At the board’s June meeting, Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith presented the findings from the climate surveys administered this March and compared them with responses from March 2025.
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Each quarter, the Warren County R-III School Board receives the results of a climate survey offered to district personnel.
At the board’s June meeting, Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith presented the findings from the surveys administered this March and compared them with responses from March 2025. The numbers were largely similar to previous queries, with one notable exception.
When offered the survey, district administrators – 10 fewer than last year – didn’t provide the most favorable results.
Of the 14 questions, 13 received lower average scores than last March.
“The one where we saw the biggest drops was with our administrators,” Klinginsmith said. “We had a different sample size, and that’s the first time we’ve seen a drop like that. That’ll be a topic we talk about this summer at our retreats.”
The only category that received a higher score than last year was “Do you have the materials to do your work right?” That response increased from an average of 4.6 to 4.7 on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most favorable response.
A pair of questions received markedly lower scores than last year.
“At work, do your opinions seem to matter?” went from an average score of 4.5 to 3.3, and, on a scale of 1-10, “How likely are you to recommend the Warren County R-III School District to a friend?” dropped from 8.9 to 7.2.
“We are a little bit short-handed at Central Office, so I wonder if that played into it a little bit,” Klinginsmith said. “It is something that will be on our radar to improve this year, for sure.”
On a more positive note, there were 90 responses from teachers and nurses, compared to 86 last year. Questions were scored on the 1-5 scale.
“For our teachers and our nurses, we did drop just slightly in the average column,” Klinginsmith said. “It was largely the same. If it went down, it went down maybe a tenth of a point. It’s not too alarming. There are some areas we’re definitely working on.”
As with the administrator answers, Klinginsmith said the district will remain vigilant in its efforts to ensure survey scores improve.
“This is something we work on every quarter when I meet with the principals, and we discuss these topics,” Klinginsmith said. “We go through this review to see what we can do to get better. Retention and climate are one of our key goals. Definitely, though, the administrator (survey) is more concerning.”
Board member Stephanie Tibbetts questioned the decrease in survey scores and what can be done about them.
“Things have been stagnant or have been a little bit of a decrease,” Tibbetts said. “I want to know what we can do to improve? We don’t want to go backward.”
“For me, it’s about support,” Klinginsmith said. “When we have more money, we can hire more people. I think when the datacenter money starts rolling in, that’s when we can dive into how we can support all of these roles. Like, in transportation, for example, bus monitors are something we desperately need but can’t afford. For the teaching staff, it’s about structural support and helping with that. Sometimes people are asked for their opinions, but there are times we just can’t do anything about that.”
