Survey Finds Atmosphere ‘Neutral’

Administrators at East Hampton High School are hoping to do something about climate change — but not the environmental kind. Hundreds of students, teachers, and parents recently took a survey on the education, social relationships, and safety at the school, and the conclusion was that its atmosphere is “neutral.”

It’s a result that Adam Fine, the principal, wants to shift toward the positive. “The only way to get better is to be candid and open about it,” he said Monday, adding there’s more work to be done. “We want the criticism because it’s the only way we’re going to ever get better.”

The survey was the second of its kind for the high school. The first followed the suicide of a student, David Hernandez, in 2012.

“We were like, ‘Hey, everything is hunky-dory,’ and then a student took his own life,” Mr. Fine said. “There was a lot of rumor out there, a lot of discussion on what caused this. What we decided to do, instead of saying there was one cause, was take a look at everything from character education to bullying to name-calling behaviors. . . . We wanted to really find out what was going on.”

Of the high school’s 860 students, 573, or 67 percent, took the survey, as did 175 of their parents. All but two of the school’s 125 teachers and staff members took the survey.

The survey was broken down into categories including safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and environment. Respondents were asked to rate the topics on a scale of 1 to 5. By grade level, sophomores and juniors rated most categories lower than freshmen and seniors.

“Social-emotional security” received an average rating of 2.89 from students, 3.44 from staff, and 3.11 from parents. “Respect for diversity” received an average rating of 3.5 from students, 4 from staff, and 3.75 from parents. “Sense of physical security” received scores of 3.8 from students, and 4 from staff and parents. “Social support from adults” received scores of 3.63 from students, 4.17 from staff, and 3.63 from parents.

The results did not vary significantly from the 2012-13 survey, Mr. Fine said. “Basically the highest level of concern was the sense of social and emotional security. That’s the teasing, social abuse, exclusion,” he said. “There were no shocking surprises, but there were a lot of questions, which should be the case.”

The survey, or Comprehensive School Climate Inventory, cost East Hampton $2,600. It was strongly recommended by the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, which explored the circumstances surrounding the shooting at the Connecticut elementary school in 2012.

At the April 22 meeting of the East Hampton School Board, Claude Beudert, a middle school teacher who is co-president of the East Hampton Teachers Association, asked the administration to give the survey at the middle and elementary schools, too. “For us, locally, I think it’s important that we know where we are going from K to 12,” Mr. Beudert said.

In an email, Richard Burns, East Hampton’s superintendent, said, “Keep­ing the pulse of student and parent concerns is a proactive way of preventing future problems. Social and emotional issues can be dealt with in a timely way.”

Since the first survey, East Hampton started a Gay Straight Alliance club, peer mediation, and a student “Justice League” that promotes a positive school environment, Mr. Fine said. The administration is planning to launch an “upstander” program to encourage students to make a difference.

“We’re doing a lot more of these things that are really staying embedded in the culture, not just one-and-done things,” he said. “We’ve targeted small group discussions. That’s helped tremendously.”

Cyber-bullying and negative text messaging complicate the process of improving the school climate, Mr. Fine said. That’s one reason why East Hampton has scheduled an event titled Dangers of Social Networking/Cyber-bullying for parents and students on May 13. Presentations will take place at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

What has also helped, Mr. Fine said, is increased attention to mental health. The South Fork Behavioral Health Initiative, which was established in 2014, has been serving a growing number of students, and in March, state officials announced an extra $175,000 to expand its reach.

“It has really brought a whole new awareness of mental health,” Mr. Fine said. “More kids, we find now, are coming to us before they hit crises.”