Survey to junior high students failed to follow school policy

Cape Girardeau school administrators say they are taking steps to ensure district staff will follow a policy that governs student surveys, after parents raised alarm about questionable content in one recently given to junior high students.

On Oct. 3, a survey from a community organization that works to prevent youth substance abuse was administered at Cape Central Junior High, which resulted in complaints from parents of inappropriate questions -- including some about sexual orientation, sexual activity, drug use and illegal activities.

School staff, believing the survey's content was acceptable, did not review it before giving it to students. The district has a policy that requires parental permission before students can be required to submit to a survey, analysis or evaluation that reveals certain information, such as "sex behavior or attitudes" and "illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating or demeaning behavior."

Students were allowed to remain anonymous, yet after complaints from parents and a subsequent review of the survey, the district called the organization and requested the responses be deleted.

School board president Kyle McDonald said Friday as a result of the controversy, administrators are communicating with staff to make sure all are aware of and following the policy.

"Unfortunately in this instance, the policy wasn't followed," McDonald said. "But that situation has been rectified, and we're just making sure that from this point forward it doesn't happen again. I'm confident that it is being handled correctly."

The survey was designed for students in sixth through 12th grades, but given only to seventh- and eighth-graders. Fee also wrote in an email to parents last week that many teachers told students they did not have to complete the survey.

"We apologize. It should have never been given without being reviewed," superintendent Jim Welker said Friday. "In the future, all surveys will be reviewed, and parents will be notified and be given the option to opt out, or give their permission."

Representatives of EPIC, the organization that sent the survey to the school, said in an email Thursday to the Southeast Missourian they ask schools to administer it so they can gather data on what "students report as their strengths and supports in the community, as well as their risk behaviors," so they can report core measures to their granter, Drug Free Communities, and "develop appropriate drug abuse prevention strategies for our community."

"Several schools, including Cape Junior High, have taken the survey before," the representatives said in the email.

Surveys similar to the one given at the local junior high -- some administered by schools themselves as they seek to measure social problems -- have come under fire elsewhere in recent years, mostly for questioning students about drug use or sexual activity.

In 2013, a survey that contained questions about religion, sexual orientation and their parents' political affiliations was given to sophomores at a Maryland high school, angering parents, according to reports. The survey was said to keep responders anonymous, but required students sign in to a school-run system with a username and password to take it.

Questionnaires used in higher education also have faced criticism that prompted change -- Clemson University in South Carolina stopped administering a survey related to a Title IX program in September after students complained the survey asked for details about their sex lives.

eragan@semissourian.com

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