Does your child feel safe in school? asks Max Eden, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, on The 74.
A recent poll of first-generation college students found that 1 in 4 did not feel safe in high school, and nearly 1 in 3 did not feel their high school was an emotionally safe or inclusive place.
Using “school climate” surveys, he’s created an interactive tool showing students’ perceptions of their district-run schools in New York City and Los Angeles. Both “conduct comprehensive school climate surveys” and “make the full data set available to the public,” writes Eden, who used the 2015–16 survey questions on school order and safety. (Here are the details.)
On his Los Angeles Unified map, the safest schools are green, somewhat safe schools are yellow and less safe schools are red. In “red” schools, more than 20 percent of elementary students or more than 40 percent of secondary students feel unsafe at school.
Students should take the lead in improving school climate, writes Zachariah Sippy, a Kentucky 11th grader who chairs the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team.