Parents, board members raise data-privacy and vetting concerns as Eva B. Stokley pushes DESSA social‑emotional screening

Eva B. Stokley Elementary Principal Miss Lewis told the Central Consolidated Schools Board on Jan. 21 that the school will administer the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) this month as the assessment component of its Second Step social‑emotional learning (SEL) program.

The principal said the school began Second Step implementation last year after leadership identified high student incident rates and included the DESSA assessment in this year’s 90‑day plan. "We are now at a five percent incident rate, down from 45 percent last year," Miss Lewis said, noting the school wants data to understand whether Second Step drove that decline and which specific social‑emotional skills students need.

Board members, district staff and outside principals raised repeated questions about how the assessment was vetted, who will receive the underlying data and whether families — particularly on the…