First in a Series of Reports
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The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal] –
Students, ages 10 to 17, in Jefferson County schools have been subjected to survey questions seeking deeply personal information on such topics as their frequency of church attendance, tithing at church, dental care, prayer, gender, their belief in God, illicit drugs, eating habits, and use of prescription medicines.
Two questions from a 2022-2023 Jefferson Middle School needs assessment survey asked students to disclose if they have a family member serving time in jail and if their parents are “divorced or divorcing.” (see page 42 of PDF linked below)
To see copies of actual surveys and classroom questionnaires, a 40+ page collection of documents from Jefferson County Schools is linked HERE.
Many other school districts in Tennessee use similar surveys in the name of “school climate.” Parents are urged to seek copies of student surveys in their own school district to make informed decisions about consenting for their children to participate in surveys.
Recently seated conservative school board members in Jefferson County are starting to weigh in on the content and subject matter of invasive survey questions and are pledging to seek active parent consent, school board review of surveys, and parent review of surveys before surveys can be administered to students, welcome progress according to many that follow the issue.
“It is with profound relief, we have recently gained active and responsible school board members that are participating in the regulation of inappropriate surveys to our minor children. I am grateful for the efforts of our new school board members that seek to safeguard our children and require active parental consent for student surveys.” – Said Alicia Bonora, Jefferson County Citizen
The Tennessee Conservative News provided each Jefferson County school board member with 43 pages of sample survey questions from their own school system and asked for their commentary on three areas of policy, 1) surveys in general, 2) if active parent consent should be required prior to administration of student surveys, and 3) if the school board should be reviewing student surveys.
The School Board Chairman favors active parental consent and commented, in part, as follows. “I am personally not comfortable with the invasive nature of some student surveys. Surveys that ask probing familial questions or questions that appear to be leading toward sensitive subjects in order to receive sensitive answers seem to be out of place and I would personally not be comfortable as a student answering them…. Any survey administered to students should be conducted with the express permission of parents or guardians.” – said Joshua Cameron, School Board Chair
Chairman Cameron also sees no problem with a committee reviewing certain student surveys and making suggestions to the full board.
Each of the four school board members that responded, Chairman Cameron, Vice Chair Doug Ibbetson, Dawn Mayer, and Paul Hardy all favor active parental consent for surveys and expressed reservations about surveys that ask probing personal questions.
Long-serving board members Danny Martin, Bill Jarnigan, and Randall Bradley did not respond to the Tennessee Conservative News inquiry concerning student surveys.
Subsequent news reports in this series will address parental opt-out forms, federal and state regulations, and feature additional commentary by school board members.
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and current Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
