By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–Faced with survey results that show only 43 percent of kids “like” school, some district officials are pulling out all the stops to change the statistic.

Others wonder if the question was the right one to ask.

Do the questions need to be changed, asked Board Secretary Neil Phillips after listening last week to secondary principals talk about what is done to make sure students feel welcome and heard in school.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Rizzo said that is something being discussed by district officials as the board prepares to administer a longer version of the same survey in the spring of 2026. Rizzo was one of three co-authors, along with Dr. Kim Kassay and Dr. Anna Mahon, of the executive summary of the climate survey.

“Even with this subset (of questions) there is a lot of information,” Rizzo said. “It borders on inactionable … We have to be very careful what the questions are.”

“But If you keep changing the questions you won’t know how you are doing,” said Board Chair Lee Goldstein.

Other districts?

Maybe the district can look to compare its results to those in other districts, some suggested.

“It would really be helpful to know if every good middle school in the country has similar (results),” said Board Member Stephen Shackelford.

Maybe most middle schoolers would say they don’t like school, Board Member Abby Tolan said.

There is no benchmark data from Hanover Research, the survey company the district now uses, the board was told.

Big disconnect

First discussed by the board last month, the survey was taken by students, parents and teachers. A strong majority across all three groups report students feel welcome at school and have a sense of belonging.

But on whether students “like” school, 88 percent of parents and 79 percent of staff answered yes compared to only 43 percent of students.

Most students say their teachers care about them, but a noticeable percentage want more teacher feedback than they say they are getting.

Another survey result found that many students feel that rules are not applied equally in all situations.

Working on feelings

In response, administrators at both Bedford and Coleytown Middle Schools told the board at the end of a long meeting last week that they continue to work on efforts to make students feel welcome, included and connected.

Students receive lessons in coping strategies and exercises to help them get along better with their peers. Both schools are designated as Anti-Defamation League No Place for Hate schools.

At Bedford, there are student run initiatives to promote a more respectful and inclusive school culture, according to Assistant Principal Megan Gallant.

At Coleytown Middle, professional development is occurring to help teachers maintain consistent expectation and emotionally attuned instruction, said Coleytown Principal Janna Sirowich.

There are also more parent coffees, newsletters and community learning opportunities to strengthen family-school partnerships.

Staff members at both schools have participated in anti-bias training, are working to improve the chances students experience fairness from classroom to classroom and get sufficient feedback.

Some of that involves making sure students recognize that feedback can involve more than grades and comments on papers, the board was told.

“We are constantly reflecting on practices … What we can do differently,” Sirowich said.

At Staples, Principal Stafford Thomas said a lot of progress has been made over the past few years to help students feel more connected. The school has high academic expectations but also pride, he said.

At the same time, Thomas said the school is working to enhance communication, strengthen connections, and increase the meaningfulness of student and staff experiences.

One goal for this year is to include teachers providing more praiseworthy and meaningful feedback to students and more positive outreach to families. Another is to strengthen students’ understanding of how schoolwork connects to real-world and career experiences.

A third goal is to help students, particularly underclassmen, enjoy school more by building class identity and community-building activities. A school committee is also exploring the revival of the morning TV station as a platform to unify the school community.

Linda Conner Lambeck

^{_{Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.}}