Unreleased spring survey: Most CMS parents felt kids are safe at school
As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was starting to install body scanners across all high school campuses this spring to detect weapons, the district wanted to know how parents were feeling about their children’s safety.
So CMS sent out a survey asking parents to assess how safe they felt their children were at school and what safety precautions they wanted to see in the district.
In results released only internally by CMS, more than 87% of the 22,651 parents who responded to the survey said they felt their child is safe while attending school. Only 6% said they did not. Another 7% said they weren’t sure.
This survey went out during a school year when the district seized a record number of guns on its campuses, with most of them seized by the end of December. By the end of the school year, the district had installed body scanners in all 21 high schools.
Hundreds of parents said they would like to see more security measures in schools, a call that grew much louder after the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas that left 21 people dead, including 19 children.
The Charlotte Observer found the survey results and related emails among thousands of emails obtained through a public records request. CMS said it regularly surveys parents to get feedback on how the district is doing.
CMS uses the results from its parent and stakeholder surveys to share internally and receive that feedback in order to see what we can implement to improve our students’ experience at CMS,” said CMS spokeswoman Cassandra Fambro.
Even though nearly 90% of the parents said they felt CMS schools are safe, hundreds gave suggestions as to how the district could improve safety.
In answering an open-ended question asking for specific answers as to what CMS can do to help students feel safe, more than 500 parents called for metal detectors or adding more security personnel.
Nearly 300 parents said CMS needed to do more to address bullying, and 50 parents called for more attention to mental health and counseling needs.
In an April email to CMS leadership containing the results of the survey, district Chief Operating Officer Brian Schultz said he felt the district was in a good position to address the top improvements suggested by parents.
But the May massacre in Uvalde, Texas, just the latest in a recent string of mass shootings in U.S. schools, drove more parents to speak out on safety. Rather than responding to a survey, they sent their opinions via email.
In the days after that shooting, CMS and the Board of Education received numerous emails from parents pleading with the district to do more to protect kids, with some offering to help.
Some parents find themselves straddling a difficult line of feeling like CMS is working hard to look after their kids and wanting the district to do more to keep them safe.
One was Brittany Stiling, the mother of boy and girl twins who are rising second graders at Smithfield Elementary School, who made clear she was aware that the district was installing body scanners in some schools.
“I appreciate the effort,” she said of the scanners. “This is probably not enough.
“It’s taking the focus off of education and putting a lot of responsibility on teachers and staff.”
Amit Sheth, father of a rising sixth grader at Community House Middle School and a rising fifth grader at Elon Park Elementary, also voiced support for installing the scanners. At the same time, he acknowledged no protection would be foolproof.
“I know attacks can still happen with these body scanners and all these rules in place,” he said. “We’re not naive enough to think it’s going to prevent everything. But even if it causes a student or parent to think twice about something like this, it’s already paid its dividends. It’s already paid off.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
