Methuen students completed climate survey at high rates; district highlights strengths, flags bullying in some grades

Dr. Galovsky, who led the presentation for Methuen Public Schools, told the school committee Tuesday that 93% of district students opted to take the VOCAL school climate survey in 2024, compared with a 73% state participation rate.

The data provide a snapshot of student perceptions of engagement, safety and environment. "Participation is really high," Dr. Galovsky said, and the district’s scores were “near, above, or on par with the state in most of these areas.” The district was at 50 on the participation index versus a state score of 51; the district’s bullying index was 44 versus the state’s 46; and the instructional-environment index was 50 versus the state’s 51.

Why it matters: The VOCAL instrument is intended to measure student engagement, safety and learning environment and is administered as part of the spring MCAS cycle. Committee members said the high participation rate makes the results useful for planning, but several members pressed for disaggregated figures and for the underlying raw data to examine areas of concern.

Officials flagged consistent strengths at the high school (grade 10). Dr. Galovsky said grade 10 students met or exceeded the state on 16 of 17 engagement items; highlighted items included teachers promoting respect and adults being respectful of student ideas. At the same time, committee members asked for more detail on grades and items where Methuen scored three or more points below the state, particularly for bullying at the grammar (elementary) school levels.

Committee concerns and follow up: Member Keegan asked the district to identify where scores “failed” so the committee can prioritize improvement. Keegan and Member Maxwell both urged the district to provide the original state-submitted report and the secure portal extract for committee review; Dr. Galovsky said those files are available in the state’s secure portal and she offered to download and distribute them.

Next steps announced: The district will form youth participatory action research (YPAR) teams at each upper school and at the high school. Dr. Galovsky said the district’s first in-district retreat, facilitated by UP for Learning (Vermont), will include 10–12 students at each site (upper school groups: grades 6–8; high school groups: grades 9–11). The students will use VOCAL data to identify priorities and will help develop teacher professional development next fall. She also said the district will run a parent/guardian climate and culture survey using Panorama (questions adapted from DESE and Harvard sources), translated into multiple languages and open for at least a couple of weeks; results will be presented at the next workshop.

Quotes from the meeting: "93% of all students opted to take the survey," Dr. Galovsky said, stressing the unusually high participation rate. Member Keegan said he wants the raw data: "I need physical copy of the report so I can do a deep dive." Dr. Galovsky agreed to provide it.

What the district will provide: Committee members requested the item-level bullying data by school and grade and the original state-submitted files. Dr. Galovsky said she would follow up with those disaggregations and circulate the student-level secure-portal report to the committee.

Ending note: Officials described the VOCAL results as overall positive but emphasized targeted follow-up — particularly on bullying and participation differences by grade — using student teams and a parent survey to triangulate priorities.