Teachers and staff at Central Kitsap schools are highly appreciated but feel overworked, according to the results from the “Thoughtexchange” online survey which the district sponsored this year.

Using the Thoughtexchange process, 4,104 people submitted 9,074 comments via a district web page.

Later, they voted on their own ideas or for ideas submitted by other people by allocating “stars” to the submissions they liked best. A total of 115,924 stars were allocated.

The data collection phase is over and final results will be posted on the district’s web site (www.cksd.wednet.edu) by the next CK school board meeting Jan. 14.

But school board members got an early peek at of the Thoughtexchange results this week.

The summary showed that parents and guardians accounted for 65 percent of the responses. School staff accounted for 23 percent, students for six percent, citizens for four percent and “other” for one percent.

According to the data, around 40 percent of the total stars showed appreciation for teachers staff and leadership.

“School environment” received the second-highest marks with around seven percent of the total stars.

Teachers and staff “truly care about the children,” the report stated.

The data also showed where the district needed improvement. Example: teachers and staff felt overworked.

“All staff are overwhelmed,” according to the report. The issue was a top-scorer across nine different schools.

“To me, what this reflects is we have a very strong appreciation for our teachers and what they’re providing our students in the classroom,” said board member Jeanie Schulze. “The other piece that doesn’t surprise me is the workload, given the number of changes that we’ve gone through. I’m almost more surprised that it (concerns about teacher workload) isn’t higher than it is,” Schulze said.

About 11 percent of the stars regarded concerns about curriculum and extra-curricular activities, especially with Common Core and Common Core math.

Class size, school safety, healthy eating, trouble with parking were also among the top concerns.