footing with experience and expertise in research. Our communications team is
an integral part of our work with a school district.
Past Experience: We have provided assistance to more than 300 school districts in communicating with
key stakeholders before deploying surveys.
Demonstrated Expertise: Copies of press releases, op-eds published in local and regional media, letters
to various stakeholders and scripts for all-call systems are attached in Tab 10-G.
H. All aspects of data collection (by paper and pencil, phone and through online deployment)
While web surveys provide an efficient and low-cost method to collect feedback form stakeholder groups,
not all parents are online or are able to access a survey online. K12 Insight provides districts a single point
solution to be able to reach all stakeholders for any given survey using any combination of online, paper
& pencil or phone.
Past Experience: We have helped more than 300 school districts survey parents using web, paper and
telephone as required.
Demonstrated Expertise: Copies of press releases concerning surveys show how surveys may be
accessed via web or paper in Tab 10-H. Surveys have been deployed by phone in Hurst-Euless-Bedford
ISD and in Rochester City Schools by phone
I.
Helping the school district maximize participation rates, as well as obtain a more diverse
group of participants. This includes enabling traditionally under-represented groups to
participate in surveys by leveraging community and civic organizations that work with such
groups.
It is standard practice in our work with school districts to help lay a plan for high participation of
traditionally under-represented groups. This is accomplished through support of local non-profit and
community-based organizations (CBOs). Our experience can assist districts in expanding their reach to
these groups. Participation in surveys is in itself a measure of the engagement level of various stakeholder
groups. We have experience ensuring the district establishes and operates in a “culture of trust” where
candid feedback is provided on issues.
Past Experience: We have helped school districts in more than 100 school districts reach out to
community-based organizations and the people they serve.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Demonstrated Expertise: Copies of letters to CBOs in Danvers Public Schools, MA in Tab 10-I
J. Helping the school district keep operational costs of surveys low by maximizing
participation through online channels. Such strategy must always provide paper or phone
alternatives to those who cannot participate online. This must include helping school
districts build and maintain an up-to-date database of email addresses of parents, alumni
and community members.
K12 Insight’s online platform provides advanced capabilities for online data collection. Respondents
may be invited through a link in an SMS/Text Message (supported on all smartphones), a link
embedded in their emails or by clicking on a link on the district’s homepage. All engagementbuilding surveys are branded for a consistent communication under K12 Insight’s Your Voice
offering. Screenshots below show how a few districts have implemented this.
K12 Insight’s survey platform also serves as a single centralized repository for all survey data
collected by the district.
However, we recognize the need to support other modes of data collection for those who may not
have access to computers or the internet. Data from paper and pencil — completed either on-site or
by mail, phone or in-person interviews — may also be collected efficiently and saved in the same
centralized repository.
In many districts, K12 Insight has implemented a comprehensive program which helps parents and
community members access and complete their surveys online. This program was launched for two
reasons:
 Data collection by web is much cheaper and more efficient than other modes
 Most communities have civic and community organizations that can assist people with
completing surveys online
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Key components of this program are:
Since many school districts have some form of all-call system (such as ConnectEd, Parent Link or
AlertNow), they have access to parents’ mobile phone numbers. K12 Insight can send a survey link
embedded in an SMS/Text Message, and respondents can access the survey by clicking on this link.
Data shows that many who do not have internet access via a home or work computer do have access
via a smartphone. This method allows for fast and efficient data collection in a unique and powerful
way.
Besides SMS-based survey access, we help districts prepare schools so that they are ready to
welcome parents to access a computer and complete their survey.
We help districts establish and nurture meaningful partnerships with Community-Based
Organizations in the community such that they encourage the people they serve to participate in the
survey, while providing them with computers and other assistance needed to complete surveys.
We help districts with an efficient and effective strategy to build a database of parent emails and help
them keep this database up-to-date.
Past Experience: We have helped school districts in more than 100 school districts with maximizing
participation using a computer or a mobile phone.
Demonstrated Expertise: Screenshots and pictures of invitation by mobile phone invite attached in
Tab 10-J
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) K. Provide school district access to online survey software technology that has all of the
following (should be able to provide unique, secure access/login ID and password for each
member of the district staff):
1. Ability to program surveys that can simultaneously be deployed in English and
additional languages as required by the district
2. Ability to send email invitations or generate custom passwords (such as student ID
or random codes) for each participant
3. Ability of technology platform to import data from surveys administered by phone
and paper
4. Ability to ensure control over ballot-box stuffing by ensuring each respondent is
limit to only one response
5. Ability to send reminders to non-participants only
6. Ability to allow a participant to invite others who they think might be interested in
the survey, while ensuring that each email address receives no more than one
invitation
7. Demonstrated and documented ability to support simultaneous participation of as
many survey participants as there are students enrolled in the district
8. Ability to view real-time participation rate of parents, students, teachers and staff
for each individual school site
9. Ability to share real-time site-level participation rate reports with site
administrators via a secure link sent by email.
10. Ability to automatically send email to survey participants upon receiving their
response with note of thanks or other follow-up information
11. Ability for administrators to access the secure online survey system to view their
reports in real-time
12. Technical support for survey participants who may experience difficulty accessing
or completing their surveys online
K12 Insight’s School Survey Platform is designed as a centralized repository of all surveys in the school
district.
1. All surveys can be programmed in English and any additional language which is supported
on computers.
2. Surveys can be sent via email, or passwords can be created and distributed by direct mail or
postcards. Passwords can be unique for each participant and can be customized. Alternately, a
single password may be used by all participants if the situation warrants. NOTE: K12 Insight
also supports surveys through two additional modes: (a) Text Messages on Smartphones and
(b) As part of a Mobile App customized for the school district and made available for Apple
iPhone and Google Droid smartphones.
3. As a single repository, K12 Insight’s online survey platform will allow for historical data
from surveys administered in the past or via other modes, including paper and phone, to be
imported. This way, data can be available in the same central repository for review and
analysis whenever desired. More importantly, the data can be used for comparative analysis
over time.
4. It is possible for each link/password/text message to have a unique link for each invitee so
that the person cannot take the survey more than once.
5. Since the system can track invitations by unique links, it is able to send reminders to only
those who have not yet participated in a survey.
6. K12 Insight’s School Survey Platform supports a feature called Chain Invites. This feature is
particularly helpful when a school district is surveying individuals who may want to forward
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
surveys to others who may not be on the district’s mailing list. For example, in the case of
alumni surveys, each invitee is able to send invitations to others whose email addresses they
may have. This viral/chain distribution expands the reach of the district and helps improve
survey response rates.
K12 Insight’s School Survey Platform has been certified to collect survey responses from
over one million concurrent survey participants without any noticeable degradation in
performance.
Participation rates for all surveys and for all sub-groups in any survey can be viewed in realtime.
When principals are made aware of their individual school’s response rate relative to that of
other schools in their district, an internal competition tends to kick in. This competition is
both fun as well as helpful in driving up response rates. K12 Insight provides a high-quality
report which allows each principal to view this information in real-time while the survey is in
the field.
K12 Insight’s School Survey Platform is capable of automatically sending thank you notes to
each person who completes the survey online, assuming the respondent’s email address is
known to the system. This is the case when a survey invitation is sent via email or when a
particular question in the survey asks respondents for their email addresses.
Fifteen distinct types of reports are available in the K12 Insight School Survey Platform, and
these reports can be generated in real-time as survey data is received. These reports enable
administrators to view tables and charts to visualize the data in a way that lends itself to quick
interpretation.
When surveys are deployed, invariably some participants will have questions about the
survey (e.g., anonymity of their responses, how survey data will be used, etc.). A small
number may also experience difficulties accessing the survey for reasons associated with
their computer or network. While district staff do not have the time to address the needs of all
such survey participants, it is important to provide answers and resolve difficulties through
online or phone help. K12 Insight provides full support on the district’s behalf on all such
issues. The names and contact information of district staff available to assist may be posted
with the deployment of each survey.
Past Experience: K12 Insight’s technology is used by over 300 school districts with collective
enrollment that exceeds 3 million students.
Demonstrated Expertise: Screenshots in Tab 10-K. We will be happy to demonstrate the
features and capabilities described above.
L.
Ability to provide training and technical support to all district staff in the use of online
survey software technology described in the previous bullet to support individual survey
initiatives at site and classroom level.
K12 Insight provides training and support for all district staff in the use of our School Survey
Platform. On-site training is available. Virtual training (using Web Conference) led by an
instructor is available Mon-Fri between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Support is also available
between these hours by phone and email.
M. Conducting focus groups of teachers and staff, parents, students and other residents to
discuss findings of surveys and to deepen the understanding of survey responses.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) K12 Insight has experience and expertise in conducting post-survey focus groups. Such focus
groups are important for communicating the message that the district cares about the feedback
received and is striving hard to gain an accurate understanding of the opinions. Focus groups shed
light on possible reasons why respondents may have indicated certain preferences.
Past Experience: K12 Insight has conducted over 100 focus groups in the 2010-11 school year.
Demonstrated Expertise: A post-focus group summary (addressed to a superintendent) is
attached in Tab 10-M
N.
Generating reports that meet the following specifications:
1. Overall reports summarizing data in tables and charts. Key reports should
include:
a. Frequency Tables
b. Pivot Tables
c. Descriptive Statistics (Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation,
Variance)
d. Graphs (Pie, Bar, Area)
e. Verbatim reports of written responses
2. Ability to merge answer options for aggregated summaries
3. Reports segmented by school site
4. Reports showing data segmented by important subgroupings of participants for
study – such as free/reduced lunch status, participation in a program, grade
level, etc.
5. Reports that show longitudinal trend for the current year, plus up to three prior
years
6. Reports that show comparison of responses of various stakeholder groups, such
as teachers and staff, students, parents, and residents
7. Benchmarks on key areas of operations based on experience in working with
other comparable school districts
K12 Insight has experience and expertise in creating reports of the specifications listed above:
1. Frequency Tables, Pivot Tables, Statistical Reports, Graphs and Verbatim Reports for
the overall data are provided.
2. Answer categories may be merged to create new categories (e.g., combine
“Excellent” and “Good” answer options to create a category called “Favorable”).
