County survey: most respondents say schools are safe, but vaping, bullying and mental‑health access drew concern

Calvert County staff presented results of a two‑wave community survey on student safety and well‑being to the Student Safety & Well‑Being Advisory Committee on Sept. 17, reporting that a majority of respondents rated school safety positively while raising recurrent concerns about vaping, bullying and access to mental‑health supports.

Emily Shreve, staff liaison to the committee, and Aaron Lowe, the county director of communications and media relations, summarized the survey’s reach and themes. Presenters said the survey was issued twice (June 17–July 18 and again in September to boost student participation) and reported approximately 437 student responses and about 175 parent/community responses. Presenters also said one school — Calvert High School — supplied the largest share of individual responses and that heavy participation from that school likely affected aggregate results.

On perceptions of safety, presenters reported that roughly 72% of respondents rated schools “safe” or “very safe” when the charted responses were combined. Aaron Lowe told the committee that most respondents said staff training and safety drills were positive features, but that a meaningful share of respondents remained neutral or concerned about consistency of enforcement and communication after incidents.

Vaping emerged repeatedly in written comments and numerical responses. Presenters said the majority of respondents believe vaping affects the school day to some degree (presenters reported roughly 47% described slight impact and 23% reported extreme impact on instruction). Commenters asked for more prevention and education programs in addition to enforcement and noted that vape‑detector alarms were a step forward but not always promptly addressed.

Bullying was also commonly reported. Presenters said 62% of respondents indicated bullying was present at their school; follow‑up comments most often described verbal bullying and targeted harassment of specific groups. The presenters cautioned that first‑wave (primarily parent/community) results and second‑wave (student) results differed on some measures, underscoring limits in interpreting the combined sample.

Mental‑health supports drew mixed reviews: respondents said school‑based counselors and contracted behavioral specialists exist but are overextended, and several written comments expressed confusion about whether school counselors focus on academics or clinical supports. Presenters and committee members discussed a perceived shortage of community mental‑health providers and the need for early intervention rather than reactive services.

Facility condition responses were mostly positive, with many respondents rating classrooms and outdoor areas as good, though concerns were raised about restrooms, HVAC and aging infrastructure in some buildings.

Presenters said the full slide deck and recordings will be posted on the Student Safety & Well‑Being Advisory Committee webpage on the Calvert County government site, and they offered to distribute disaggregated data by respondent subgroup (for example, by parents, staff or students) to committee members on request.

Committee members praised the higher student participation but noted the risk of skewed results when one school contributes a large share of responses; several members urged repeating the survey at consistent times each year to measure trends.

No formal committee policy was adopted at the Sept. 17 meeting; presenters framed this as informational data to guide future committee recommendations and outreach.