Wake County board adopts opt‑out permission for student health surveys after student appeals

At its Jan. 7 meeting, the Wake County Board of Education approved a change to the district’s permission approach for school‑administered health surveys, adopting a passive permission (opt‑out) model for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and related Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) as part of the consent agenda.

The vote was taken as part of the meeting’s consent agenda, which board members adopted by voice vote after a motion by Board member Mahaffey and a second from Vice Chair Swanson. Chair Hegarty announced the consent agenda passed with no recorded opposition.

The decision follows repeated public testimony from high school students and community health advocates urging the board to move from an active (opt‑in) policy to passive (opt‑out) permission for the YRBS and YTS. Students told the board the current opt‑in system has resulted in low participation and therefore limited local data to guide school health programs.

"Tonight, I'm here to advocate for the adoption of passive permission or opt out policy when administrating the youth risk behavior survey, YRBS," said Arianna Armstrong, a senior at Knightdale High School and member of…