New London High gets high marks on survey from students, staff

New London - Results of a survey of staff, students and parents of New London High School students at the beginning of this year was presented to the Board of Education Thursday.

The 18-question survey results are mostly positive, with all three constituencies reporting that they agree or strongly agree that they (or their students) feel safe in school, are proud of the school and feel accepted in school.

Staff and students completed the survey anonymously during school hours. English and Spanish surveys were mailed to parents and also were available for them to complete during the school's open house.

Ninety-seven percent of teachers said they feel safe in the classroom; 77 percent of students feel accepted in the school; and 89 percent of parents feel their child is safe in the hallways.

Board members Margaret Curtin and Jason Catala said, despite the anonymity, teachers still may have answered positively for fear of retaliation.

High school principal William "Tommy" Thompson said the teachers submitted their surveys with no additional information as to their identity, neither identification numbers, emails nor other identifying information.

Christopher Baker, a high school student on the school's governance council responsible for evaluating the survey responses, said he disagreed with Curtin and Catala.

"If there was any teacher afraid of responding truthfully, I'd expect to see major discrepancies across the board but give or take a few percentage points, the perceptions are usually the same," he said.

In a recent interview, Baker said the high school is "absolutely not a dangerous place."

"Outsiders looking in see a few outlying incidents and people confuse what happens in the city with what happens in the school. Students don't want that stuff in and the administrators do a good job of keeping that stuff out," Baker said last month.

A senior, Baker said he plans to reach out to other students for their thoughts on improving the school environment.

Two students, four teachers, seven parents, two community leaders and the school's principal are members of the governance council.

The school was required to institute the governance council, which is strictly an advisory group, under the School Improvement Grant, which it received last May.

j.hanckel@theday.com