Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Azusa Unified reviews YouthTruth survey; board flags middle-school belonging and staff concerns
Loading...
Summary
District staff presented YouthTruth survey findings showing stronger elementary results and a 20-point jump in family responses; board members urged targeted focus on middle-school belonging and more staff engagement and follow-up.
Miss Garcia Medina, the district education-services presenter, told the Azusa Unified School District board on April 7 that the YouthTruth survey administered in June 2026 reached students in grades 3 through 12, families and staff and that the district's family response rate increased from 28% to 48% compared with the prior year. "We grew from 28% of parents participating to 48% of parents participating in the family survey," Garcia Medina said.
The presentation connected the YouthTruth results to the district's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), particularly Goal 4 (empowering families) and Goal 5 (safe and restorative school climates). Staff described a hands-on review structure: board members rotated through three stations focused on belonging, engagement and safety to examine student-, family- and staff-level results.
On student metrics, staff said elementary responses were the strongest and ranked above the median nationally, while high-school belonging measures had trended upward since 2023. Presenters cautioned that middle-school measures showed smaller, mixed changes and that differences in response scales (elementary 3-point; secondary 5-point) complicate comparisons.
Adrian Acosta, principal of Murray Elementary School, introduced a student who led the pledge but was not a speaker on the survey items. Board members then raised priorities after the station work. Board Vice President Rodriguez Pena said the data underscored persistent concerns about high-school integration after campus mergers: "I feel like at the high school, because of the merging of the schools ... some don't feel welcome," she said, and asked whether middle-school practices could be applied at the high school to improve belonging.
Board Clerk Ramos highlighted the transition students experience entering middle school and urged concentrated attention there: "I think there's a need to continue to focus in the middle school group," Ramos said, noting a gap between parent engagement and student-reported belonging. Several members pressed staff to follow up with focused, school-level analysis and suggested focus groups or other methods to let participants see that input leads to action.
Staff recommended returning school-level reports to principals and stakeholders and confirmed YouthTruth presentations will be used at instructional-leader and site meetings. "The survey results are given back to each school," a staff presenter said, describing a process by which principals share the data with families, students and staff and use it to identify next steps.
The meeting was a study session; no policy or budget action was taken on the YouthTruth findings. The board approved the meeting agenda at the start and adjourned after the study session.
