Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Climate topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
MVLA presents 2025 Healthy Kids Survey: some indicators improve, concerns remain about mental‑health subgroups
Summary
District wellness coordinator William Blair told the board that the California Healthy Kids Survey showed gains in school connectedness and declines in substance use, but flagged increases in some measures of attempted suicide and higher harassment rates for specific subgroups; trustees requested disaggregated site data and MTSS follow‑up.
William Blair, MVLA's wellness coordinator, presented the district's California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) results for 2025 and urged the board to use the findings to guide the district's Multi‑Tiered System of Supports (MTSS).
Blair said the district achieved an 81% student response rate and that one percentage point corresponds to roughly 35 students. "From 2021, we went from 17 percent down to 8 percent" for students who said they had seriously considered suicide, he said, while also warning that some custom‑module indicators show an increase in attempted suicides that the district wants to address.
Why it matters: The CHKS feeds the district's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), site safety plans and school site goals. Trustees said they want site‑level disaggregation and more detail on which interventions are most effective at different MTSS tiers.
Key findings and context: Blair summarized four core survey domains — school engagement and support, school safety, substance use, and social‑emotional health — and reported broad positive trends: school connectedness and academic motivation rose; perceptions of safety remained high ("84% of them, safe or very safe," he said); and self‑reported alcohol and drug use declined from 15% in 2021 to 9% in 2025. He also noted vaping fell to 4% in 2025 from 9% in 2019.
At the same time, Blair highlighted subgroup disparities. He said about 19% of all MVLA students reported harassment or bullying (roughly 665 students), with higher rates among students receiving special education services (27%) and among certain racial and gender‑identity subgroups. Trustees seized on one figure Blair cited: a 42% rate of reported harassment for students who selected "something else" under gender; Blair said that result comes from small‑n reporting but is nonetheless concerning and informed the district's planned April professional learning on LGBTQIA+ supports.
Trustees' response and next steps: Student trustees Claire and Lucy said the results resonated with things they see on campus. Trustees asked for school‑by‑school breakdowns and clarification about how the district will prioritize MTSS changes. Blair recommended focusing on tier‑1 practices that build caring adult relationships and expanding tier‑2 short‑term group interventions and supports; he also described the district's referral pipeline and partnerships that produced 771 referrals to community agencies and 993 unique students served by school‑based teams (about 24% of students).
The board directed staff to return with disaggregated site data and to place MTSS and targeted intervention planning on a future study session agenda.
