Wake County High Schools Will Survey Students on Safety

Wake County officials announced a student safety survey for high schoolers that will run December 1 through December 12, marking the latest step in the district's effort to reassess campus safety and communications. The survey, presented to the school board, will ask students how schools can be safer, whether they feel safe now, and whether they are likely to report concerns through existing channels such as the Say Something app. District leaders said they will link the survey to student email accounts and monitor response rates, asking schools to push the survey if participation falls too low.

The safety and security committee also reviewed plans to train students, employees and community members on a planned replacement for the district's code red system. District officials framed the work as part of making students feel safe so they can be better prepared to learn. The district has already rolled out a voluntary panic button app for employees, launched a visitor screening system, and begun revising code red messaging to make alerts clearer.

Participation and data sharing were major topics. Kendrick Scott, senior director of the Office of Security, said a response rate of 10 percent would be too low, and schools will be expected to encourage broader participation. District level survey results will be published publicly. School level results will be shared only with school administrators and the school board in a closed session. The district does not plan to survey other groups such as staff and parents at this time.

Board Member Tyler Swanson raised concerns about timing, questioning whether students will be motivated to complete a survey in the middle of the school year. District leaders said the mid year window gives ninth grade students time to acclimate to their schools before being asked to assess them.

Students surveyed by WRAL described ongoing anxieties about safety amid occasional reports of school shootings. A Cary High student noted feeling generally safe but said rising news about school shootings and limited coverage by school resource officers on large campuses have increased concern among peers. Those perceptions intersect with district discipline data that shows some mixed trends. Reports of students committing crimes in schools have fallen in Wake and across the state after peaking shortly after the pandemic, yet the number of students cited for possession of drugs and the number accused of assaulting school employees have risen in recent years.

For Wake County residents, the survey could affect priorities for training, security staffing and mental health resources. Low participation could skew results and limit the district's ability to target interventions. The closed sharing of school level findings may also shape how parents and community members interpret safety conditions at individual campuses. District officials plan to use the survey responses to guide training and policy decisions in the months ahead.