Overton County Schools calling on all local families to complete a federal household survey.
Livingston Academy Title 1 and Testing Coordinator Kim Dial said the survey is a federal requirement that helps the school system secure financial support. Dial said the data provided by families is entered into a linked online system that calculates the specific financial needs for each individual school.
“Federal funding supplies things like professional development for teachers, it provides extra support staff, supplies for teachers and students, it supplies money for family engagement opportunities for parents,” Dial said.
Dial said the funding model for the district has shifted away from being based on fee waivers to a system determined by the number of surveys returned. Dial said the federal money directly impacts student resources such as ACT and AP testing, industry certifications, and scholarship opportunities.
“For our particular school, it helps provide a program called The Juice, and it’s an online English Language Arts support program that our students are working with during Prime Time,” Dial said.
Dial said “Prime Time” is a 30-minute block during the school day where students receive extra support for math and English or participate in college and career readiness training.
“A lot of times students may lose the papers or they may not get turned in properly, or just having that in written form can be a little bit concerning for families,” Dial said. “So that’s why our district does offer both on the Overton County website and the Livingston Academy website an online version, so that’s a little more private.”
Dial said the district has also utilized social media by posting flyers with QR codes to make the survey accessible via smartphones. Dial said that while paper copies are still accepted and filed privately, the online system offers an additional layer of confidentiality for sensitive household information.
“It is open all year because sometimes things change with families and maybe you didn’t feel like you needed to fill it out early and then something happened and you want to fill it out later on, so it is open all year,” Dial said.
Dial said the survey can be accessed through the Overton County Schools website.
“We just appreciate everyone’s participation up to this point and hope that others will continue to help us out,” Dial said.