3. Segmentation Report can break data down by each individual site level. Additionally,
reports may be emailed to principals where they can see the results for their site and
compare them with the average for the district and their school level (Elementary,
Middle or High).
4. Segmentation can be created for any variable in the survey — in addition to School
Site, it could be Free/Reduced Lunch or Grade Level, etc.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) 5. Reporting capabilities include the ability to lay data from the previous year alongside
the current year and compare trends over time.
6. Surveys deployed to different stakeholder groups (teachers, parents, students) may
have similar or even identical questions; it is instructive to compare responses of
different respondent groups. Comparison reports can be generated to view data sideby-side.
7. K12 Insight has created a national benchmarking database for survey data based on
our work in more than 300 school districts. While surveys are customized for each
school district, there tends to be a significant amount of commonality (identical
questions) between surveys on any given topic. K12 Insight synthesizes these results
into a Benchmarking database which allows a district to compare its survey results
against the average of similar/peer districts based on size, geography, location type
(urban, suburban, rural), percent on free/reduced lunch, etc. Benchmarking results are
available to any member districts on an aggregate basis. Data belonging to any one
district or the identity of other districts is not disclosed without their express written
permission.
We will be happy to demonstrate the reporting capabilities described above.
O.
Past experience and demonstrated expertise in helping district leaders analyze and interpret
findings and implement any changes in light of survey findings consistent with district’s
strategic plan and other priorities.
K12 Insight has experience and expertise in data analysis and interpretation of survey data. Our
staff has experience working in public schools and understands the context and nature of the
relationships between various stakeholders. We help school districts not only view the numbers
but understand the implication behind those numbers. When relevant, we help districts define
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) so they can measure their performance in areas identified in
their strategic plans.
P.
Communications following reporting and analysis of survey data to clearly communicate
with all stakeholders the key findings and expected changes. Provider must showcase
experience in creating such communications material that strengthen the district’s
commitment to providing greater transparency to all stakeholders on all issues covered by
surveys. These should be done through:
1. Press releases to local and regional media and district website
2. Op-eds in local and regional media
3. Letters to parents, teachers and staff, students, alumni
4. Focus group sessions of teachers, staff, parents, non-parent residents
K12 Insight emphasizes to all its client districts that a key element of building high levels of
engagement is to “close the loop” by communicating back to the responding stakeholders with
great transparency and authenticity what was learned and how that information will be used to
make future decisions. To support this, K12 Insight has on staff experts in analysis and
interpretation of survey data and communication. Samples of past work — including press
releases, transcripts of press conferences, and letters to parents, teachers and staff — are attached
in Tab 10-P.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Tab 6: References
Name: Washoe County Schools
Contact Name and Title: Dr. Heath Morrison, Superintendent
City and State: Reno, NV
Phone Number: (775) 348-0374
Years Serviced: 2010-Present
Description of Services: Comprehensive, systemic and systematic stakeholder engagementbuilding solution.
Annual Volume: Solution is customized based on the district’s priorities as stated in their
Strategic Plan. Six weeks of planning leads to building of an Engagement Plan and individual
initiatives are rolled our according to this plan. Additionally, all teachers, staff and administrators
can log in to our technology platform and we support them to succeed with their individual
initiatives. There is no rationing/limit based on technology or consulting services towards
meeting the district’s near and long-term objectives, including supporting ad hoc initiatives.
Name: Dayton Independent School District
Contact Name and Title: Mike Kuhrt, Superintendent
City and State: Dayton, TX
Phone Number: (936) 258-2667
Name: Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District
Contact Name and Title: Dr. Debbie Tribble, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary
Administration
City and State: Bedford, TX
Phone Number: (817) 399-2062
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Name: Northwest Independent School District
Contact Name and Title: Karen Rue, Superintendent
City and State: Fort Worth, TX
Phone Number: (817) 215-0030
Years Serviced: 2012
Name: Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District
Contact Name and Title: Darrell Brown, Executive Director for Assessment and Program
Evaluation
City and State: Fort Worth, TX
Phone Number: (817) 232-0880
Name: Newport-Mesa Unified School District
Contact Name and Title: Susan Astarita, Assistant Superintendent, Education Services
City and State: Costa Mesa, CA
Phone Number: (714) 424-5009
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Name: Barnstable Public Schools
Contact Name and Title: Dr. Mary Czajkowski, Superintendent
City and State: Hyannis, MA
Phone Number: (508) 862-4953
Name: Arlington Public Schools
Contact Name and Title: Lisa Stengle, Assistant Director for Evaluation
City and State: Arlington, VA
Phone Number: (703) 228-8663
Name: Beverly Public Schools
Contact Name and Title: Marie Galinski, Superintendent
City and State: Beverly, MA
Phone Number: (978) 921-6100
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Name: Bayport Blue-Point School District
Contact Name and Title: Stephanie Nocerino, Director of Technology
City and State: Bayport, NY
Phone Number: (631) 472-7860
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) Tab 7: Pricing
K12 Insight
26 March 2012
Electronic catalog is not applicable as we provide a consultative solution based on software
and consulting services around it.
These prices are also NOT TO EXCEED.
District Size
Enrollment: 6,250 students or less
Enrollment: More than 6,250 students
Cost
$25,000
$4 per student per year
The following costs associated with the solution are not included in the above pricing.
1. Costs associated with administration of paper surveys due to their high variability. Costs
depend on length of questionnaire and volume of paper. Many districts have the ability to
manage this process. Costs will be passed through to the district without any markup.
2. Costs associated with administration of phone surveys (OPTIONAL) due to their high
variability. Costs will be provided to each district when the scope is defined and passed
through to district without any markup.
3. Costs associated with OPTIONAL sending invitations via SMS/Text Messages. That is a
pass-through cost at $7 for every 1,000 messages sent and will be billed to the district.
The following are the components of K12 Insight’s solution that are necessary to meet the
requirements listed in the RFP by TCPN and are included in the cost provided above:
1. Technology Platform: K12 Insight has developed a software platform that it offered as a
subscription (also referred to as Software as a Services or SaaS) to its client. This
software is the engine for all activities listed below. K12 Insight maintains a substantial
commitment of engineering resource towards this in the following areas: operations and
maintenance for 24x7 availability with data backups, automatic failover and recovery,
security overview, review and audits, on-going maintenance and development of new
features through four major (quarterly) based on request from k12 users.
2. Training of District Staff: K12 Insight provides on-going training to district staff in the
form of both on-site and online training in the use of its technology platform. Training
consists of 3 modules that last approximately 90 minutes each.
3. Technical Support of District Staff. K12 Insight provides support to all users of its system
by phone and email during business hours.
4. Systemic and Systematic Surveying: Survey of Surveyors (SoS): The goal of an SoS is
to identify existing baseline survey activity and need for surveys in the district. K12
Insight surveys all district administrators who could or should be doing surveys and
presents this information in a format that leads to the development of the District Survey
Calendar. An SoS is deployed each year shortly before or after the start of the school
year.
K12Insight|www.k12insight.com
ResponsetoTCPNRFPforSolutiontoBuildStakeholderEngagementinPublicSchools(12‐24)
5. Systemic and Systematic Surveying: District Survey Calendar: District Survey Calendar
is an annual listing of surveys developed from the SoS data and based on principles of a
Systems approach to Stakeholder Perception. An on-site meeting with all participants in
the SoS is required to draw up a survey calendar. A District Survey Calendar eliminates
duplicate surveys by consolidating them where the possibility exists. It also ensures no
data gaps exist in a district’s survey plan for the year. The final listing indicates names of
surveys, and against each survey: start and end dates, high-level details of deployment
logistics and name and title of key staff member who is responsible for the survey.
6. Questionnaire Design: The goal of this step in the process is to ensure every survey
deployed in the district helps the district achieves the goals of data gathering (through
reliable, unbiased surveys), education and information of stakeholders and building and
advancing a culture of trust in the district. This process is led by a Survey Methodologist
or a Psychometrician, a professional with an advanced degree in the field of quantitative
and qualitative research. To ensure a high degree of success, K12 Insight has developed
its professionals work closely with district staff by following a formal process called
Joint Questionnaire Development.
7. Pre-Survey Communication: The goal of this step is to ensure a high level of
participation, particularly from those stakeholders who are normally part of the “silent
majority.” Success in the pre-survey communication activity ensures better quality and
quantity of feedback by utilizing all resources available to district administrators and
board members. K12 Insight’s communication staff work closely with district
administrators in this step to ensure the realization of these goals.
8. Launch and Management of Survey: K12 Insight professionals will launch and manage
surveys. This includes an online launch only. Costs associated with paper surveys are
highly variable as they depend on length of survey, and volume (printing, mailing,
scanning returned forms). They are passed through to districts.
9. Reporting and Analysis: K12 Insight professionals will create reports that include tables
and charts. The reports will provide analysis on findings. All types of reports described in
the RFP will be supported. Reports will also focus on interpretation of data to help
administrators fully understand the context of the findings.
10. Benchmarking Reports: K12 Insight will provide comparable data for aggregate of other
districts and comparable/peer districts. Given high customization capabilities, comparable
data may not always be available.
11. Post-Survey Communication: This step is essential to maintaining continued interest of
all stakeholders in the district’s activities. Post-Survey communication is essentially a
“closing of the loop” with stakeholders, presenting findings in the form of areas of
strength and challenges and indicating how survey findings will be used in the decisionmaking process.
12. Focus Groups: Highly trained professionals at K12 Insight can conduct focus groups of
users on issues of strategic importance to a district. Focus groups can help in the design
of questionnaires. When conducted after a survey groups can also help in exploring the
“why” behind response trends in surveys. Most importantly, focus groups provide an
excellent medium for district leaders to build strong relationships with various
stakeholder groups.
K12Insight|www.k12insight.com
ResponsetoTCPNRFPforSolutiontoBuildStakeholderEngagementinPublicSchools(12‐24)
Tab 8: Value Add
Value Add #1: YourVoice
K12 Insight provides districts a way to brand all initiatives for stakeholder engagement in a consistent
manner for high effectiveness. We provide assistance in developing content and creative elements for the
district’s website. YourVoice is a part of the K12 Insight School Survey Platform which when embedded
into the district’s website AUTOMATES the process of displaying the history of all outreach initiatives,
including copies of questionnaires, reports, communications, etc. By providing such information on the
district’s Website, the district sends a strong message of a culture of transparency and collaborative
decision-making.
