Schools
School Survey Finds Bullying, Depression
New data show harassment to be a mild to moderate problem among local elementary school students, as alcohol and drug use holds steady among high school students.
Forty-two percent of 11th graders at Redondo Union High have had at least one full glass of alcohol in the past month.
As for younger students in Hermosa, the school district's elementary school teachers reported last year that alcohol and drug use were insignificant issues, but harassment or bullying was a mild to moderate problem.
More than half of teachers — 51 percent — at Hermosa Beach elementary schools also reported that student depression was a mild problem last year.
Find out what's happening in Hermosa Beachfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Such are the findings of a major survey of students and teachers on school climate, issues of drug and alcohol use, safety within the school and self-perception.
The California Healthy Kids Survey, conducted every other year, sampled as much as 80 percent of the student population for grades 5, 7, 9 and 11 last year. The survey has also sampled teachers in separate reports to measure school climate.
Find out what's happening in Hermosa Beachfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Recent findings were presented to the Redondo Beach Unified School District on Tuesday. The school district has posted the results on its website.
"We haven't really seen significant changes [district-wide]," said Frank DeSena, the assistant superintendent of student services in Redondo Beach. "I couldn't say that we have really reduced alcohol and drug usage, but it didn't seem like it was significantly increasing either."
The data on the district website is available as a PDF. The best way to glean significance from the survey was to look at the individual school findings, DeSena said.
On the plus side, 59 percent of RUHS juniors are happy to be there, according to the survey. And 71 percent of teachers in Hermosa's elementary schools reported that most students were motivated to learn. Recent reports from Mira Costa High School have not been released.
The survey was funded by the California Department of Education and conducted by WestEd, a research organization.
This notice is released with all survey results: "It is important to interpret these results with caution. Results can be significantly impacted by response rates, the type of parental consent used [passive or active], gender differences, regional variations and other issues."
