By Frank Mustac, Contributor
An optional “lifestyle survey” asking students about possible at-risk behaviors they may be engaging in is being met with resistance, at least from one parent.
Hopewell Township resident Gwen DeForte spoke at the Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education meeting on Nov. 14 saying her family is uncomfortable with the survey questions, which she said include queries about gender identification, sexual orientation, frequency of sexual experiences and type of birth control used.
“I pose a question to all of you,” Ms. DeForte said addressing the school board. “Would you like your 12, 13, 14-year-old to answer these questions? Are you comfortable with that? My children were very uncomfortable with that, and my husband and I are very uncomfortable with it.”
The survey, which students are not required to take, is aimed at students in the sixth through 12th grades, according to the district website.
Superintendent Thomas Smith delivered a lengthy to response to Ms. Deforte’s concerns about the student lifestyle survey.
“We knew going into this that the survey asks a lot of sensitive questions,” Dr. Smith said. “What the survey will do is give us information we can build upon.”
Dr. Smith pointed out that the district has students who exhibit and engage in at-risk behaviors as early as the sixth grade.
“We’ve had incidents in fifth grade where we have had to address some students who had exhibited at-risk behaviors,” he said. “What we’re looking for is to get some data to help us better support all of our students.”
As for the questions at addressed students’ sexuality, Dr. Smith said the Board of Education has already begun discussions regarding a transgender policy. He noted that the district has some students who identify as transgender.
“We have students in elementary school identifying themselves as transgender. Many students know that and understand it and accept it,” he said. “With all of that, the survey is optional. Any parent who chooses not to have their student take it certainly has that right and we respect that right. We are not forcing any student or any parent to take the survey.”
Though the district acknowledged that some of the questions were personal and at times difficult to answer, officials said the district was “not immune to modern-day issues” concerning sexual identity and gender equality.
“I fully realize that some of these questions can be difficult to answer, and I fully realize that some of these questions could be difficult for parents to see and for students to see,” Dr. Smith said. “I have to say I don’t think there are any issues that students have not been exposed to during their school career. Like it or not, we are living in an environment where we do have to address some of these issues.”
District officials noted that the survey has been used in the past, with stunning results.
“Most recently was five years ago,” Dr. Smith said. “An eye-opening issue as a result of that response was an issue at the elementary level and in the early grades in high school of students who either suffer from depression and/or have considered or tried suicide. One student would be too many in terms of that answer.”
The answers from that previous survey regarding depression and suicide, Superintendent Smith said, were “concerning enough to us as a school district.”
“What that data allowed us to do is have some real self-reflective conversations about what are kids are facing and what we need to do as a district,” Dr. Smith said. “There were some kids in need, and we were able with the support of the Board of Education to hire a student assistance counselor at the middle school, and expand that person’s role over the last five years.”
The school district, the superintendent said, has partnered with an outside service to “provide mental health support in addition to what we can provide at the school level.”
“If this survey can get us data and we can develop a program that saves one kid, or prevents one kid from engaging in at-risk behavior, it would have been worth it for all of the grief that I’ve gotten regarding this survey,” Dr. Smith said. “I feel it is the right thing to do just to try and get information and just to start the conversation.”
Dr. Smith said the outrage generated by the survey has sparked some important conversations between the district and parents that may not have happened as easily otherwise.
“If anything, I’ve had more conversations in the last week about the health curriculum, about what students are exposed to, and about what our elementary schools and middle school are experiencing in our district,” he said. “That is a positive step moving forward.”
The results of the current student lifestyle survey will be shared at a scheduled parent forum in January.
