Community Survey :::

Executive Summary of LTHS Community Survey

Click here for data summary

We had a total of 900 responses to our community survey questionnaire. About 66% of the respondents have children currently attending LT. 128 respondents have no school age children. 21% of the respondents graduated from LT. A majority of respondents (53%) have children attending South Campus. 63% of the respondents came from three communities (La Grange, La Grange Park and Western Springs).

The overall results of the survey were extremely positive. The following areas received strong positive responses (Strongly Agree-Agree) from respondents:
Maintains high academic standards   95%
People move into district because of LT  91%
Offers ample co-curricular activities   91%
Value for taxes paid to LTHS    88%
Prepares students for future    88%
LT one of top high schools in Illinois   88%

The number of people responding Don’t Know poses an interesting dilemma in interpreting the data. The responses to Don’t Know ranged from 4% (high academic standards) to 72% (program non-English speakers). We could assume that the 14% of respondents who have no connection with LT might have responded Don’t Know to a number of items.

There were 47 pages of comments in response to the question, “What is the biggest challenge facing LT in the next decade?”   While it is virtually impossible to itemize individually all of the comments, there were numerous comments in the following areas:
• Population growth and possible overcrowding
• Maintaining academic standards
• Quality education for all students
• Continuing to maintain a safe and secure learning environment
• Controlling costs and tax increases
• Hiring high quality teachers
• Responding to a changing population
• Communicating effectively with a community who have no children at LT

Based on the comments from respondents, we recommend that the school district share with the total LT community all of the pertinent information it has on the above issues in its newsletters and on the school district website. For instance, the most recent Kasarda report strongly indicates that there will be very limited enrollment growth through 2020. The overcrowding that many community members are concerned about will probably not be an issue at LTHS.

One of the most valuable pieces of information in the survey is finding out where people receive information on LTHS versus where they would like to receive information.  People reported receiving their information on LT from the following sources:
1. School publications
2. Newspapers
3. Word of mouth
4. District website
5. Internet

The respondents reported that they would prefer receiving information from the following sources:
1. School publications
2. Newspapers
3. Internet
4. District website
5. School employees

The above responses would suggest that we continue to heavily promote various school district publications and that we increase the amount of information available on LT through the Internet and communicate all major issues at LT with our employees so they can help us deliver the message throughout the LT community.