43
Lowellville Local Schools students overwhelmingly report feeling safe at school
By SARAH LEHR
LOWELLVILLE
Students enrolled in seventh through 12th grade at Lowellville Local Schools overwhelming reported feeling safe at school, though a slight majority of students reported being bullied.
A climate survey submitted to the district by Karen Larwin, a professor of education at Youngstown State University, polled 171 students ranging from 13 to 19 years old in the spring.
In response to the statement “You feel safe at school,” 41.9 percent of students indicated that they agreed and 51.6 percent indicated that they strongly agreed; 5.2 percent marked “disagree” and less than 1 percent strongly disagreed.
The survey also asked a series of questions about bullying, and 53.2 percent of students said they have been bullied while 46.8 percent said they had not been bullied. A majority of students (59.1 percent) reported seeing someone bullied at school “a couple of times of year,” 19.9 percent said they had “often” witnessed bullying and 14 percent said they “never” had. Most likely to report witnessing bullying were the 14- and 15-year-old students.
“We are really pleased with this data,” Superintendant Eugene Thomas said. “Students feel safe at school and feel supported by their teachers. We’re very engaged with students here. They don’t have time to misbehave.”
Of respondents, 78.1 percent agreed or strongly agreed that teachers “treat students fairly,” 78 percent indicated that they could talk to an adult at school about a problem, and 70.3 percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “most teachers at my school are interested in me.”
However, 89 percent of students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “most of my teachers don’t really care about me,” and 85.9 of students indicated that they had “trouble getting along with” teachers.
Fifty-five percent of the respondents were male and 45 percent were female; 89.5 percent identified as white, 2.9 percent identified as black, less than 1 percent identified as American Indian and 7 percent selected “other.”