Burrillville school committee debates who should take voluntary state student survey

Burrillville — Members of the Burrillville School Committee spent a lengthy portion of their Jan. 13 meeting debating which students should be offered the voluntary Rhode Island student survey and how parents should be notified.

Superintendent Dr. Salido said the survey is typically given at the high school level on a voluntary basis and that parents are informed prior to administration. “Students that don’t wanna take the survey certainly are not required to take it,” he said, and staff will provide parents a copy of the survey if they request one.

Several committee members raised objections to giving the survey to middle-school students because some questions are more appropriate for older students. One member said they were “uncomfortable with them” and opposed administering the survey to middle-schoolers. Other members argued freshmen or sophomores may be important to include to detect earlier trends.

Staff noted the district can limit distribution as the committee prefers: parameters under consideration included making the survey voluntary, offering it only to juniors, and ensuring parents are notified and able to review the survey in advance. Committee members also discussed using anonymized high-school results as an indicator of broader community trends that could inform middle-school programming, while cautioning that anonymized trends are not a substitute for age-appropriate instruments.

The survey was listed on the agenda for consideration under new business; the transcript of the provided segments does not include a formal recorded vote approving a specific distribution plan. The committee indicated it could include the preferred parameters in the forthcoming vote on the item.