Jessica Foster
Staff Writer

The results for the 2004 Minnesota Student Survey are in. Overall, it appears youth are making good decisions.

Since 1989, the Minnesota Student Survey has been used to gauge behavior, attitudes and life situations for the stateís youth.

The survey, which takes about 45 minutes to complete, touches on a variety of topics including use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sexual activity, gambling, safety, destructive and antisocial behavior, drinking and driving and seat belt use.

The survey also examined family life, time dedicated to homework, extracurricular activities, exercise and feelings about school.

While the survey results were recently released, the process of examining the results will be an ongoing process, said Chuck Moses, safe and drug free schools coordinator for ISD 831.

Examining the overall results, Moses said ìAt risk behavior is something kids are thinking about and theyíre making better choices about.î

On a local, state and national level, violence in schools is down.

ìI credit that with a lot of unfortunate events,î Moses said. He said schools have less tolerance for bullying.

ìAs a school district we have really been able to draw a line on what is normal play or rough housing and what is bullying behavior,î he said. ìItís basically an atmosphere of non-tolerance. Kids are aware itís an issue adults in the buildings are going to deal with.î

Another positive upswing is seat belt use.

ìIím happy seat belt use among teens is higher,î Moses, who addressed seat belt use in a campaign last year, said.

In nearly all grades and categories, Forest Lake students beat out the state average on reporting using a seat belt ìoftenî or ìalways.î

Related to drunk driving, 32 percent of twelfth grade males and 19 percent of twelfth grade females said they had driven a motor vehicle after using drugs in the last year. At the state level, the figures are 33 percent and 26 percent respectively.

Using the numbers

The Minnesota Student Survey, Moses said, is a useful tool in determining what programs are working, what is not working and what may need to be supplemented.

ìIt helps drive all of our prevention programs,î Moses said. ìIt gives us direction on what their needs are. It gives us an idea of what we need to improve on and what we can do to decrease at risk behavior.î

The districtís mentoring program, suicide prevention program and chemical health campaign were all driven by results of Minnesota Student Survey results, Moses added.

Later this month, educators statewide will meet in Arden Hills for a conference which will examine the surveyís results.

While the hard numbers are in, examining those numbers can be a long process. Some may look at a particular number and be alarmed.

For example less students in Forest Lake have ever tried to kill themselves than the state average. While the community can be glad it is not exceedingly high in relation to suicidal behavior, that behavior needs to be examined and addressed.

ìI donít know that any numbers of suicide are good,î Moses said. ìEvery community loses kids to suicide. Itís something I think we can always work on,î he said.

The conference is just one opportunity to analyze the results, Moses said. The results will be examined at the local, state and county level.

While dates have not been set, community forums to discuss the survey will be scheduled, Moses added.

In Forest Lake, the survey was given to 518 sixth graders, 475 ninth graders and 350 seniors. Statewide, the survey was given to more than 130,000 students. Since its inception in 1989, the survey is given every three years.

Students were surveyed early last spring. Parents and students had the right to opt out of the survey. It is not uncommon for seniors to choose not to take the survey, Moses added. However, significantly more seniors were surveyed in 2004.

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