Costs: This solution is included at no additional cost.
Value Add #2: YourVoice Mobile App
K12 Insight provides a customized mobile app for smartphones. Parents and other stakeholders can
download the app and then receive notifications for surveys, district news and emergency notification
directly to their mobile apps. This application expands the district’s outreach and cuts down its costs
associated with All-Call systems.
Costs: This solution is included at no additional cost.
Value Add #3: Survey Invitation via Text Messages
K12 Insight’s surveys can be delivered to mobile phones and can be accessed by clicking on a link
embedded in the text message. This allows district to reach those who may not have access to a computer
or the Internet.
Costs: There is a charge of $7 for every 1000 messages sent.
K12 Insight | www.k12insight.com Response to TCPN RFP for Solution to Build Stakeholder Engagement in Public Schools (12‐24) TAB 9 - REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
DOC #1
Clean Air and Water Act / Debarment Notice
DOC #2
Lobbying Certification
DOC #3
Contractors Requirements
DOC #4
Antitrust Certification Statement
Page 39 of 43
DOC #1
Clean Air and Water Act & Debarment Notice
I, the Vendor, am in compliance with all applicable standards, orders or regulations issued pursuant
to the Clean Air Act of 1970, as Amended (42 U.S. C. 1857 (h), Section 508 of the Clean Water Act,
as amended (33 U.S.C. 1368), Executive Order 117389 and Environmental Protection Agency
Regulation, 40 CFR Part 15 as required under OMB Circular A-102, Attachment O, Paragraph 14 (1)
regarding reporting violations to the grantor agency and to the United States Environment Protection
Agency Assistant Administrator for the Enforcement.
________________________________________________________________________________
I hereby further certify that my company has not been debarred, suspended or otherwise ineligible for
participation in Federal Assistance programs under Executive Order 12549, “Debarment and
Suspension”, as described in the Federal Register and Rules and Regulations.
Zarca Interactive, Inc. ADBA K12 Insight
Potential Vendor: ____________________________________________________________
Suhail Farooqui, Chief Executive Officer
Title of Authorized Representative: ______________________________________________
Mailing Address: ____________________________________________________________
Signature: _________________________________________________________________
Page 40 of 43
DOC #2
LOBBYING CERTIFICATION
Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or entering into this transaction and is
imposed by Section 1352, Title 31, U.S. Code. This certification is a material representation of fact
upon which reliance was placed when this transaction was made or entered into. Any person who
fails to file the required certification shall be subject to civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and
not more than $100,000 for each such failure.
The undersigned certifies, to the best of his/her knowledge and belief, that:
1. No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid on behalf of the undersigned, to
any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a
Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of
Congress in connection with the awarding of a Federal contract, the making of a Federal grant, the
making of a Federal loan, the entering into a cooperative agreement, and the extension,
continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of a Federal contract, grant, loan, or
cooperative agreement.
2. If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been or will be paid to any person for
influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of
Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in
connection with this Federal contract or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall complete
and submit Standard Form LLL, “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,” in accordance with its
instructions.
3. The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award
documents for all covered sub-awards exceeding $100,000 in Federal funds at all appropriate tiers
and that all sub-recipients shall certify and disclose accordingly.
_______________________________
Signature of Respondent
03/27/2012
_______________________________
Date
Page 41 of 43
DOC #3
CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS
Contractor Certification
Contractor’s Employment Eligibility
By entering the contract, Contractor warrants compliance with the Federal Immigration and
Nationality Act (FINA), and all other federal and state immigration laws and regulations. The
Contractor further warrants that it is in compliance with the various state statues of the states it is
will operate this contract in.
Participating Government Entities including School Districts may request verification of compliance
from any Contractor or subcontractor performing work under this Contract. These Entities reserve
the right to confirm compliance in accordance with applicable laws.
Should the Participating Entities suspect or find that the Contractor or any of its subcontractors are
not in compliance, they may pursue any and all remedies allowed by law, including, but not limited
to: suspension of work, termination of the Contract for default, and suspension and/or debarment
of the Contractor. All costs necessary to verify compliance are the responsibility of the Contractor.
The offeror complies and maintains compliance with the appropriate statutes which requires
compliance with federal immigration laws by State employers, State contractors and State
subcontractors in accordance with the E-Verify Employee Eligibility Verification Program.
Contractor shall comply with governing board policy of the TCPN Participating entities in which
work is being performed.
______________________________________________________________________________
Fingerprint & Background Checks
If required to provide services on school district property at least five (5) times during a month,
contractor shall submit a full set of fingerprints to the school district if requested of each person or
employee who may provide such service. Alternately, the school district may fingerprint those
persons or employees. An exception to this requirement may be made as authorized in Governing
Board policy. The district shall conduct a fingerprint check in accordance with the appropriate
state and federal laws of all contractors, subcontractors or vendors and their employees for which
fingerprints are submitted to the district. Contractor, subcontractors, vendors and their employees
shall not provide services on school district properties until authorized by the District.
The offeror shall comply with fingerprinting requirements in accordance with appropriate statutes in
the state in which the work is being performed unless otherwise exempted.
Contractor shall comply with governing board policy in the school district or Participating Entity in
which work is being performed.
______________________________________________________________________________
Business Operations in Sudan, Iran
In accordance with A.R.S. 35-391 and A.R.S. 35-393, the Contractor hereby certifies that the
contractor does not have scrutinized business operations in Sudan and/or Iran.
_________________________________________
Signature of Respondent
03/27/2012
__________________________________________
Date
Page 42 of 43
DOC #4
ANTITRUST CERTIFICATION STATEMENTS
(Tex. Government Code § 2155.005)
I affirm under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of Texas that:
(1) I am duly authorized to execute this contract on my own behalf or on behalf of the company,
corporation, firm, partnership or individual (Company) listed below;
(2) In connection with this bid, neither I nor any representative of the Company has violated any
provision of the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act, Tex. Bus. & Comm. Code Chapter 15;
(3) In connection with this bid, neither I nor any representative of the Company has violated any
federal antitrust law; and
(4) Neither I nor any representative of the Company has directly or indirectly communicated any of
the contents of this bid to a competitor of the Company or any other company, corporation, firm,
partnership or individual engaged in the same line of business as the Company.
Zarca Interactive, Inc.
Vendor _____________________________
Bidder __________________________
Signature
ADBA K12 Insight
_____________________________
Pamela Mantis
___________________________
Printed Name
___________________________
Position with Company
______________________________
13454 Sunrise Valley Drive
Address ____________________________
Suite 440
____________________________
Authorizing Official
Herndon, VA 20171
____________________________
___________________________
Signature
Phone
703-956-6460
____________________________
Suhail Farooqui
___________________________
Printed Name
Fax
703-852-3901
____________________________
Chief Executive Officer
___________________________
Position with Company
Page 43 of 43
Tab 10B
Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION Agawam Public Schools DRAFT Strategic Plan Survey Every five years, Agawam Public schools develops a master plan that serves to guide the district. From 2005 to 2010, we were guided by the Vision 2010 plan which has served us well. Under that plan,  89% of our 10th grade students are proficient or better in Math and English Language Arts,  Dropout rates were reduced, and  A strong visual and performing arts program was developed. Now is the time to create a new plan to carry us forward—to build a bridge to 2015. As we prepare this new plan, I want to make this a document that we build collectively. So I am asking all parents and community members to contribute to theprocess by completing this survey. On the pages that follow, information about the “Building a Bridge to 2015” plan is provided. We would like your feedback on each part of the plan. As you review and respond to the questions, please think carefully as our children deserve the best. We are confident that by working together we will provide Agawam’s students the best education so that they are prepared for future success. Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION The stated mission of the school district is: “Agawam Public Schools will provide students with a safe and technologically advanced learning environment that fosters academic excellence to maximize student potential for life‐long learning in a diverse world.” To fulfill this mission, the “Building a Bridge to 2015” plan is built on Vision, Core Values, and District Goals. The Vision is a statement of how the school district will improve over the course of the plan. The five parts of the “Building a Bridge to 2015” Vision are described below. For each item, please make two ratings. First, please indicate how you understand the item. Use the scale: o Do Not Understand o Understand A Little o Mostly Understand o Very Clear Second, please indicate how strongly you support the item. Use the scale: o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support {Items will appear in a matrix grid with the two sets of response scales.} Understanding Support 1. Provide quality academic content & performance standards for effective instruction & assessment of student performance that exceeds state and federal accountability measures for student achievement. (Prepare students to exceed the learning expectations required by state and federal standards.) 2. Ensure that district and school improvement initiatives are based on research and best practices. (Use proven methods to improve teaching and learning.) 3. Prepare students for success in a changing and global community. (Prepare students to compete with others from around the world for employment.) 4. Build educational partnerships with businesses and the community.(Cooperation with local businesses, civic groups, police departments, etc.) 5. Create and promote programs that meet the health and welfare needs of the whole child. (Assist the child and family with healthcare and community support services to prevent and address problems at home and school.) 6. Please share with us any additional considerations for the direction of the district over the next five years. {Open Response} Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION Core Values form the foundation on which the school district conducts its work. They guide the practices and actions that will enable the district to fulfill its mission. The 12 Core Values of “Building a Bridge to 2015” are described below. For each item, please make two ratings. First, please indicate how you understand the item. Use the scale: o Do Not Understand o Understand A Little o Mostly Understand o Very Clear Second, please indicate how strongly you support the item. Use the scale: o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support {Items will appear in a matrix grid with the two sets of response scales.} Understanding Support 7. An emotionally supportive and physically safe school learning environment. (Adults present for students to talk to about problems, children protected from harm.) 8. Class sizes and resources that support curriculum, instruction, and academic excellence. (Small number of students in class, enough learning materials for all students.) 