La Grange SD 102 student climate survey flags bullying, lower scores for Black and gender-diverse students

La Grange School District 102 staff presented fall 2024 student climate survey results at a Board of Education meeting, saying the district-wide student responses show bullying is perceived as part of school culture and that Black students and some gender-diverse students reported less-positive experiences.

The presentation, led by SEL mentoring coordinator Lynn Lauren Seimar, summarized results from kindergarten through eighth grade. Seimar said the district administers the survey twice a year (fall and spring), with kindergarten through second-grade teachers collecting class responses and third through eighth graders completing confidential individual surveys. She described the instrument as a “broad stroke perspective, a snapshot of student perceptions, not for us to identify any individual students.”

Seimar highlighted three headline concerns: discipline and whether responses are fair and restorative, students’ perception of academic challenge, and bullying. “We do think that now as we look at that, we probably need to ask both,” Seimar said when describing revisions to the bullying questions to separate observing bullying from personally experiencing it. She told the board the district added a “within the last month” qualifier after noticing students might otherwise report historical incidents.

Key findings and numbers from the presentation included: - The survey is administered twice yearly; K–2 responses are teacher-submitted summaries and grades 3–8 are confidential individual responses. - 112 students opted into a confidential follow-up with a trusted adult in the most recent administration. - In third through fifth grade, 205 students selected “prefer not to answer” for the race/ethnicity question; 64 students chose “prefer not to answer” for gender on that administration. (Seimar noted the district aggregates subgroups with fewer than 10 identified students to preserve anonymity.) - Bullying was reported often enough that staff described it as a district concern even after narrowing the question to incidents observed within the last month. - Staff reported a small absolute number of discipline referrals overall but said PowerSchool data showed a disproportionate share of referrals involved Black students; staff framed that as a signal to review incident-level discipline data.

Seimar and other staff described subgroup patterns: many measures were steady in district averages across three years, but certain subpopulations trended differently. Students who identify as something other than male or female answered questions less positively in the 3–5 grade band, and Black students rated their teachers and their school’s discipline responses more closely (less difference between teacher and school ratings) than other groups. “Red is red,” several board members and staff said during the discussion to emphasize that any persistent low score merits follow-up.

District staff described several next steps already underway or planned: - Additional training for teachers and administrators on restorative practices and bullying prevention, and a recent administrator calibration exercise to align definitions and responses to incidents. - Development of a district discipline handbook intended to increase clarity and consistency in responses. - New lessons addressing harmful language and bystander/upstander behavior developed in partnership with outside providers including the Midwest Equity Center. - Continued focus groups and a shift toward more representative recruiting for those groups now that the survey is confidential; a plan to use building-level equity ambassadors and other trusted adults as follow-up options for students who opt in. - Instructional review to consider Universal Design for Learning and other approaches to provide both reteaching/support and enrichment to address perceptions of insufficient or excessive academic challenge.

Board members asked about teacher reports, the influence of social media, and whether younger students interpret concepts like fairness and bullying differently. Staff acknowledged developmental differences, recommended comparing perception data with incident and discipline records, and said the district will use focus groups and case reviews to unpack causes and appropriate responses.

The meeting record also shows the board approved the consent agenda earlier in the session by voice vote; the presenter then moved into the student climate survey discussion.

Seimar framed the survey as a tool to identify where to dig deeper: when questions fall below the district threshold—less than 80% positive response—they will investigate with focus groups or other follow-up. She told the board that some survey items may be retired if they remain consistently high across subpopulations, while persistent red items will continue to drive district improvement work.

The district intends to use the survey findings in school improvement planning and to propose targeted resource allocations in upcoming agenda items, including proposals to address the achievement gap and to consider targeted programs aimed at populations identified in the survey.