POLL: Ridgefield HS Survey Results 'Troubling'

Scroll down to weigh in on this issue in a townwide poll.

With a renewed focus on openness and honesty and with technology never far from teenagers’ fingertips, students at Ridgefield High School have more opportunities than ever before to make their voices heard.

But a survey taken at the high school in April of last school year and released within the last few months indicates a surprisingly low number of students (39 percent) who felt the school provides a “caring, encouraging environment,” according to the survey and school officials.

Although Assistant Superintendent Pat Michael said this initial number was one of the most surprising, the survey – which the Search Institute reports shows links between assets like a safe environment and avoiding dangerous behavior – also shows that 30 percent of students show “problematic levels” of involvement with alcohol, indicating they had “used alcohol three or more times in the last 30 days or got drunk once or more in the last two weeks.”

Over half of last year’s seniors reported having been at or above this level of involvement at the time.

Questions involving illicit drugs showed 27 percent of the school at “problematic levels,” with 48 percent of the seniors reporting to have taken illegal drugs in “multiple times in the last 12 months.”

Almost a quarter of the school, 22 percent, reported having engaged in three or more acts of violence in the last 12 months.

Other problematic areas showed 19 percent were “depressed and/or attempted to commit suicide,” 18 percent had had sexual intercourse more than three times, 15 percent had been involved in shoplifting, trouble with the police or vandalism in the last year and 12 percent had either driven drunk or ridden with someone who had been drinking.

While unsettling, Michael said, Ridgefield is on par with many schools in the same demographic, especially when it comes to drugs – she said access to pharmaceuticals at home poses a threat in affluent areas.

But from a school standpoint, the one statistic that had officials scratching their heads in late September was the original question about the support of the school, including one that indicates 38 percent of students did not believe the school provided “clear rules and consequences.”

At a September Board of Education meeting, high school principal Jeffrey Jaslow said he was troubled by that one in particular – he questioned the survey’s legitimacy in pulling an accurate reading in the area but said the school would be looking to make improvements.

“Whatever the answer is, we want to get better,” Jaslow said.

School superintendent Deborah Low said it’s the district’s priority to form a “stronger public partnership” to address some of the changes that need to be made.