9. Instruction that is responsive to the needs of diverse learners. (Instruction is tailored to how individual students learn.) 10. Collaboration for learning that involves family & community. (Including parents and community members in the teaching and learning process.) 11. Highly‐qualified teachers, administrators and support staff. (School staffwhoare highly trained and certified in their areas of expertise.) 12. Respect for and tolerance of individual differences. (Respect for students and stafffrom different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.) 13. Technology as a tool for teaching, learning, collecting, and analyzing data. (Use of computers and the Internet for teacher and learning.) 14. High quality, professional development for teachers, support staff, administrators, secretaries, bus drivers, cafeteria monitors, and school committee members. (Training opportunities for staff to become more effective.) 15. Open communication and collaboration that involves the school, family, and community.(Inclusion of parents and community members in school meetings, activities, and functions.) 16. Athletics (Sports) 17. Extra‐curricular activities (Clubs and afterschool activities) 18. Visual and performing arts (Art, music, band) Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION 19. Please share with us any additional considerations for the Core Values that will help guide the district over the next five years. {Open Response} District Goals are specific outcomes to be achieved by following the Strategic Plan. Eight District Goals of “Building a Bridge to 2015” are described below. For each item, please make two ratings. First, please indicate how you understand the item. Use the scale: o Do Not Understand o Understand A Little o Mostly Understand o Very Clear Second, please indicate how strongly you support the item. Use the scale: o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support {Items will appear in a matrix grid with the two sets of response scales.} Understanding Support 20. To increase student achievement through a curriculum with high standards for all students. (Increase scores on MCAS, SAT, and other tests.) 21. To provide a positive and safe learning environment for all students. (Schools are secure places where students are free from harm.) 22. To promote parent and community involvement in the education of our children. (Increase parent interest and involvement at school.) 23. To foster a climate of communication and collaboration throughout the district. (Staff, parents, and students are encouraged to share their views and opinions without retribution.) 24. To recognize and support varied learning styles and differences to maximize individual potential. (Individualize instruction to help all students achieve at their highest ability.) 25. To provide quality professional development for all employees. (Training opportunities for all staff to become more effective.) 26. To maintain favorable student staff ratios. (Small number of students in each classroom.) 27. To provide for and use appropriate technologies to maximize the efficiency of teaching and learning. (Computers are available and used to promote teaching and learning.) 28. Please share with us any additional considerations about thegoals for the district over the next five years. {Open Response} Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION As part of “Building a Bridge to 2015,” the school district will be taking a good look at the existing school buildings, both their present condition and how they are used. 29. Consider that:  In most Massachusetts school districts, schools are organized into three levels: elementary (grades K‐5), junior high (grades 6‐8), and high school (grades 9‐12).  In Agawam, we are organized differently with elementary (grades K‐4), Doering School (grades 5 and 6), junior high (grades 7 and 8), and high school (grades 9 ‐12)  Because there are four levels in Agawam Public Schools, students must change schools more often.  When students do change schools, there is a period of adjustment which may have negative impact on student learning. Given this information, how strongly would you support a changing Agawam’s schools to three levels: elementary (grades K – 5), junior high (grades 6 – 8), and high school (grades 9 – 12)? o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support 30. If you answered “No Support” or “Little Support,” please tell us why. {Open‐Response} 31. How important is it for students to attend a neighborhood school near home? o Not Important o Somewhat Important o Very Important o Essential 32. Consider that:  The athletic facilities at the high school are in a grave state of disrepair, bleachers are dangerous, track and tennis courts have cracks.  Facilities have been cited in accreditation reports.  The district cannot host any meetings for home games. Given these facts, how strongly would you support repairing and upgrading our athletic facilities? o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support Agawam Schools Strategic Planning Survey DRAFT – LONG VERSION 33. The high school building was built in 1957. While we run a safe school, it is 53 years old and not able to provide all the opportunities expected of 21st century high school experience. In addition, 

Neighboring communities, which built their high schools after Agawam, are building or planning to build new high schools. In light of school choice, our students might be drawn to the newer high schools in the neighboring communities, which will result in loss of school funds from the state. Given these facts, how strongly would you support building a new high school building? o No Support o Little Support o Some Support o Strong Support 34. If you answered “No Support” or “Little Support,” please tell us why. {Open‐Response} 35. One way to more efficiently use school facilities is to combine services at a single location. One possible opportunity for Agawam is to provide an early childhood program at the same location as the high school. If safety and cost savings could be assured, would you support an early childhood/high school facility? o Yes o No 36. If you answered “No,” please share your reasoning. {Open‐Response} RESPONDENT BACKGROUND ITEMS WOULD FOLLOW Sacramento City Unified School District
DRAFT—Comprehensive High School Needs Survey
{Begin Survey Content}
The school board and superintendent of Sacramento City Unified School District are exploring
the need for a comprehensive high school in the East Sacramento, Midtown, and Oak Park
neighborhoods. This survey is part of an effort to gather the public’s opinion regarding whether
sufficient high school options are available in the district in general and in these communities in
particular. We request your participation in this short survey. Your voice is an important step in
a process to better meet the educational needs of all high school students in the district.
{Background Questions}
1. Do you have a child who currently attends any of the following? (Select all that apply)
o A charter high school
o A SCUSD-run high school (not charter)
o A high school in another district
o A private/parochial school
o I do not have children in high school at this time
o I do not have children
{If question 1 was “I do not have children in high school at this time.” All others go to
question 5.}
2. Do you have a child who will be attending high school in the future?
o Yes
o No
{If question 2 was “Yes”}
3. My child will attend…
o A charter high school
o A SCUSD-run high school (not charter)
o A high school in another district
o A private/parochial school
o Undecided at this time
{If question 2 was “No”}
4. Do you have children who graduated from any of the following? (Select all that apply)
Revised 5 24 2011
o
o
o
o
o
A charter high school
A SCUSD-run high school (not charter)
A high school in another district
A private/parochial school
My children did not graduate
{Non-Parents (answered, “I do not have children” to question 1)}
5. Your views as a resident of this community who does not have children in school are still
very important for the planning of school services. Please share with us thoughts about
what a high school should provide in your community.
{Open Response}
{Parents}
6. What is the most important factor for you when deciding where to send your child to
high school?
{Open Response}
7. How important is it that your child’s high school be a comprehensive high school? A
comprehensive high school offers a broad curriculum, with extracurricular activities
such as sports and band, to meet the needs of students. In contrast, there are high
schools that offer specialized study such as a focus on a particular subject (like math,
science, or the arts), or training for a particular career.
o A comprehensive high school is very important for my child —I care a lot about
it
o A comprehensive high school is important for my child
o A comprehensive high school is somewhat important for my child
o A comprehensive high school is not important for my child—I don’t care about
it
8. When it comes to deciding where to send your child to high school, how important is
the distance that your child has to travel to school?
o Very important—I care a lot about it
o Important
Revised 5 24 2011
o Somewhat important
o Not important—I don’t care about it
9. We would like to better understand your views about the distance to school and the
high school programs available in choosing where to send your child. Please share with
us how distance and available programs affect your decision.
{Open Response}
10. Below are programs commonly found in high school. Please rank in the order of
importance the top three programs that you consider most important.
Rank 1 = Most Important
Rank 2 = Second Most Important
Rank 3 = Third Most Important
o Courses that provide instruction in a broad range of topics to prepare students
for general college study.
o Courses that provide advanced study in a specific subject (such as world
languages, science, mathematics, technology, etc.).
o Courses to give students skills needed for employment right after high school
graduation.
o A broad selection of sports/athletics programs (varsity football, track, baseball,
soccer, etc.)
o A broad selection of clubs and afterschool programs.
o A wide selection of elective (optional) courses that appeal to different interests
such as arts, music, drama, etc.
o Other (Please describe below)
11. If you selected “Other” as one of your top three items, please describe.
{Open Response}
12. Are you concerned your child’s high school or future high school does not have some of
the things you consider important to a good education? If so, please list them and make
any suggestions for what the district should do in response to this concern.
{Open Response}
Revised 5 24 2011
13. If you feel that the high school needs within the communities of East Sacramento,
Midtown, or Oak Park are not being met, what specific solutions do you suggest?
{Open Response}
{All Respondents—Contact Information}
14. As part of this survey, we are trying to understand the perspectives of residents living in
different neighborhoods within the SCUSD community. To this end, please provide your
address. This information will not be shared with any school district or school official. It
will only be used by K12 Insight, the third party that is administering this survey, for the
review of the survey’s data.
Street Address: {Textbox}
Zip Code: {Textbox}
15. Please provide an email address so we can continue future dialog with you.
{Textbox}
Revised 5 24 2011
Tab 10C
Calendar2011‐2012
1
Mid-Sep
Opening of the Schools Survey
2a,
2b,
2c
3
11/8 –
11/22/11
Perspectives on the Schools
2/72/21/11
3/6 –
3/20/11
Student Engagement
April
4a,
4b,
4c
5
Community
Respondent Group
Parents
Study
Staff
Date
Students
#
Alumni
Study
1
7
2
1
Central Office Climate
6
April
Professional Development Needs
Assessment
Alumni Workforce and College Readiness
7
May
Year-End Survey
8
PD Day
New Hire Mentoring Support
9
Ongoing
Exit Survey
Total number of
studies
Total number of studies 2
Total number of studies in 2011-2012: 13
Survey Respondents Key:
Students
Students
All Staff
Select Staff
5
Parents
Community
All Groups
ShorewoodCalendar
2011‐2012
Mid-Nov
Climate Survey on Site Level Issues
February
Employee Engagement
February
Student Engagement
March
June
Climate Survey on Central Office
Issues/School Board Survey
Professional Development Needs
Assessment
Alumni Workforce and College Readiness
Quarterly
New Hire Mentoring Effectiveness
Ongoing
Exit Survey
Ongoing
Professional Development In-service and
checkpoints
May
Total
number of
studies
Total number of studies 2
1
5+3
Total number of studies in 2011-2012: 14
Survey Respondents Key:
Students
All Staff
Select Staff
Parents
5
DRAFT—For Discussion Only
Community
2
Community
Opening of the Schools Survey
Parents
Mid-Sep
Staff
Respondent Group
Alumni
Study
Students
Date
1
Tab 10E
Dear Valued Community Member,
Community engagement is one of the three pillars of Strategic Plan 2010-2014: Putting Children First
and is vital to our work at Sacramento Unified School District. For some time now, concerns have been
voiced about the most efficient use of the Sacramento High School Campus. To begin a dialogue around
this important issue, I invite you to join a focus group we are forming to help craft a survey about the
best use of this facility for both our district as a whole and the families and students of St. HOPE.
