Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2022

New Independent Survey Finds Over 80% of Grand Island Public Schools Teachers Would Not Recommend Employment within GIPS District

GRAND ISLAND, NEB – Chaperone of GI, Inc., a Nebraska political action committee (PAC), created an anonymous survey to ask current Grand Island Public Schools (GIPS) educators to provide input on tough topics and the present-day state of GIPS. 

The survey was primarily distributed through the Grand Island Education Association (GIEA), commonly known as the teacher’s union. The teacher’s union President Michelle Carter stated that members circulated the survey to other members via personal emails and text messages to protect anonymity and authenticity. The organization has nearly 500 certified members who are employed by Grand Island Public Schools. 

GIPS educators were given 72 hours to complete the survey. The survey included questions that covered topics such as the performance of hired and elected officials, classroom safety, teacher morale, and district honesty surrounding staffing. Over 200 survey submissions were recorded.

Chaperone released the results of the survey in two parts. The first release consisted of statistical data results, and the second release revealed unfiltered, long-form comments submitted by the teachers anonymously.

When viewing the results, Chaperone President Tom Wald stated, “It’s worse than I thought.”

Of those submissions, 83.3% (175) responded that they have considered ending their employment at GIPS within the last year. 86.4% (178) reported that they would not recommend employment at GIPS to a colleague.

When asked how strongly they agree or disagree with the statement “The superintendent has been honest when publicly discussing the staffing issues that GIPS faces,”  77.3% (163) reported “Strongly Disagree.” For the statement “The GIPS Board of Education leadership has been honest when publicly discussing the staffing issues that GIPS faces,” 71.1% (150) responded with “Strongly Disagree.”

The majority of the survey submissions came from veteran teachers. 55.7% (117) of the survey participants reported being a GIPS teacher for 10 or more years.

To address the challenges and issues found in the survey, Chaperone has endorsed three candidates for the November 8th election. These candidates aim to change the trajectory of the GIPS system and better support students and educators. In Ward A, they have endorsed write-in candidates Amanda Wilson and Josh Sikes. In Ward B, they have endorsed candidate Hank McFarland.

After the election, Chaperone aims to continue supporting educators by having representatives at Board of Education meetings, keeping open lines of communication with current teachers, and keeping up with district communications to ensure that they are accurately representing what is happening within the schools.

To view the full survey results and teacher comments, visit chaperonegi.com/. 

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For media requests, please contact Chaperone President: Tom Wald (308) 379-8986.