FANSS Gets Support For New Owosso High School

MLive.com: Newslogs

Owosso survey shows more favorable view toward school bond
Owosso — A small sampling of Owosso School District residents shows they might be more likely than in the past to approve a bond issue for a new school.

A survey conducted by Friends and Neighbors Supporting Schools found 226 of the 233 polled would support a bond issue, with most opting for a new high school.

“The overall summary was more favorable than we thought,” said FANSS Secretary Dave Acton, who presented the results Monday to the Board of Education.

“All we had to go on was the last bond issue.”

The school district hasn’t had a bond issue pass since 1961.
— Linda Angelo

The Argus Press also had an article about this today. I’ll have a link tomorrow.

Someone over on Shianet asked about this poll. Here’s my response:

The survey … at least part of it … was done at Bryant School on election day. you had to walk past this table in order to vote, and pass it again after you voted. It was set up in such a way that if you’ve never been there before, you’d think you had to stop there before you could go in.

I went to Bryant to pick up poll numbers at about 12:45 that day. The guy at the table asked if I was interested in taking a survey. I took the paper but didn’t fill it out, as I don’t live there, and I only cared about him enough to make sure he wasn’t violating any laws by being that close to the polls. (you can’t be that close to the polls if you are doing something that might influence the election)

I don’t think I kept the paper survey, but on one side of the sheet were the questions, and on the other was a list of info about the history of bonds & development of OPS. I am pretty sure that the info was designed to show you that OPS needed money. Not that it was dishonest in some way … I couldn’t tell you if it was accurate or not, but I have no reason to think it wasn’t.

I got the impression that the guy presenting the survey was from FANSS, so I would just assume that he was in support of their objective. This may or may not have influenced how people answered questions.

If this was the only polling that they did, then you can assume that they only polled 1)voters and 2)people who live in the precincts that vote at Bryant. There are 2 precincts that vote there.

I don’t know how long they were there either, which might also influence the demographic that votes. For example, they may have left at 3:00pm, which would likely exclude voters who live in that area but work outside of Owosso, and would have to vote after 5pm.

Again that’s not something I can speak to, so no offense to FANSS. Maybe someone here can clear up where they were located and how long they were there.

I suppose it’s possible that they used other methods to poll. At any rate, doesn’t seem like a very reliable poll, although if you want to put a bond issue before voters, you’d want the support from the people who actually go vote.

I see Kevin took the survey. Maybe he can tell us more about where/when he took it, or if they used other means to poll.

The only think I’d add is that the MLive article indicates a lot of support for a new HS. However, convincing me that the district needs a new high school is not the same as convincing me to raise my own taxes.

Or whatever.

just sayin’

update: FANSS is located on the web here. Notice on their ‘goals‘ page, they currently have nothing in the section that reads, “The citizens have spoken clearly and they want:” I am curious to see if “a new high school” ends up in that unfinished list.

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