The first meeting of this group will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, at (TBA). Please RSVP to
[email protected].
Thank you,
Jonathan Raymond
Tab 10G
CONNE
ECTICUT POST
ng the futture for Bridgeportt schools
Chartin
Monday, May
M 16, 2011
That soun
nd you hear in the distan
nce, rapidly moving
m
closser, is the rum
mble of a freeight train. T
That
freight trrain is headed
d to the futu
ure, and in Brridgeport wee face a critically importtant decisionn -we eitherr pick up ourr school systtem and put it on that traain barrelingg to the futuree, or we stannd at
the statio
on and wave as it goes by
y.
I think th
he choice is clear.
c
All aboard.
We've made
m
progresss in Bridgeport Public Scchools, but llet's face it; tthe future oppportunity annd
challengees for our ch
hildren will be
b incrediblee. We must ffundamentally transform
m the public
schools of
o Bridgeporrt.
Let's givee credit where it's due -- to the hard--working teaachers and addministrators in our schoools,
our paren
nts/ guardian
ns who get our children up
u and to schhool every dday and workk with them at
night to make
m
sure th
he homework
k and the claass projects gget done, andd to the studdents themseelves
who do th
he hard work
k.
They've all
a been resp
ponsible for the
t progresss; a 5 percenttage point im
mprovement in literacy, a 10
percentag
ge point jum
mp in math, an
a 8 percentaage point inccrease in the graduation rate, among
other measures. The progress is real,
r
the hard
d work a connstant.
But we know
k
it's not enough. Too many stud
dents still droop out beforee they graduuate. Too maany
students are not demo
onstrating accademic proficiency. Tooo many are not preparedd for successs in
the work
kplace or colllege when th
hey leave ou
ur public schoools. The louud blast of thhe train whisstle
ought to be telling uss that our rid
de to the futu
ure is going tto pass us byy unless we aact -- now.
Here's th
he next step to
t getting on
nboard: In thee coming weeeks we willl ask Bridgepport familiess and
community memberss to participaate in a very important suurvey about the future of Bridgeportt
Public Scchools. This survey will mark the firrst time the sschool districct has reacheed out to thee
community with a real, transpareent, aggressiv
ve effort to ffind out whaat you want tto see in youur
public scchools. We need
n
the com
mmunity on th
his ride withh us if our scchools are gooing to get thhere.
Secretary
y of Educatio
on Arne Dun
ncan recently
y called on eeducators to embrace whhat he calledd the
"new norrmal" -- the challenge
c
off doing moree with less. W
What is probbably less knnown is that
Bridgepo
ort Public Scchools have been
b
leading
g with this chharge for maany years noow. We havee
coped successfully with
w serious decline
d
in ou
ur budgets, bbut at the sam
me time we hhave begun tthe
transform
mation that must
m occur iff our schoolss are going too adequatelyy prepare ouur children foor
the futuree.
We need a collectivee community
y will to com
mplete this traansformationn of our pubblic schools. The
mission statement
s
off Bridgeport Public Scho
ools and its s upporting coommunity iss to graduatee all
students "college ready" and prepared to succeed in life. My first goal as the leader of this school
district is to bring the entire community into this conversation, a critical dialogue on
transforming our schools.
This transformation is essential because of where that train to the future is going. The skills that
will be required of our children when they enter the workforce are radically different from just a
few years ago. What worked in the past is not guaranteed to work in the future.
We've been chipping away at innovation and transformation, one innovative program at a time.
For example, we are starting to offer online classes for our students as a means to provide the
high-quality courses students deserve without a significant increase in expenditures. In addition,
we have transformed Bassick High School into the state's first CommPACT (Community,
Parents, Administration, Children and Teachers) high school. An educational reform model
developed at the University of Connecticut's NEAG School of Education, CommPACT is
designed to give teachers and staff more control over how the school is run while also offering
the latest research on effective teaching and learning.
But we need this public discourse to help us to work together to make substantially more
progress. Far too much energy is spent cursing the darkness. We need to light one candle.
The survey has been designed for the purposes of a dialogue. It gives me the opportunity to share
some critical facts with you. I invite your feedback on these facts and some opportunities and
challenges that are before us so we can be sure that every perspective is reflected at the table
when we sit down to make those important decisions about the future of our schools.
I do hear from a handful of the members of this community, but I have a feeling that reflects only
a narrow slice of the perspectives in the diverse city that is Bridgeport. The survey and the
strategic engagement that will surround it will enrich us with more perspectives to feed into the
process of decision-making.
It's my hope that members of our community will take part in the survey. Let's work together to
transform our schools. Our children will repay us ten-fold when they graduate as confident, welleducated citizens ready to thrive in the future.
One day just over 150 years ago, another train from another era brought the future to Bridgeport.
On March 10, 1860, a prairie lawyer from Illinois rolled into town. A standing-room-only crowd
turned out at the corner of State and Broad streets to hear the tall stranger talk about his vision
for the future. Then he climbed back on the train and rolled off into what would be a long dark
night before a new dawn in America. That man was Abraham Lincoln, and the people of
Bridgeport, and indeed America, were with him that night as he headed toward the future.
Now it's our turn. The train is here. I say we get on board.
John Ramos is superintendent of Bridgeport public schools.
DRAFT PRESS RELEASE
School district offers greater
transparency and opportunities for
public involvement
New approach will let district leaders establish more
frequent and efficient 2-way dialog with everyone
(Date here) – Danvers Public Schools is embarking on a new and innovative effort to engage
all segments of the community and increase involvement in discussions on how to improve
schools. The first of a series of planned and systemic communication initiatives will be
launched on Monday, November 15, 2010 in the form of a Climate Survey. Parents, teachers,
staff and students will be invited to share both their perceptions as well as suggestions on
how to make Danvers Public Schools perform to even higher standards.
The first survey to launch this month is focused solely on everyone’s experience with
their child/children’s schools, academics and areas of operation that are managed at
individual schools. Future initiatives are planned so that no area of the school district’s work
is left unscrutinized and will include opportunities for residents who may not have any
children attending district schools. (Areas of operation like cafeteria, transportation, hiring
and training of teachers and principals, ensuring each school is meeting required standards
are all managed from the District Office and will be covered in a different survey to be
deployed in March 2011.)
Parents and teachers will receive email invitations to participate in the study. The
District has done a good job of building an email database in recent years. Any parent who
does not receive their email may also access the survey through a link posted on the district’s
website. Computer labs at Holten Richmond Middle and Danvers High schools will be
prepared so students can access and complete their surveys.
Parents who do not have access to computers may also call 978-777-XXXX and
request a paper copy of the survey. The goal is to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to
submit their feedback.
“As school district administrators, we strive hard to be good custodians of the public’s
trust,” said Dr. Lisa Dana, Superintendent of Schools. “If we know the unique perspective of
each member of our public school community, we can benefit from it. Our teachers, parents,
non-parent residents, students and our alumni can and must be our partners in our pursuit of
excellence. We have implemented a plan that runs year round and year after year. It gives
everyone a voice and a say in all the critical decisions we will be making.”
As part of this 2-way dialog, Danvers Public Schools has created a calendar of
surveys seeking input from various members of the community. The plan, purpose and
schedule for each survey will be communicated on the district website in early 2011. After
each survey, the public will be informed of the results. “We will be even more transparent
than in the past,” Superintendent Dana said. “We will come back after each survey and share
what we have learned, what our perceived strengths are and where we need to work harder.
This new program we have put in place is exciting because it gives us one more dimension to
measure our performance on our core values of Caring, Quality, Commitment and
Collaboration.”
“The decisions we make on the education of children are too important to make in a
vacuum,” said Superintendent Dana. “We want our community and our employees to give us
advice on those decisions and to help us chart the course that will be best for all of our kids.”
For more information, please contact {name} at 978-777-XXXX.
DRAFT NEWSLETTER ARTICLE FOR TEACHERS AND STAFF
Harnessing the Power of Your Ideas
Dear Teachers and Staff Members,
I want to share with you some details of an exciting districtwide program that we have
recently started to implement. In partnership with a nationally renowned company called K12
Insight, Danvers Public Schools is deploying PerspectiveMatters, an innovative program that
will give every teacher and staff member a direct voice on how to improve our schools.
The first of a series of planned and systemic communication initiatives will be
how to make Danvers Public Schools perform to even higher standards. For practical
considerations, student participation is limited to our Middle and High schools only.
our school sites (individual campuses) and areas of operation that are managed at individual
schools. Future initiatives are planned so that no area of the school district’s work is left
unscrutinized, and will involve residents who may not have any children attending district
schools. (Issues that are managed from the District Office will be covered in a different
survey to be deployed in March 2011.)
Please note that K12 Insight will provide us with reports and analysis in such a way
that your feedback will remain anonymous and confidential and your identity will not be
associated with your response. If you have any concerns about this matter, you may contact
K12 Insight directly at (703)234-5528 or via email at [email protected].
Some of you might wonder how this is different from surveys that we have done in
the past. First, this survey is part of a comprehensive plan to engage all stakeholder groups on
all major issues and to do so systemically and systematically every year. We have created a
calendar of surveys; the plan, purpose and schedule for each survey will be communicated on
our website in early 2011. A systematic approach will allow us to track our progress in all
key areas and help us focus on where we are going instead of merely where we are. In other
words, this will be part of a Continuous Improvement effort in the district.
Second, I promise to close the loop with you soon after each survey is completed. We
will come back after each survey and share what we have learned, what our perceived
strengths are and where we need to work harder. This new program we have put in place is
exciting because it gives us one more dimension to measure our performance on our core
values of Caring, Quality, Commitment and Collaboration.
The district’s leadership team strives hard to be a good custodian of everyone’s trust.
If we know the unique perspective of each member of our school community, we can benefit
from it. You, our teachers and staff members, are essential to the success of everything we do
in this district and the K12 Insight PerspectiveMatters program offers me and the district
leadership team a simple and powerful way to be in touch with you on all key issues. This
program gives everyone a voice and a say in all the critical decisions we will be making. It
will help us work as a focused team on our strategic objectives and core values.
I also encourage you to assist the district in any way possible to boost response rates.
We will recognize the school with the highest response rate among each of the participating
groups of teachers and staff, parents and students. I invite your participation and thank you
for the same.
