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School committee approves 2025–26 student health and wellness survey; adds sixth grade, aligns questions with pending grant
Summary
The Middletown School Committee approved the 2025–26 Student Health and Wellness Survey, adding grade six and several questions to align with a pending Pay for Success (PFS) grant; parents may opt students out and students may skip questions.
The Middletown School Committee voted to approve the 2025–26 Student Health and Wellness Survey at its Aug. 21 meeting, adding sixth grade to the survey population and aligning several questions with a pending Pay for Success (PFS) grant.
Lori, the district staff member who presented the survey, said the instrument has been administered in the district since 2012 and provides data that “underlies the decisions that we make for programs.” She told the committee that the external evaluator removed a nonbinary gender option and that grade 6 was added because the potential PFS grant targets grades 6–12.
Lori identified specific question changes that align to the grant: items asking about race and ethnicity; whether a parent or guardian currently serves in the U.S. military; self-identification as a member of the LGB community; whether parents lock up alcohol and other THC products; how often a student was present when an adult allowed someone under 21 to drink alcohol in the past year; and participation in organized sports or school-based extracurriculars.
The presenter said the survey uses a passive consent model: principals will receive an instruction sheet and parents may opt students out ahead of time or on the day of administration. Lori also said students may decline to answer individual questions. She reported that an external evaluator discarded about 24 surveys in the 2023–24 administration because responses were not valid, and that the district maintains screening protocols to remove invalid responses.
Committee members asked whether sixth graders are mature enough to answer certain questions; Lori responded that inclusion of grade six is a requirement of the pending PFS grant and that participation is voluntary and subject to parental opt-out. The motion to approve the survey passed without recorded opposition.
Provenance: The superintendent introduced the recommendation at the start of the action-items sequence; Lori presented details and committee discussion continued until the motion passed.
