Dozens of Town and school officials, parents, and community members joined together at the new high school on Tuesday, October 24 to discuss an attitudes and behaviors survey (the “Survey”) that New Fairfield High School (NFHS) students took in February of this year. The event was hosted by NFHS administrators and New Fairfield Together in Wellness (“NFTW”), formerly the New Fairfield Prevention Council. It began with a presentation of the overall survey results and continued with breakout groups that were intended to brainstorm and gather feedback on how best to empower and support young people in New Fairfield.

In t he school’s new auditorium, Ms. Kathy Hanley, a certified prevention specialist and member of NFTW, walked the participants through Survey results, highlighting the positives and the “areas for improvement” or “opportunities for growth.” The Survey was developed by the Search Institute, a non-profit tha t Hanley described as having decades of experience. This is the third time the Survey was conducted in the district and data from previous years—both conducted prior to the pandemic—served as an interesting foil throughout the presentation in the form of a trend analysis that tracked the percentages that had changed significantly in several c ategories. There were wide ranging topics included in the Survey, such as peer and family relationships, mental health issues, and risky behavior.

NFHS Principal Mr. James D’Amico pointed out, “The vast majority of our students feel that motivation to be the best they can be in school, feeling actively engaged in their work.” He went on to point out, “the vast majority of our students do take responsibility for their actions. They know that they are going to make mistakes and they feel supported when they do that.”

Opportunities for growth include student-identified need for more support and positive communication with families. Hanley said, “Within the category of empowerment and community values, [the students ranked] a little bit low.” Students’ answers ranked low on the topics of whether they are being heard,  listened to, and that they matter to the community. Hanley went on to say, “They are saying that other adults, and even their parents, may or may not always be modeling responsible behavior.” There were also lower numbers in the category of self esteem. 

Disturbing results included a large number of students who had considered suicide and those who had engaged in risky behaviors. D’Amico pointed out that trends show alcohol use is consistent with the previous surveys, with 25% of students reportedly consuming that substance. He said he is not surprised to see that marijuana usage is up “primarily due to vaping and changing attitudes in society and changing laws around that particular substance.” D’Amico went on to say, “in terms of eating disorders, and bulimia or anorexia behaviors, that number was higher than any of us would like to see.” In addition, there is a concerning number of “high-risk patterns of students that are feeling depressed and defining themselves feeling depressed most of the time or all the time in the last month.”

Following the presentation, the audience was split into multiple groups each of which were prompted to respond to three topics in separate brainstorming sessions: ways to build community in the school, ways to build communication with and among families, and ways to help high schoolers become more engaged in the community. Many ideas were collected by NFTW volunteers and D’Amico expressed excitement, “​​There were so many great ideas about how we can, as adults, support listening to the voices of teenagers in New Fairfield.  It was clear that the survey had the intended effect of engaging people of all different ages in a conversation about making our town a healthier place for high school and middle school-aged students.”

The evening concluded with gratitude for participation, including an array of door prizes. D’Amico said, “It was great to see so many people from the community come out to discuss how we can build up support for our teens.”