Survey shows lower secondary sense of belonging; district to target middle/high school transition supports

Valley Central presented the results of a multiwave climate and culture survey and described planned next steps to use the data in school improvement planning.

The district contracted Dillinger Rad Research to administer fall, winter and spring surveys across students, staff and families. Managing Director Nick Stellitano presented participation counts (about 2,961 students, 676 staff and roughly 300 family respondents across administrations) and summarized key findings: elementary families and students reported higher positive sentiment than middle and high school peers; across grade bands positive sentiment tended to decline from fall to spring; school culture and discipline concerns (including bullying and behavior questions and references to cell phones) appeared among top family open‑ended themes; and eighth and tenth graders reported higher rates of loneliness and lower perceptions of safety compared with other grades.

The district said principals used a shorter winter instrument to field school‑specific questions and that several buildings used winter results to target interventions for students who reported loneliness; the district offered an option for a student to request adult outreach, and staff said they connected several students to building teams based on those responses. District staff acknowledged low family response rates (about 5% of families) and said they will try alternative venues (orientation, open house, concerts) to increase family participation.

Dillinger Rad and district staff said next steps include providing individualized school dashboards to principals, convening focus groups and aligning school improvement plan objectives with survey indicators; the district also will refine survey timing to limit overlap with testing windows.