Engage Park Hill site launched

Last week, the Park Hill School District decided to engage the public with the kickoff of Engage Park Hill, a public feedback Web site it will use as part of its strategic planning process.  The site, located at engageparkhill.mindmixer.com, provides a portal for patrons to submit and discuss ideas on broad topics ranging from school safety to fiscal sustainability. Similar to the Let’s Talk Parkville site the City is using in its strategic planning process, the District hopes this will allow open dialog on the future direction of Park Hill and its programs. Patrons can sign up and post suggestions, comment on suggestions posted by others, or just vote on whether or not they like, dislike or have no opinion on topics. So far, the most active forum is on school safety, with suggestions on general maintenance and cleanup of drainage problem areas where standing water can cover sidewalks, to more specific concerns such as locking classroom doors. One patron suggests the parking lots at the high schools should be marked with signage on the light poles, which would give visitors more direction when trying to find events, and would allow security and police to pinpoint trouble areas. The patron also suggests numbering classrooms for easier identification during emergencies. “All doors should also be labeled starting with the main entrance as E01 (entrance/exit number one) and counting counter-clockwise around the building E02, E03, E04, etc,” said site user Charlea W. “This process eliminates problems with using directional descriptions such as N, S, E, W, NE. NW, etc., which require some sense of direction relative to north. Once, inside it is often difficult to identify which direction is north, especially if you are unfamiliar with the building.”