DRAFT NEWSLETTER ARTICLE FOR PARENTS
Harnessing the Power of Your Ideas
DearParents,
Iwanttosharewithyousomedetailsofanexcitingprogramthatwehaverecently
startedtoimplementinDanversPublicSchools.Inpartnershipwithanationally
renownedcompanycalledK12Insight,DanversPublicSchoolsisdeploying
PerspectiveMatters,aninnovativeprogramthatwillgiveeveryparentadirectvoiceon
howtoimproveourschools.
Thefirstofaseriesofplannedandsystemiccommunicationinitiativeswillbelaunched
onMonday,November15,2010intheformofaClimateSurvey.Parents,teachers,staff
andstudentswillbeinvitedtoshareboththeirperceptionsaswellassuggestionson
howtomakeDanversPublicSchoolsperformtoevenhigherstandards.Forpractical
considerations,studentparticipationislimitedtoourMiddleandHighschoolsonly.
their child/children’s schools and areas of operation that are managed at individual schools.
Future initiatives are planned so that no area of the school district’s work is left unscrutinized
and will involve residents who may not have any children attending district schools. (Issues
that are managed from the District Office will be covered in a different survey to be deployed
in March 2011.)
To keep our costs down, we encourage all parents to complete this survey online. If
you do not have a computer or access to the Internet, the school sites and libraries listed
below will provide access to complete the survey online. Please contact the receptionist at a
school site or a librarian at any of the libraries listed for assistance. If for some reason you are
still not able to access this survey online, please call {name} at 978-777-XXXX and request a
paper survey which will be mailed to you. It is important we hear from you.
If we have your email address in our {name} system, you will receive an email
containing a link to the survey. Each link is designed to be used only once, so please do not
forward it to anyone else. If you do not complete the survey you will receive reminder emails.
Parents who do not receive invites via email may access the survey on the district’s
website.
It is important to share with you how we plan to use the data from this survey and all
future surveys. I promise to close the loop with you soon after each survey is completed. We
will come back after each survey and share what we have learned, what our perceived
strengths are and where we need to work harder. This new program we have put in place is
exciting because it gives us one more dimension to measure our performance on our core
values of Caring, Quality, Commitment and Collaboration.
The district’s leadership team strives hard to be a good custodian of your trust. If we
know the unique perspective of each member of our school community, we can benefit from
it. You, the parents, along with non-parent residents, teachers and staff members, students
and alumni can and must be our partners in our pursuit of excellence. This plan gives
everyone a voice and a say in all the critical decisions we will be making. It will help us work
as a focused team on our strategic objectives and core values. I invite your participation and
thank you for the same.
{list of churches, libraries where survey may be accessed}
DRAFT CONNECT-ED MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENTS FOR PARENTS
{38 seconds}
Good afternoon, this is Dr. Lisa Dana, Superintendent of Schools at Danvers Public Schools.
I am calling to request that you participate in a survey that has been sent to you via email. If
you have not received this email for some reason, please access the survey {on the top left
hand side} of our district’s website homepage at danverspublicschools.org. Each year we will
be asking parents for their input in only two surveys and your feedback will help us better
understand how we can serve you and the educational needs of our children even better.
Thank you.
DRAFT CONNECT-ED MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPALS FOR PARENTS
{60 seconds, may be trimmed down to 50 seconds}
Good afternoon, this is {name}, Principal of {} School. You may have heard, our
superintendent has implemented a program where all parents are asked for their feedback on
all key areas of our work twice each year. The first of these surveys has been live for {a
week} and you may have received an email with instructions on completing it. You can also
access the survey {on the top left hand side} of our district’s website homepage at
danverspublicschools.org. Our school {school name} is competing with all other schools in
this district for recognition of getting the highest percentage of parents who completed the
survey. If you have not already done so, please help us win this friendly competition by
completing the survey immediately. Your feedback will help us better understand how we
can serve you and the educational needs of our children even better. Thank you.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Gabe Ross
(916) 643-9145
[email protected]
SCUSD Launches Survey on Need for
New Neighborhood High School
June 1, 2011 (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) – East Sacramento, Midtown and Oak Park do not have a traditional
neighborhood high school to serve their children, and the Sacramento City Unified School District is
asking community members to take part in an important survey to help deal with the issue.
The online survey will be available for community members, including teachers, staff, students and
parents, to participate in beginning Wednesday, June 1. Community members can visit the district
website at www.scusd.edu to take part in the survey.
“This community has for many years debated what types of high school offerings should be available in
the East Sacramento, Midtown and Oak Park neighborhoods,” SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan P.
Raymond said. “We’re going to aggressively seek out the opinions of the entire community through our
survey, and then we’re going to use the information from the survey to work with these neighborhoods
to make sure we have the kinds of schools we need in the area to serve the needs of our children.”
The 15-question survey will offer community members a chance to give their opinions on the needs and
benefits of different types of high schools.
The survey will ask parents to rank courses and programs that they think are important for a high school
to offer. The survey will ask parents to contrast their interest in a comprehensive high school with a
charter school, which can have more specialized courses of study.
Parents also will be asked how important the distance a student has to travel to high school is to the
parent’s consideration of where to send high school-age students to school.
“This effort is part of our core principle of community engagement,” Superintendent Raymond said.
“The public deserves a chance to be part of major decisions that affect their children. Community
involvement in these kinds of decisions makes our schools stronger because it makes for better, more
informed decisions.”
Community members will have until (date here) to respond to the survey. Those who want to
participate in the survey but don’t have electronic access can contact the school district to ask for a
paper copy of the survey. Those people who do not have access to the internet can call the district office
at (916) 643-7400 for a list of schools, libraries, etc. where they can participate in this survey.
The district will make a public report on the results when the survey is complete.
#
#
#
Tab 10H
DRAFT PRESS RELEASE
School district offers greater
transparency and opportunities for
public involvement
New approach will let district leaders establish more
frequent and efficient 2-way dialog with everyone
(Date here) – Danvers Public Schools is embarking on a new and innovative effort to engage
all segments of the community and increase involvement in discussions on how to improve
schools. The first of a series of planned and systemic communication initiatives will be
how to make Danvers Public Schools perform to even higher standards.
their child/children’s schools, academics and areas of operation that are managed at
individual schools. Future initiatives are planned so that no area of the school district’s work
is left unscrutinized and will include opportunities for residents who may not have any
children attending district schools. (Areas of operation like cafeteria, transportation, hiring
and training of teachers and principals, ensuring each school is meeting required standards
are all managed from the District Office and will be covered in a different survey to be
deployed in March 2011.)
Parents and teachers will receive email invitations to participate in the study. The
District has done a good job of building an email database in recent years. Any parent who
does not receive their email may also access the survey through a link posted on the district’s
website. Computer labs at Holten Richmond Middle and Danvers High schools will be
prepared so students can access and complete their surveys.
Parents who do not have access to computers may also call 978-777-XXXX and
request a paper copy of the survey. The goal is to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to
submit their feedback.
“As school district administrators, we strive hard to be good custodians of the public’s
trust,” said Dr. Lisa Dana, Superintendent of Schools. “If we know the unique perspective of
each member of our public school community, we can benefit from it. Our teachers, parents,
non-parent residents, students and our alumni can and must be our partners in our pursuit of
excellence. We have implemented a plan that runs year round and year after year. It gives
everyone a voice and a say in all the critical decisions we will be making.”
As part of this 2-way dialog, Danvers Public Schools has created a calendar of
surveys seeking input from various members of the community. The plan, purpose and
schedule for each survey will be communicated on the district website in early 2011. After
each survey, the public will be informed of the results. “We will be even more transparent
than in the past,” Superintendent Dana said. “We will come back after each survey and share
what we have learned, what our perceived strengths are and where we need to work harder.
This new program we have put in place is exciting because it gives us one more dimension to
measure our performance on our core values of Caring, Quality, Commitment and
Collaboration.”
“The decisions we make on the education of children are too important to make in a
vacuum,” said Superintendent Dana. “We want our community and our employees to give us
advice on those decisions and to help us chart the course that will be best for all of our kids.”
For more information, please contact {name} at 978-777-XXXX.
Tab 10I
DRAFT INVITATION FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS’ MEETING
{Date}
Name
Title
Organization Name
Danvers, MA ZIP
Dear{Dr./Mr./Ms./Rev.Name},
I am writing to request your assistance in an important matter.
The pace of innovation and change in our world has reached unprecedented levels. As
superintendent of schools I am aware that our children will compete for economic
opportunities not only among themselves but also with their counterparts in every state of the
Union and in every country of the world. Our communities are increasingly diverse and
educational leaders are challenged more than ever before to ensure all our children receive a
world class education so they succeed in a future that is as challenging as it is exciting.
A key component of our strategy is to benefit from the perspectives of all parents and
residents of the Danvers community. Towards this, we will be reaching out to them through
two surveys each year. This feedback helps us ensure that the perspectives of all our parents
and residents are taken into account when we make decisions that impact everyone.
We have learned from past experience that while many parents and residents embrace
opportunities to talk to us, many more do not do so. In particular, I am afraid that there is a
silent majority out there that we never hear from. I would like to request your assistance to
have a more effective outreach to all residents in general and to those we don’t normally hear
from in particular. As a leader of {a church, a community asset such as a library, a civic
organization, a rotary club, name others}, you are uniquely positioned to assist us and I hope
you will help us build a community that is more engaged with our public schools.
To explore a partnership for this outreach, I would like to invite you and representatives of
your organization to a meeting at our district office later this month. Two sessions are
planned and I hope you can attend one of these.
First Meeting of Community Leaders
Date: {}
Start Time: 5 PM
End Time: Before 6 PM
Location: {}
Second Meeting of Community Leaders
Date: {}
Start Time: 5 PM
End Time: Before 6 PM
Location: {}
Please contact {} in my office at 978-777-XXXX to RSVP.
