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Superintendent presents student‑survey comparison showing strengths and bathroom safety concern
Summary
Superintendent Greg Smock presented a district analysis of ISBE student‑climate survey results, showing Morton compared favorably to many regional peers on classroom, outside and travel safety measures but with a notable weakness on students’ sense of safety in school restrooms.
Superintendent Greg Smock presented a comparative review of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) anonymous student climate survey data and told the board the district fares well on several measures of student safety but that restroom safety stood out as an area needing attention.
Smock told the board he took the district’s 2023–24 student survey responses (about 66.2% participation, roughly 700 students) and compared those answers to a set of nearby district results drawn from ISBE data for two regional offices. He said the district’s participation rate in the current year’s survey rose to about 86% (roughly 900 students), and that future reporting will include that newer dataset once tabulated.
“Students reported they feel safe with their teachers and in classes, and we placed near the top among comparable larger high schools on several items,” Smock said. He then called attention to restrooms as the single question where Morton’s percent reporting they feel safe was lower than regional averages: the restroom safety measure showed a noticeably higher fraction of students answering they do not feel safe in restrooms than for other school locations.
Smock walked through a set of 12 survey items he selected as representative measures of school climate and safety (for example: “I feel safe with my teachers”; “I feel safe in the hallways”; “I feel safe in the bathrooms”; and “Most students in my school treat each other with respect”). He said in most of those representative items Morton ranked first, second or third in the middle‑sized high‑school comparison group; the restroom item was the notable exception.
Board members asked for additional detail on the restroom finding, and Smock said administrators will review where reports originate and what steps—staff supervision adjustments, restroom monitoring, targeted prevention lessons—might reduce student concerns. He also noted that any alleged incidents must still be reported to and investigated by administrators per district policy.
Smock reiterated that anonymous survey responses provide useful signals but do not replace incident reporting, and he asked the board to support work continuing with principals, counselors and staff on next steps to reduce safety concerns and increase student confidence in all school spaces.
