Saline Area Schools is inviting parents, students and staff to weigh in on how well its schools are meeting and serving the needs of the community through a building-by-building survey.

The district will launch a climate survey at each of its schools starting April 9. Academic preparation, student support, parent engagement, school operations and accessibility of school leaders will be among the topics covered in the survey.

The climate survey is the first in a series of planned communication initiatives that school officials announced in a press release late last week. The district is working with an independent research and communication firm, K12 Insight, to obtain the community feedback.

Saline school officials said three surveys will be distributed to the public and the total cost to the district will be about $750.

K12 Insight is a company that was founded in 2002 to transform school districts into "organizations that grow trust capital by engaging the silent majority of their stakeholders through transparency and collaborative decision-making," according to its website.

"We need everyone to participate and join in this conversation," Superintendent Scot Graden said in the news release. "This and future initiatives are an effective way for everyone to make their voices heard as we work collaboratively to make critical decisions ... .

"This type of ongoing two-way dialogue with the Saline Area Schools community is critical as we work together to achieve our ultimate goal of instilling in our students a desire for lifelong learning."

Saline Area Schools also started the process of reviewing its strategic goals this academic year. School officials have met with community members to look at what the district already accomplished toward meeting its five existing strategic goals, to identify what the district still needs to accomplish, to look at some goals Saline no longer needs and to identify new things the district should work on.

The climate survey will be posted to the district's website starting Monday. Community members also can arrange to use one of the district's computer labs to complete the survey, if they don't have Internet access, or can request a paper survey by calling (734) 429-8000 ext. 2003.

The survey will close on April 23. Responses will be kept confidential. District officials will report back to the community the results of the survey, along with an explanation of specific changes that may be employed as a result of the stakeholder feedback, the news release said.

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.