Survey seeks input from students

Students hope survey will shed light on racial discrimination.|

Petaluma students will have an opportunity to join other Sonoma County students in reporting honestly and anonymously their feelings on racial discrimination through a new survey created by the Sonoma County Junior Commission on Human Rights.

The commission’s Racial Equality and Justice Committee, made up of Sonoma County high school students, has created an anonymous survey for students to complete online in either English or Spanish.

The committee began drafting the survey after discovering that the Southern Poverty Law Center received almost 900 reports of racial harassment and intimidation.

“We hope this survey will give Sonoma County students an opportunity to voice their experiences and feel safe doing so, because the survey is online an anonymous,” said committee member Tara Sullivan. “For too long, students and administrators have kept silent about racial discrimination or haven’t properly addressed the problems in their schools. Now, more than ever, is the time to start talking about it and take action.”

The committee plans to gather data from as many students as possible through April 20 and report their findings in May to school boards, district superintendents and the Board of Supervisors, along with recommendations to improve school climate.

To access the survey in English go to surveymonkey.com/r/JCschoolclimate; to access it in Spanish go to es.surveymonkey.com/r/ClimateEspanol.

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