LEBANON - If they could design their own small-schools program, most teachers at Lebanon High School say they like the concept but would ditch the emphasis on "autonomy."

That's according to a survey the Lebanon Education Association took early this year, to which 80 percent of the school's teachers responded. Results were made public earlier this month.

The survey took place before the district received results of a communications audit and an in-depth analysis by the E3: Oregon Small Schools Initiative. Those results, released in May, led to E3's decision in June to pull out of its partnership with Lebanon.

The results in the school survey are similar, LEA President Kim Fandino said.

"I think it confirms why it happened," she said of the withdrawal of the partnership. "We are divided. It shows that we are divided."

Fandino said she hopes the survey results will prompt administrators to sit down with faculty and explore areas of agreement and disagreement.

The 38-page survey is a schoolwide compilation of responses to questions about communication, discipline, morale, and relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the district office. Forty-six teachers and counselors responded.

Questions specific to small schools included requests for responses to statements such as, "I like the small schools," "I believe that full autonomy is best for kids at LHS," and, "I believe that students will benefit from the current system."

Almost 70 percent agreed with the statement "I like the small schools," at least when referring to the general concept. Specific questions about Lebanon's program met with lower approval.

The idea of smaller learning communities was appealing. "I agree that I know my academy kids better," one teacher wrote. Another added, "I see the same students and they get to know me and the classroom system."

However, about 67 percent said they weren't provided enough time to work on curriculum, and nearly 87 percent said the school does not have enough teachers to support the current system. "Limiting the amount of knowledge a student can acquire is extremely dangerous," one wrote.

Almost 70 percent disagreed that full autonomy was best for students, and more than half said they did not believe four autonomous schools would be successful in Lebanon.

Fandino said the tallied results have been made available to administrators and teachers are waiting for their reaction.

"The ball's in the administrators' court," she said. "We can ask them a thousand times to do something, but unless they call a meeting and do something, nothing happens."