Groton Asks Parents If They Think Schools Are Safe

The Groton Public School Department has posted a 21-question survey on its website asking parents if they feel their children are safe in school, if their children have been treated unfairly or hurt by social media and if they believe there’s a trusted adult in the school to go to for help.

Paul Pattavina, chairman of Groton’s safe school climate committee, said the survey was mandated for all schools by the state after legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, 2012.

“The state wants the schools to not only feel physically safe but psychologically safe, (where) people feel safe to learn and ask questions,” he said. 

Groton’s survey is anonymous and specifies that parents should not give their names, but asks what schools their children attend, what grades the children are in, and whether the students are boys or girls.

The questionnaire includes a series of nine statements such as: “I feel that this school is physically safe,” then gives parents the option to check “all of the time”, “most of the time”, “some of the time” or “none of the time.”

It also asks parents if their child “has been the target of hurtful communications through social media” and if their child has participated in this behavior. Staff and students began taking the survey online about two weeks ago, Pattavina said.

The district is giving parents until mid-April to complete the survey, then will compile a report for the state and the Groton Board of Education that includes data by school.

The survey is available on paper by request.

In addition to general questions about safety, the survey asks parents if their children have been treated unfairly because of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, academic achievement or other reasons. It asks if parents have seen or heard others treated unfairly for these reasons.

The survey also inquires whether parents feel there are trusted adults their child can go to for help, whether the child’s trip to and from school is a positive experience, and whether parents feel there is an area of school that is unsafe. If parents specify they believe an area is unsafe, it asks them to specify the area they are concerned about.