Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees presented Healthy Kids Survey

By Lauren Farberman

Staff Writer

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s Director of Data, Assessment and Professional Development Dr. Chad Mabery presented the Healthy Kids Survey to the MBUSD Board of Trustees at the April 20 meeting.

The Healthy Kids Survey will be administered to grades 5,7,9 and 11in MBUSD schools starting in April for grades 5 and 7 and going into May for grades 9, 10 and 11. The annual survey covers questions regarding student stress and student experience with drugs and alcohol.

At the meeting, Mabery highlighted the purpose of the survey and how its results can give administration insight on what students are currently feeling and any troubles they may be facing pertaining to school. He also discussed that no student has to take the survey if their parents do not want them to partake in it. In this case a parent would send a note with their child to school asking for them to not be included.

“In the past parents have complained about the lack of information regarding the survey before students took it,” Mabery said. “Announcing the conduction of the survey at a Board meeting is a way to share that information on public record.”

Mabery said that the most valuable questions in the Healthy Kids Survey are those that question student stress and anxiety levels because it provides administration with information on what troubles students so that those problems can be addressed. The district is able to compare stress levels at Costa with the results from other schools whose students take the Healthy Kids Survey.

“Using the data from the survey to compare it to other schools is useful for the district,” Mabery said. “We can determine which areas are students struggle in relation to other schools.”