I personally look forward to meeting you in one of these sessions. Your assistance in helping
Danvers Public Schools advance in forging a deeper and more meaningful partnership with
our parents and residents is greatly appreciated. It will help us provide better education for all
our children.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lisa Dana
Superintendent of Schools
60 Cabot Road Danvers, MA 01923 November 8, 2010 Mr. Doug Rendell, Library Director Peabody Institute Library 15 Sylvan Street Danvers, MA 01923 Dear Mr. Rendell: I am writing to request your assistance in an important matter. The pace of innovation and change in our world has reached unprecedented levels. As superintendent of schools I am aware that our children will compete for economic opportunities not only among themselves but also with their counterparts in every state of the Union and in every country of the world. Our communities are increasingly diverse and educational leaders are challenged more than ever before to ensure all our children receive a world class education so they succeed in a future that is as challenging as it is exciting. A key component of our strategy is to benefit from the perspectives of all parents and residents of the Danvers community. Towards this, we will be reaching out to them through two surveys each year. This feedback helps us ensure that the perspectives of all our parents and residents are taken into account when we make decisions that impact everyone. We have learned from past experience that while many parents and residents embrace opportunities to talk to us, many more do not do so. In particular, I am afraid that there is a silent majority out there that we never hear from. I would like to request your assistance to have a more effective outreach to all residents in general and to those we don’t normally hear from in particular. As director of the Peabody Library, you are uniquely positioned to assist us and I hope you will help us build a community that is more engaged with our public schools. Beginning November 15, 2010, parents of students in Danvers Public Schools will have the opportunity to participate in an important Parent Survey. In order to ensure that each parent voice is heard, I request that you have space available for parents to participate in the study online. On the following page I have provided instructions for how each parent may access the survey. I sincerely appreciate and value your support in this effort. Warm Regards, Dr. Lisa Dana Superintendent of Schools In order to participate in the survey, please have parents follow the steps below: 1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Open an internet browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. In the address bar at the top of the screen, type http://www.danvers.mec.edu/ and press enter. Click on the image on that says “Parent Survey.” This will open a new window, taking you directly to the survey. Answer each question in the survey in order. Please do not use the “Back” or “Forward” buttons at the top of your browser, instead use the “Back” and “Next” buttons at the bottom of the survey. 7) When you have finished answering all questions in the survey, click the “Submit” button. 8) Close the web browser. If you have any questions about accessing the survey or difficulty taking the survey, please call or email Kevin Scott at K12 Insight. He can be reached at (703)234‐5528 or [email protected]. Tab 10J
Tab 10K
Home Page of a District Account
Central Repository for all District Surveys
Response Rate Report
Tab 10M
WORKING DOCUMENT—FOR DISCUSSION ONLY
Summary of Focus Group Meetings
{District Name Redacted}
{date}
K12 Insight conducted focus groups on behalf of {District Name Redacted} to gain a better
understanding of staff, department chair and building administrator perspectives on the strengths of the
district as well as the challenges they face together in serving the community. Of particular interest
were the effects of state policy decisions and the implementation of these mandated changes in the
district, specifically the impact of these changes on the relationship of the teacher to the administrator.
A robust discussion of the teacher evaluation process took place in each session. Teachers and
administrators alike offered ideas to improve these exercises in the future.
Communication, transparency and leadership were also discussed in the sessions, using data learned
from the K12 Insight survey conducted in {date} as a springboard into a larger conversation. The priority
that the District Leadership team has placed upon authentic dialogue and greater mutual understanding
as essential drivers toward meeting the district’s mission is acknowledged and respected. This will
provide benefits to morale and engagement as the current leadership team has time to become more
deeply established.
Three sessions were conducted:
Meeting #1: 20 Teachers from the Middle and High Schools
Meeting #2: 12 Administrators
Meeting #3: 20 Teachers from Elementary Schools
Focus group meetings were conducted on {} and this final report presented on {} by K12 Insight.
Key Observations:
1. All conversations maintained a highly constructive tone: Focus group participants were
respectful of one another and of the dialogue. Each participant contributed to the open
conversation by listening respectfully to their colleagues and framing disagreements or
disapproval in a constructive fashion.
2. Across the board, high regard for fellow teachers and staff: When asked what positive and
supportive elements existed in the climate of {DISTRICT NAME REDACTED}, the supportive and
professional caliber of the teachers consistently surfaced as the most popular response.
Teachers gave examples of the helpfulness of their colleagues not only in terms of sharing best
practices, but also their willingness to provide a supportive environment.
1
WORKING DOCUMENT—FOR DISCUSSION ONLY
3. Teacher and administrator concerns common to educators everywhere: A common theme
was the consistent ratcheting up of standards while resources become increasingly limited. This
conversation is nearly universal in the districts the K12 Insight supports. With respect {DISTRICT
NAME REDACTED}’ specific circumstances participants referred to space constraints in some
elementary school sites, increasing demands on support staff, and high demand upon
technology resources (computer lab, carts, etc).
4. Understanding of pressures on District and Site Leadership: Consensus existed that leadership
had little power to change the fact that there had been no salary increases in a while. However
some of the hardship could be mitigated if leadership showed greater appreciation for work.
There was a sense among the administrators that they already do this – but a culture of
authentic appreciation ranging public recognition to hand-written notes would support
improved morale.
5. Concerns about Teacher Evaluations drove a significant portion of the dialogue, these
concerns included:
{deleted}
2
Tab 10P
Press Conference
Jonathan Raymond
(Superintendent, Sacramento City Unified)
February 18, 2010 news conference to announce survey results
Thank you all for coming. We’re making history here today, and it’s exciting to be here: for the first
time, parents, teachers, school employees and community members across Sacramento were asked for
their advice, their thoughts on how to make schools better. Thousands of our citizens responded to
two historic surveys that will help shape how our schools work for years to come. We’re here today to
announce the results of this first-of-its-kind effort.
On January 19, working with our partners at K12 Insight, we began surveying our community on their
opinions regarding how to balance the Sacramento City Unified School District’s budget how we
should shape the long-term strategic plan that will guide our school system into the future.
Over three weeks, through February 9th, nearly 13,000 responses to the surveys were received from
parents and other community members, teachers, administrators and other school staff, and students.
For the first time, we have real information on what the people of Sacramento want for their schools.
Our friends at K12 Insight are working on the final report, but we have a lot of information to give
you this morning in advance of that final report, which will be available in its entirety online as soon
as possible.
I want to talk first about the issue of public engagement itself, how important it is, and what this
survey tells us about that work in our school district.
We have made real public engagement – truly having our community involved in and part of the
decisions about their public schools – as one of the very highest priorities of the district. We are
committed to community engagement, to a transparent, open and honest dialogue with our community
about what is expected from its schools.
We received very valuable advice from the public and our employees with these surveys, but much
more work needs to be done to engage the community. With these surveys, we heard most often from
community members who attend school board meetings or are involved in schools in some other way.
We need to do much more to reach out to and involve the thousands of parents and community
members who are not normally engaged in what happens in our city’s schools. We will not reach our
very high academic goals for our children unless we get broad involvement in public education by the
entire community.
The report shows that 12,855 responses were made to the surveys, including 4,609 students who
responded to the survey regarding the strategic plan, and 2,087 teachers and other staff and 2,336
community members who responded to the budget survey. A lot of people took the time to respond to
these surveys, and we appreciate that strong effort.
Among community members who responded to the survey regarding development of a strategic plan,
at least 41 percent had attended at least one school board meeting in the past year, and more than 51
percent had attended PTA meetings. That shows us that many of the community members responding
to the surveys are already somewhat or very involved in schools. And that is an important point I want
to make here: the advice we received from everyone is tremendously valuable. We must find a way,
however, to strengthen our engagement with the community and encourage more people who are not
involved in our schools now to speak up and be heard from.
Critically important decisions lie ahead for us in the coming days, weeks and months. The surveys on
our budget and the development of a strategic plan will help guide the leadership of the school district
as we make those decisions.
Over the past seven years, as our revenues have fallen, SCUSD has cut more than $144 million from
its budget. We must cut up to $30 million more from our 2010-2011 budget to balance it if we want to
avoid the possibility of the state taking over the operation of our schools and avoid losing our
community’s right to run its own schools.
This is serious business. The very future of our schools hangs in the balance. We must make these
budget cuts if the people of Sacramento are to remain in control of our schools for our children.
In the budget survey, we asked community members, teachers, administrators and other staff to tell us
their top priorities for the budget and to give us their thoughts on possible budget cuts.
Both community members and employees rated keeping small class sizes as the number one priority
for the budget.
We have proposed major additional cuts in central administration and other areas of the budget, and
we have asked our employee organizations to come to the table with their own budget cuts to do their
part too.
The survey clearly shows that parents and teachers do not want larger class sizes, and neither do I. But
increasing the number of students in class will remain an option if the employee organizations do not
work with us to find other areas to reduce the budget. I believe our employee organizations WILL do
the right thing for kids and will work with us to avoid the kind of budget cuts, such as class sizes, that
no one wants to see.
The survey also shows that parents and teachers agreed that having good, up-to-date textbooks is a top
budget priority.
In addition, community members ranked among the highest priorities for the budget:
• Programs for gifted and talented students
• Clean, well maintained school buildings
• Having one principal assigned to every school
• Strong central office support of schools
• And adult education programs
Teachers and other employees added to that list of priorities:
• Support for students with special education needs
• English language development for English learners
• And physical education
These surveys will help us realize our top priorities for the school district -- making sure every school
has a strong principal and quality teachers in every classroom, and that the district fully engages
parents and the community.
We asked the public and our employees what actions they would support to help solve the budget
crisis. The surveys showed that community members, teachers and staff alike agreed that closing
under enrolled schools is a top option. In addition, a majority of community members and school
district administrators favored closing low performing schools as a way of balancing the budget,
although a majority of teachers opposed the idea.
On the idea of unpaid furlough days for school district employees as a way of closing the budget
deficit, teachers and community members opposed it but administrative staff members throughout the
district supported it.
While I understand the sentiment behind wanting to close under-performing or under-enrolled
schools, this needs a bit more time and careful study and planning. Therefore closing schools will
NOT be a proposed option for our budget plan this year. We will seek input from the public and
develop a full process for school closings before any such option would even be considered in the
future.
We do want to make a special effort to keep budget cuts away from arts and music programs this year
because those programs have been hit so hard in the past. The strategic plan survey showed the
community members believe SCUSD’s fine arts programs are frankly one of our biggest weaknesses,
with 89 percent of community members rating fine arts in schools as important but only 36 percent
saying the school district does an effective job with arts education.
