Students First member ordered site survey
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/64905/
It was new site supporter Joel Nunneley who commissioned the phone survey last week asking what people think about the high school location.
“ I was the one that did it, ” Nunneley said. “ I did this independently. ”
The survey was conducted by the Camco Inc. consulting firm, which Nunneley said surveyed 300 likely voters based on historical voting data.
Nunneley has been one of the three main leaders of Students First, a group that supports building a new facility at a new location. The group endorsed a recent committee’s recommendation to move the school from 40 acres on the 1000 block of West Stone Street to 73 acres on Morningside Drive.
Fellow Students First leader Laura Underwood said she was unaware Nunneley had commissioned the survey until he called her Tuesday morn- ing. The group released the results Tuesday afternoon by e-mail.
“ I just really wanted to see what the voters thought about this, ” Nunneley said. “ I paid for it on my own and commissioned it on my own, but I’m releasing it through Students First. ”
The Fayetteville Board of Education has not voted on the recommendation to move the school.
“ There’s so many opinions out there I thought it would be helpful for the school board to have this information, ” Nunneley said.
According to the release, 68 percent of respondents said they had children or grandchildren who would be affected, while 31 percent did not and 1 percent were unsure.
The press release claimed the survey showed a “ clear majority of involved voters” support selling the current campus to the nearby University of Arkansas. The results, though, shows many voters are still undecided.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said they would support selling the campus to the UA, compared to 24 percent who didn’t support the idea. However, 40 percent of respondents were unsure or had no opinion on the matter.
Under wood said the number of people who support changing the location is a positive sign. It presents an opportunity to convince the undecided to support the change, she said.
“ Without even a campaign, we’ve got 36 percent who are supportive of this, ” she said.
Janine Parry, a member of BuildSmart, a group that supports a restructuring at the current location, said she found several flaws with the survey. Parry is also a political science professor at the UA and oversees the Arkansas Poll, a statewide poll of politics and policy.
She said some of the problems are the sample is too small, the margin of error is large and it isn’t clear who was considered to be polled.
“ I can tell you the margin of error for 300 is six percentage points, ” Parry said. “ Unfortunately this poll does not meet professional standards by any stretch.... These results would not be published by national news organizations. ”
Another problem is who commissioned the project, she said.
“ If we want to know President Bush’s approval rating, we don’t look to polls commissioned by Democrats. It’s really a lost opportunity, ” Parry said. “ The social scientist in me just feels that’s extremely unfortunate. The school board and university would probably benefit from a poll not sponsored by one of the groups in the debate. ”
About 36 percent of those surveyed indicated they will support a millage increase regardless of a decision to sell the high school campus. Seven percent of respondents said they would not support the millage if the school is sold.
Thirty-one percent of respondents said they were still unsure how selling the school would affect their decision. Five percent said they won’t support the millage if the school is not sold.
Also, 21 percent of those surveyed said they won’t support a millage increase regardless of what happens with the high school.