Walpole Public Schools has $15,000 contract with Panorama Education

Parents Defending Education received several documents from Walpole Public Schools from a public records request regarding the district’s relationship with Panorama Education. One document was the contract between the district and Panorama Education. The district agreed to pay the firm a total of $15,000 for one year of service, split into $14,250 for the annual license fee and $750 for professional development. The contract is also dated September 7, 2022, for one year. The contract provided the following description of services that the district would receive:

• Annual Licenses:
  • All licenses include access to Platform and Support (as defined in the Terms and Conditions): Survey administration, analysts and reporting.
    • Dashboards and reporting for teachers, student support staff, school administrators, and district administrators.
    • Ongoing Project Management and Technical support through the length of the contract.
  • Student Climate Surveys & SEL: Platform License
    • Student Surveys
  • Family Surveys: Platform License
    • Family Surveys
• Services:
  • Foundations Package
    • Includes one virtual workshop from Panorama’s core offerings menu. Virtual workshops are group learning experiences, ideally for fewer than 50 participants. While in sessions, participants engage in hands-on learning and discussion to build knowledge and skills that support professional practice. Larger sessions can be supported as interactive webinars, and additional facilitators can be added for breakout rooms or chat moderation.

PDE also received the invoice that Walpole Public Schools received. The total was for $15,000, with $750 for professional development, $9,500 for student surveys, and $4,750 for family surveys. The district explained to PDE that “the only survey administered as part of our Agreement with Panorama is the one attached, which is voluntary and only sent to parents.” The district provided PDE with that survey. The district also explained that “the contract with Panorama was funded through a federal ESSR grant.”

The survey provided to PDE asks multiple questions on gender. The survey asks parents: “What is your gender?” Parents are then provided with “female,” “male,” and “nonbinary” as options for answers. The survey then asks: “What is your child’s gender?” The options “female,” “male,” and “nonbinary” are then provided for answers again.

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Walpole isn’t new to spending money on surveys…

Walpole Schools administer “equity survey”; parents say they had no idea until their children were placed into focus groups