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Northern Lehigh presents PA Youth Survey results and declining incident trends
Summary
Assistant superintendent presented Pennsylvania Youth Survey results showing generally positive protective factors and identified areas for monitoring (student engagement, alcohol attitudes); district police data showed a downward trend in reported incidents and bus-patrol cameras issued 151 citations to date.
Northern Lehigh School District administrators on Tuesday presented results from the Pennsylvania Youth Survey and internal incident reporting that administrators said will guide prevention and student-support work in coming years.
Dr. Link reviewed PA Youth Survey findings across grade bands, reporting high levels of caregiver connection and school belonging in the earliest grades and generally favorable substance-use prevention metrics. "68% of students reported caregivers always know where they are," he said when summarizing fourth-grade protective-factor responses. Administrators flagged areas for continued attention: roughly 40–45% of students across several grades reported being "sometimes or never interested" in school work, and notable shares of older students did not view alcohol use as "very wrong" or reported having tried alcohol.
District police data presented alongside the survey showed a multi-year decline in total reported incidents (administration reported a decrease from 125 in the 2022–23 school year to 82 in 2025–26 to date). Truancy and tobacco-related incidents declined substantially; some categories such as assault and drugs showed year-to-year variation administrators said they will continue to monitor. Administrators also reviewed Safe2Say tip-line data (bullying and mental-health tips were the most frequent categories) and bus-patrol camera enforcement (151 citations issued to date).
Dr. Stoker described Title IV program reporting and a short survey of staff and secondary students about school police officers (SPOS). "Of 78 secondary students who responded, 96.15% said that having SPOSs in Northern Lehigh schools makes them feel safer," she said, and similarly strong support was reported among faculty and staff respondents.
Why it matters: administrators said the combined picture supports continued prevention and early-intervention investments, while acknowledging some areas — student engagement and alcohol attitudes among older students — require focused programming and monitoring.
Next steps: district staff said they will use these data to guide prevention, staff training and targeted interventions and will report progress to the board in follow-up sessions.
