BUTLER TWP — The Butler School Board voted Tuesday night to spend up to $10,000 for a research company to do a survey as part of the consolidation review.

The board hired Campos Inc., a Pittsburgh-based market research firm, for $6,500 plus $200 per hour of work. Initial estimates for the survey ranged from $15,000 to $35,000, but the district discussed capping the cost at $10,000 during the Jan. 15 meeting of the After-Action Review Committee.

The ad hoc committee has been discussing how it can use a survey to study the impact of the district’s consolidation in May 2015. That consolidation closed five elementary schools of the district’s 11, with one reopening as an alternative education and emotional support school.

While there is no date yet known when the survey will be released, the survey will be open for district staff and parents with some questions available for community members who do not have children in the district. The survey will likely be online, but the committee plans to discuss other options with Campos for those individuals without access to the Internet, according to committee Chairman Jennifer Cummings.

Board member David Korn expressed reservations over whether the district will actually use the findings.

“What have we done with that feedback (from previous surveys)?” he asked.

Board President Nina Teff said those surveys were done earlier and with a number of new board members seated in December, responses to feedback will change.

Board member Al Vavro hopes the district does not hear only from those who have negative comments about the consolidation and that there is an accurate representation of how people feel across the board.

The specifics regarding survey questions will be discussed at the committee’s Jan. 26 meeting at 4:30 p.m. at the Harriger Educational Services Center, 110 Campus Lane.

In other action, the board approved using BoardDocs, an online server, to give greater public access to agendas, minutes and attachments. The program will be implemented on a trial basis in the next few months, with a $1,000 start up cost and $750 a month for the remainder of the 2015-2016 year.

The board also bought up to 10 laptop computers for roughly $5,300 from Netech Corp. for administration and staff as well as for board members to use during meetings.