CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Edmond school district parents have concerns about bullying

Daily Oklahoman - 12/11/2017

Dec. 11--Most parents polled by Edmond Public Schools give the 24,000-student district high marks for safety and quality of instruction, but listed bullying as their greatest concern.

Nearly 90 percent of respondents, meanwhile, said they would "improve salaries to recruit and retain the best staff" if they were running Oklahoma's third largest district.

Nearly 4,800 stakeholders answered the 17-question community engagement survey, which Superintendent Bret Towne called the first of its kind in his 19 years with the district.

"We want to use this to get a feel for our community, where they think our strengths are, and where they think we can make improvement," Towne said Friday. "There's some good data in here that's going to provide us direction to take action in the future."

Parents of current students (3,996) comprised the majority of respondents, followed by school district employees (633), community members (77), parents of former students (66) and parents of future students (19).

Critical thinking skills (59 percent) topped the list of "important skills" Edmond students should learn before graduating, followed by communication skills (51 percent) and financial literacy and life skills (45 percent).

Eighty four percent of respondents agreed "my child feels safe at school" while 80 percent agreed "my child is valued and treated with dignity and respect at school."

About 78 percent of respondents who could select three answers listed bullying tops among "my greatest safety or security concerns in school, followed by violence (41 percent), intruders (40 percent), guns and weapons (36 percent), alcohol/substance abuse (36 percent) and tornadoes (26 percent).

"Bullying is an issue in all schools right now," Towne said. "We've got to find ways to address it, not just in school but outside of school."

Towne said students are being bullied on social media and it affects them at school.

"That is one of our largest concerns and that is going to be a point of emphasis moving forward," he said. "If one kid is bullied, then it's a problem.

"We're going to start addressing it straight on. It can't just be a principal or a teacher that's promoting anti-bullying ... it has to come from kids, too."

Asked how they would prioritize time and resources if they were superintendent, 86 percent of those polled who could select as many as five answers said they would "improve salaries to recruit and retain the best staff," followed by "improve the quality of instruction and teaching (51 percent) and "provide more support for students who struggle academically (50 percent)."

"Any parent would say improvement would be smaller classrooms and increased pay for the teachers, but also increased funding for students," said parent Anita Nash. "But those are things the Legislature has control of. As parents, we don't have control of that."

About 1,600 polled said they attended between one and five school events every year while 1,530 attended between six and 10. Nearly 690 respondents said they attend 20 or more school events annually.

When asked to name the district's "single greatest strength," 36 percent of respondents answered "teaching staff," followed by "expectation of excellence and quality" (25 percent) and community support (16 percent).

"It's a great environment and the teachers care so much about the students and it shows," said Nash, whose daughter is a freshman at Edmond Memorial High School.

"It shows in the quality of the children's education and the learning and the way they're being treated."

___

(c)2017 The Oklahoman

Visit The Oklahoman at www.newsok.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.