Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • November 13, 2013 School climate survey shows positive feelings The majority of students in all grades in Midland Park schools feel safe ‘always’ or ‘most of the time,’ according to school climate and bullying survey conducted in the public schools last June. Dr. Paula Rodriguez-Rust, sociologist and diversity educator, of Spectrum Diversity, presented the results of the 2013 findings at a Harassment, Intimida- tion and Bullying session last month. The majority of the students who completed the survey also said that they had noticed positive changes in their teachers’ attitudes toward bullying during the year, includ- ing taking the problem more seriously, trying harder to address it and increasing vigilance. A majority in every grade said that they had noticed at least some decrease in bullying compared to the previ- ous year. Respondents in fourth and fifth grades noticed more of a decrease than did students in sixth through ninth grades. “The fact that the majority of students, even in the middle school grades, perceive that bullying has decreased, is a very positive finding,” Dr. Rust said. The percentage of students reporting being bothered or bullied by their peers verbally, socially or physically gener- ally remained low, with a slight increase in the incidence of electronic misbehavior. Reported peer bothering occurred on the playground or in the cafeteria, with a decrease in the number saying they were bother in the gym or the hall- ways, usually the hot spots for bullying, Dr. Rust said. Dr. Rust conducted similar surveys in 2011 and 2012 and gave comparison statistics. She explained that whereas the original questionnaire was aimed at documenting areas of concern to be addressed in anti-bullying and school climate programming efforts, the 2013 document focuses on docu- menting changes and improvements that have occurred and areas in which needs have arisen which can be addressed by school safety teams. These areas include cyber safety education, to include School offerings to be highlighted Midland Park’s elementary and high school parent organizations are sponsoring a Nov. 13 meeting that will highlight the range of academic and enrichment offerings available to students in grades 7-12. This 7 p.m. session will be held in the Midland Park High School Media Center, 250 Prospect Street in Midland Park. Parents with children in the elementary schools are encouraged to attend. MPHS Principal Nick Capuano and Director of Curriculum June Chang will address concerns such as technology, course offerings, facility improve- ments, and more. The parent organizations will speak of the many per- forming arts, sports, and other extracurricular programs that are part of a child’s overall educational experience. Members of the administration will conduct tours of the school. social networking safety prior to seventh grade and through eighth grade; emphasis on developing friendships and making sure that all students are integrated into friendship networks to reduce the risk factor for vulnerability to bul- lying and have identified at least one adult that they can trust and can go to; and programming to address students’ attitudes about derogatory language, particularly in grades five and six. Parental active consent was required for the students to complete the questionnaire, administered during school hours, substantially decreasing the participation level, according to Dr. Rust, who analyzed the findings. She said that the lowered participation could potentially also have had the impact of suppressing the detection of issues in the school environment, including negative impressions. Of the 947 potential participants in grades 2-12, 557 students participated, a 57 percent response, similar to the participants in 2011, the first year of the survey. In grades 2-6, 76 to 91 percent of students in each grade participated; in grades 7-9, 36 to 52 percent participated. Those numbers decreased to 22-23 percent in grades 10-11 and dropped to 15 percent in grade 12, making those findings “suggestive only.” This was the first year the survey was done electroni- cally. The online version allowed for the systematic col- lection of students’ narrative comments and of answers to open-ended questions, she said. Previous versions used paper and pencil questionnaires. Different versions of the questionnaire were used for grades 2-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-12, with each version designed to be age appropriate and to focus on issues relevant to each grade level.