Committee approves the state student survey but strips out the questions about suicide

What happened

The School Committee voted 5 to 1 to run the Rhode Island Student Survey with middle and high school students, with a sub-motion to remove questions 30 to 33. A member had asked that the questions about suicide be taken out, saying they had not historically been included. Another member asked how the district would support students if those questions were eliminated. The superintendent said the survey's questions cannot be reworded, only dropped.

Why it matters to families

The state survey is one of the few ways a district finds out how its students are actually doing. Removing the questions about suicide removes what those answers would have shown.

The evidence

The February 26, 2026 approved minutes record the superintendent explaining that survey questions cannot be changed but may be eliminated, a member clarifying that the survey was for middle and high school and asking that the questions regarding suicide be removed on the basis that they have not historically been included, another member asking how the district would support students if those questions were eliminated, a 5-1 vote approving the survey, and a sub-motion to remove questions 30 to 33. The survey instrument was not filed with the minutes, so the exact wording of the removed questions is not established.

The source