I believe the survey results also show we are right to be concern about our school district’s historic
lack of parent engagement. The survey showed that 93 percent of community members rated parent
engagement as important but that only 57 percent believe the district actually does an effective job in
parent engagement. That’s a huge gap – 36 points – in how we are performing in an area the public
cares a great deal about.
And there is a similar gap on another critical issue – that of having effective teachers in every
classroom. Clearly our goal is the right one -- 97 percent of community members rated having
effective teachers as critical to success in Sacramento schools. But only 64 percent of the community
said the school district is doing a good job of providing effective teachers. Again, that’s a huge gap –
a 33-point difference in the number of people who want top quality teachers and those who think we
have them in our classrooms. That’s a big, big problem for us.
It’s an understatement to say we have learned a lot from these surveys. We learned we need to listen
to what our students have to say, and that in many respects teachers and parents are on the same page
when it comes to what’s best for children. But we also learned we need to try harder to reach and
involve our whole community in improving schools, and that the community indeed wants an
effective teacher in every classroom.
The bottom line is we have a big job ahead of us, but we’re working hard to get it done. It’s going to
take all of us to do that. But I believe the Sacramento City Unified School District has what we need
to meet our goals – we have dedicated teachers and administrators and a community that cares about
what happens to public schools. Now it’s time to just do it.
Dear Parents, Staff, Students, and Residents of the Danvers Community,
I want to start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. I would like to begin this New Year with a
review of some important information you shared with us in November and December. At that
time, you were kind to take the time to share your thoughts. Now it is my turn to share with you
what we learned.
Let me start by expressing my most sincere thanks to everyone who participated in this survey.
Responding to surveys takes time from our busy schedules and sometimes we are tempted to
skip them. Therefore, I am sure you will appreciate the fact that we have decided to conduct only
two surveys of parents in any given year. Students will see three while staff and teachers will
have a few more. By planning in advance and adopting a systematic approach, our goal is to
reduce the number of times we interrupt your busy schedules. Yet, by using comprehensive
surveys, we will have access to the feedback we need to know how well we are meeting your
expectations.
If you were unable to participate in this survey, you will have another chance in March. I urge
you to share your thoughts with us. We want to hear from every parent and resident of this
community – even if you have never completed one of our surveys before. What I can assure you
is that every response is important; every view point is considered and informs us about how to
become better. I can also assure you that I will quickly turn around and share with you what we
heard from you – everything as it is, the good news and the areas where you want us to improve.
I believe our community expects this level of transparency and deserves this kind of
collaborative decision making on the critical issues surrounding how we educate our children.
In 2008 we adopted our fourth Strategic Plan. A Strategic Plan is a statement of things on which
we commit to focus and highlights what we refer to as our “Success Measures.” Every year we
must ask ourselves the tough questions: have we picked the right goals and are we meeting the
goals we have set for ourselves? I am pleased to report that on each of the four Success Measure
themes addressed in the recent survey, we received positive results. I am particularly gratified to
note that all areas that were made a priority were also identified as areas of strength in the
survey.
1. We had committed to doing a better job of preparing our students for the next grade level.
The survey shows over 80% of parents and teachers believe we are doing a good job at
this. Our commitment to ensure children feel well supported as they progress from
elementary to middle and from middle to high schools is bearing fruit – nearly 90% of 6th
grade parents indicated this was done well. We have improved in how we have helped
our 9th graders transition to high school, but there is some work to be done there.
2. Overall, 92% of parents indicated they feel welcomed at their child’s school.
3. Over 90% of our teachers and staff feel respected by principals and other teachers, and
overall 80% feel included in the decisions we make. We can be very proud of this
positive culture among our teachers and staff and we intend to work hard to maintain and
even further improve upon it.
4. We are well into the 21st century. Today’s educational methods and the way in which our
children learn are very different from even that of a few years ago. I am pleased to note
that the survey indicates that our students have access to and success with a variety of
technology in everyday instruction.
5. We set ambitious goals concerning communication and partnership with our community.
Over 90% of parents indicated they were able to reach their child’s principal and received
a courteous and professional consideration of their concerns.
6. Overall, 83% of our parents feel the decisions that principals make are made with the best
interest of students in mind.
While I celebrate these findings, clearly, there is work ahead of us and we received feedback on
the several issues that need greater attention. The School Committee and the district leadership
team are looking closely at this list and we intend to prioritize making improvements in each of
them.
1. Whereas nearly all teachers believe their students have an adult they can talk to
concerning their progress, goals and issues, 77% of parents indicated they thought this
was true. We will investigate why this gap exists and make sure all our children can find
the help they need at school.
2. While the district has provided ongoing training for teachers, many of our teachers have
asked for better tools and training towards meeting the individual needs of all students.
We will look at this closely as we realign our budget to meet our priorities.
3. While our teachers feel that the way we embrace and attend to issues of diversity is an
area of strength, our parents and students disagreed, indicating a need for more attention
and growth in this area. We intend to have candid conversations with our students to
explore how we can do a better job of encouraging respect for those who are different
than us.
4. We realize we need to do and can do a better job of keeping parents informed about the
behavior of their children at school and of sharing with parents ideas on how they can
support their children at home.
Forty-two percent of parents, 67% of teachers and 81% of students participated in this survey.
This represents high participation rates compared to surveys conducted in public schools in
general. Many individuals and organizations assisted with this – I want to recognize and thank
our principals and teachers. I also want to recognize the assistance received from Doug Rendell
and the staff at Peabody Institute Library who offered assistance of any parent who needed
Internet access to participate in the survey.
Our goal is to improve participation of our parents to over 50% in our next survey. I invite you to
reach out to your neighbors and friends and invite them all to join this conversation to make
Danvers Schools the best public school system in the state.
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Survey Generates Valuable Feedback for School
Officials
According to Superintendent Lisa Dana the District Climate Survey showed "strong support for
public schools but low turnout from non-parents."
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The following press release is courtesy of Superintendent Lisa Dana on behalf of the Danvers Public School System regarding the District Climate
Survey.
June 30, 2011 – A comprehensive survey of Danvers teachers, parents and community members has generated valuable feedback for school district
officials. The survey focused on issues managed by the central office, in contrast to issues managed by individual school sites; it showed strong
participation from teachers and staff, modest participation from parents and only a weak participation from non-parent residents of Danvers. The
survey was part of a broader effort by Danvers Public Schools to include every voice in the vital work of educating Danvers’ children.
“We reach out to parents twice every year, community members (residents who do not have a child attending a district school) at least once, and our
teachers and staff on more than three occasions. This two-way dialogue brings us all closer,” said Dr. Lisa Dana, Superintendent of Danvers Public
Schools. In keeping with a commitment made last fall when the survey program was deployed, the results from each survey have been shared publicly
in an effort to build greater transparency and accountability.
A key area of investigation at this end of the year through the “District Climate” survey was to see how people perceived the district’s progress against
their strategic plan.
Of the 20 goals that appear under seven themes in the plan, the district asked for input on four: (1) highly effective instruction, (2) a safe and
welcoming school environment, (3) equal access for all students to high quality facilities and technology and (4) strong communication to build trust
with parents and the Danvers community. Over 90% of parents indicated they felt progress had been made in each of these areas. The ratings from
teachers were slightly higher, except in the case of facilities and technology where 87% of teachers and staff indicated they felt progress had been
made.
Another area explored within the survey was the community’s experience working with the district’s school committee, the superintendent’s office and
the administrative council. Nearly 90% of parents and community members who needed to speak to a school committee member were able to reach
them and nearly 80% of them indicated that they felt their concerns were handled in a courteous and professional manner. Similarly, 85% of parents
and community members who needed to speak with the superintendent’s office or a member of the administrative council were able to do so; 88% said
they felt the administrator listened to their concerns politely and 78% said their ideas were considered and addressed in a professional manner. In a
letter to parents, teachers, staff and the community, Dr. Dana wrote, “we will carefully listen to your concerns, make a sincere effort to fully understand
them and advise in a manner that is courteous and clear as to what action, if any, you can expect from us.”
The survey was completed by 450 parents, 310 teachers and staff, and 15 members of Danvers community who do not have children in district
schools. According to K12 Insight, a Virginia-based firm that specializes in such surveys and administered the surveys for Danvers Schools, the
response rate for teachers and staff was better than the average for such studies in other comparable school districts; however, there is clearly a need
do better in pushing for responses from parents and community members. (More than twice as many parents had responded to the school’s climate
survey on site level issues last fall.)
Dr. Dana acknowledged the district has more work to do to persuade more non-parents to participate in future surveys. “It is worth emphasizing that
our parents receive no more than two surveys, and residents who have no children in Danvers Public schools only one survey from the school district.
We understand everyone is busy and therefore, we have designed this program to be convenient while covering all key areas. The reputation of
Danvers schools affects every resident in this community, so everyone should have a stake in our schools,” she said.
When asked to highlight what was most important to them from a list of ten items that are the key areas of service by central office, every group,
without exception, indicated that class size was by far the most important element in sustaining a sound education. “Although issues like transportation
and school lunches are comparatively less important, survey participants told us that these are areas still in need of greater attention,” said Dr. Dana.
Respondents noted that they preferred communication using technology like the Parent Notification System (ConnectEd) and the district’s website for
sharing information. The district is making greater use of technology tools like email and social networking to not only share information but also to
engage parents, staff and community members in the decision making process.
Additional highlights:
95% of respondents indicated that strong schools were important to them.
77% of parents and 87% of teachers and staff gave the district an overall grade of an A or a B.
The district specifically asked parents and teachers about their thoughts on the process behind some key decisions that were made last year.
Over 80% of parents and close to 90% of teachers and staff felt that the school district shared relevant facts before making decisions and they
approved of the decisions made by the same margin. However, only 65% of parents and 81% of teachers and staff felt they had an opportunity to
provide input on those decisions.
85% of parents and 93% of teachers and staff indicated they are familiar with the school district’s partnership with DanversCARES program and
nearly 69% of respondents felt the program was doing a good job of promoting health in the community.
95% of parents acknowledged that they felt welcome to attend school activities.
61% of parents noted that the district does a good job on transportation for children and 73% gave a positive rating to the district’s food services.
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K12 Insight Proposal 12-24 E-Version (Public)

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