Massachusetts school survey asks kids about gender, climate change fears

This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Center for Suicide Prevention at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A Massachusetts School District We will distribute a survey to middle school students after asking parents not to share it with anyone else.

Students at Thomas Blake Middle School, part of Medfield Public Schools, will be administered a survey that asks children about gender identity, suicide, mental health, parental behavior at home and how concerned they are about climate change, according to documents obtained by the center. Defending education In October.

The MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey, which was not created by Medfield Public Schools and which the district says was “administered to 40,000 students in grades 6-12 in 25 school districts west of Boston,” asks students intrusive questions.

Photo of Thomas Blake Middle School in Medfield, Massachusetts taken on an unknown date. (Medfield Public Schools)

The 112-question survey “collects important and timely data on the health and risk behaviors of students in the middle and high school grades, with the goal of informing data-driven efforts to keep students healthy and safe,” according to its fact sheet. The survey promises anonymity to students who participate in it.

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“The data is being used to help the 25 school districts with programming, staffing needs, grants and child support,” Medfield Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Marsden told Fox News Digital.

In a letter to parents, Principal Nat Vaughn told parents they could opt out of the survey on their children’s behalf, and not share the survey with anyone else, claiming that prior discussion could influence students’ answers.

The fourth and fifth questions, respectively, ask students what sex they were assigned at birth, and what their gender identity is.

Gender identity responses included “nonbinary or other (including homosexuality, gender nonconforming),” “I’m not sure what my gender identity is,” and “I don’t know what this question is asking.”

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The sixth question asks whether the student is transgender. The next question asks students whether they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and questions their gender identity or whether they identify in another way.

Thomas Blake Middle School sign in Medfield, Massachusetts. (google maps)

Much of the survey focuses on mental health, Asking children how often they feel stressed and anxious, how often they feel anxiety is out of their control, whether they feel hopeless or depressed, and whether they feel like a failure or letting themselves or their family down.

Suicide is also a prominent section of the survey.

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Children are asked whether in the past 12 months they have felt sad or hopeless for two weeks or more, whether they have “seriously” considered killing themselves, whether they have made plans or tried to kill themselves, and whether they have ever lived with someone who is “depressed, mentally ill, or suicidal.”

there Three questions about climate change On the poll.

“How often do you feel worried or stressed about climate change?” is the first, followed by “Do you think you personally are affected by climate change?” and “Have you ever taken any action to reduce the effects of climate change?”

The intersex Pride Progress flag stands next to the Transgender Pride flag on June 10, 2024 in London, United Kingdom. The flag includes rainbow flag stripes to represent the LGBTQ+ communities, with colors from the transgender pride flag and to represent people of color as well. (Mike Kemp/Photo via Getty Images)

Additional questions include the parents’ behavior in the home, including whether the parents or adults in the home have insulted the survey subject, whether they have been physically abused by an adult in the home or whether the adults in their home physically abuse each other.

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Defending Education is a grassroots organization that “works to reclaim schools at all levels from activists who push harmful agendas,” according to its website.

“The bad news is that these surveys are so common in schools and continue to get more intrusive, ideological and developmentally inappropriate — there is no justification for a regional health organization using schools as a way to ask all middle school students about their gender identity, suicidal thoughts or feelings about climate change,” Erika Sanzi, the group’s senior director of communications, told Fox News Digital.

A large group of parents protested in Rockville, Maryland, on June 27, 2003, in an attempt to opt out of books containing LGBTQ characters in Montgomery County Schools. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“The good news is that the school principal notified parents, with adequate notice, of their right to opt out, and even provided a copy of the survey. Federal law requires that parents be notified and provide a mechanism to opt out, but it is very rare to see a copy of the survey provided to all parents without them asking to see it.” “This may be a hopeful sign that some school districts are becoming more transparent about the controversial and sensitive content included in these surveys.”

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In April, Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts passed a resolution Similarly invasive scanningWhich angered the parents.

Medfield Public Schools did not return a request for comment.