TRI In The News

'Outrageous' Middle School Survey Gets Legal Attention

5/3/2011

TRI IN THE NEWS: 'OUTRAGEOUS' MIDDLE SCHOOL SURVEY GETS LEGAL ATTENTION

From OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

According to a civil liberties group, a Massachusetts school district is requiring middle school students to complete a survey that asks intimate and sexually suggestive questions without the parents' knowledge or written consent.

Two parents at Memorial Middle School in Fitchburg objected to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, so they contacted The Rutherford Institute. John Whitehead, president of the Institute, tells OneNewsNow that some of the questions -- like "Do you wear a helmet when riding your bicycle?" -- were not intrusive, but others were.

"The very next question is, 'Have you ever tried to kill yourself? Have you ever sniffed glue...breathed the contents of spray cans, or inhaled any paints?'" he accounts. And other questions ask students to rank how comfortable they feel about "'talking with any partner [they] have about using a condom.'"

In exasperation, Whitehead points out: "These are middle school kids. They are very small."

Not only does he deem the survey "outrageous" and "shocking," but The Rutherford Institute president also decides the school district is wrong to rely on passive consent for the surveys, which means the parents are presumed to have consented if they have not returned a particular form.

"This violates federal law," he contends. "There is a federal law that says that you have to have written consent before you ask these kinds of questions to children in schools."

Whitehead's organization is demanding that the district stop the process. Meanwhile, he warns parents throughout the country to "wake up" because schools in 47 states are utilizing this survey.