Peers Toughest Part Of School, Survey Finds For District 81 Students, Lack Of Respect For Each Other Outweighs Safety As A Concern

Kids feel fairly safe in Spokane schools. It’s just that they don’t get much respect at least not from each other.

Most high school students would talk to a counselor if they had a problem. But if they saw a weapon on campus, most likely they’d head to class like nothing happened.

Those are among the messages students are sending School District 81 administrators in a recent “school climate” survey.

About 4,500 students in grades 2 through 6 and 9 through 11 took variations of the survey, which measures everything from how students treat each other to how many take drugs.

Middle school kids took the survey last year.

Principals, teachers and maybe even community groups will use the results - which have been turned over to school principals - to identify problems and tackle them, said Associate Superintendent Cynthia Lambarth.

“We really need to evaluate all the issues around respect and how we treat each other,” Lambarth said.

About half of kids in grades 4 through 6 said students don’t treat each other with respect or care about each other.

The picture is even worse in high schools. Sixty percent said most students don’t respect or care about each other. Even more said there are a lot of “put-downs.”

Julie Wiens, a crossing guard at Audubon Elementary, frequently sees students picking on each other and calling names at her post on Maple and York.

She suspects kids whose families move a lot - and north Spokane has its fair share - feel the most isolated.

“They don’t have that strong friendship bond that they need because they’ve been to four schools in one year.”

Parents can also help by paying attention to what movies, television and music kids are exposed to, Lambarth said.

“We have to connect that to what kids are watching on television. Much of our humor today is based on the sort of put-downs we say are not acceptable in schools.”

For the most part, kids said they feel safe at schools - in the halls, at lunch, and on school grounds.

“Evidently, what we’re doing is working,” said Joe Madsen, the district’s security chief. Madsen helped put unarmed security officers in Spokane high schools a couple of years ago.

Yet 55 percent of second-and third-graders said they don’t feel safe at school bus waiting areas.

Andrea Weaver, who cooks at Balboa Elementary and Finch elementary schools, said that may be because kids are inundated with warnings about dangerous strangers.

“I think schools are almost pounding in those notions too much,” said Weaver. “We need to make them aware of their surroundings, but not scare them.

“I know the fear of God’s put into them if they don’t stay in that area or get on the wrong bus. Maybe that’s what they’re afraid of.”

School safety doesn’t appear to be an issue for many high school students. Responses to questions about suicide, however, raised educators’ eyebrows.

Sixteen percent of respondents said they’d consider suicide if they had a serious problem. And only a third said they knew where to get help for those feelings at school.

Students who are considering suicide or know someone who is should track down a counselor or teacher right away, Lambarth said. They’ll be reminded of that when school starts.

Parents, too, should discuss suicide with their children, no matter how awkward it may seem, said school board president Nancy Fike.

“That’s something as parents, we don’t talk about it much openly in our households,” Fike said. “It’s sometimes an uncomfortable subject, but I think we need to start having those conversations in our schools and community also.”

Educators will also encourage kids to tell an adult if they see someone with a weapon. While a third of high school students said they saw a weapon last year, only 3 percent said they reported it.

Too many equate it with being a snitch, said Fike.

“We have to say to kids, we’re all responsible to promote a safe environment.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Results Full survey results are available at The Spokesman-Review on line site, Virtually Northwest. Find them at www.virtuallynw.com