Parents in the West Bend School District (WBSD) were sent a letter advising them of the "Youth Risk Behavior Survey" that was to be administered to "selected" students. The letter does not indicate the date the survey would be administered. The letter does not state where the survey could be accessed and viewed. Parents have been asked to make a decision about their child's participation in the survey based on the District's assurance in the letter that the survey would cause "little to no harm" to their child. Students are considered "opted in" unless "opted out" as the District chose the "passive parental permission" form.
ACCESS:
Parents would only be able to have access to the survey by going in to the West Bend High School office on their own time and requesting to view it. The 2009 version could be found on the DPI (Department of Public Instruction) website. The District has since posted the 2011 survey for both middle and high schools on the WBSD website.
CONTENT:
The survey crosses personal and parental boundaries with questions that want to know:
If your child is bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual or "not sure." (on high school survey).
If your child has sex with males or females, or males
and females.
If your child uses contraception
when they have sex.
How many people your child has had sex with.
If your child drank or did drugs before having sex.
The survey explains that a child could become so depressed about the future that they may consider suicide, and goes on to query:
If your child has seriously attempted suicide.
If your child has made a plan to attempt suicide.
How many times your child attempted suicide in the past.
The survey is extensive and should be viewed by all parents throughout the state of Wisconsin whose children attend public schools. Taxpayers have a vested interested in the administration of this survey, which is taken during classroom time, according to the parent letter. The WB East High School principal has stated it will take a total of two hours for the classroom teacher to give this survey to students.
The middle school version can be found
HERE.
The high school version can be found
HERE.
Contact info for West Bend School Board Members is as follows:
Bart Williams bwilliams@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Todd Miller tmmiller@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Kris Beaver kbeaver@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Dave Weigand dweigand@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Randy Marquardt rmarquardt@bkoenig@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Tim Stepanski tstepanski@west-bend.k12.wi.us
Rick Parks rparks@west-bend.k12.wi.us
