D.C. Public Schools Students Survey Reveals High Rates Of Sex, Fear And Suicide Attempts

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson had some revealing statistics to share with city council members Tuesday -- almost 10 percent of 8th graders have attempted suicide.

The figure comes from the Center for Disease Control's 2010 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The 59-question survey given to 1,186 D.C. middle school students also found that 18.4 percent of 6th graders had missed school at some point in the last year because they felt unsafe, while 13.9 percent of all middle schoolers said they had been afraid of being beaten up at school.

Nearly 30 percent of 8th graders have had sexual intercourse, and 15 percent of middle schoolers had been a member of a gang in the last year, according to Henderson's presentation made available by WAMU.

More than half of D.C. high school dropouts leave by 9th grade, and more than 80 percent of dropouts do so by 10th grade, The Washington Times reports.

A separate 99-question survey was given to 1,396 high schoolers in the area. Results from the high school questionnaire revealed that 12.5 percent of students in the 12th grade had attempted suicide in the last year, WTOP reports.

Still, DCPS officials are taking the figures with a grain of salt. The Washington Post reports that administrators are looking at the self-reported responses as an indication that students need more support, particularly in a Web-driven culture that exposes youth to many of the issues addressed Tuesday.

“It’s very alarming,” Henderson said. “I think it is a generalized cry for help.”

The findings Henderson presented Tuesday compare with those from other cities and past national statistics. In 2009, 9.9 percent of New York's high school students had attempted suicide.

Nationally, 7.3 percent of 9th graders had attempted suicide one or more times during the year before the survey in 2009 -- the most recent for which national data is available. For the same population, 5.8 percent missed school because of safety concerns, and 31.6 percent had had sexual intercourse. Prevalence of having ever had sexual intercourse ranged from 28.7 percent to 63.5 percent across local surveys in 2009.

Still, the CDC says the 2009 figures might be unreliable since the survey pool was not large enough, according to The Washington Post.

DCPS will look to work with city officials to determine how best to allocate resources to optimize opportunities and assistance for students, The Washington Times reports.

Tuesday's announcement comes while DCPS is struggling to fix problems with its troubled middle schools, as enrollment continues to decline. The system is also the target of an Education investigation into alleged cheating among teachers that inflated exam scores -- before the district released in July standardized test results that showed overall improvements among its students.

Kaya Henderson Middle Schools Presentation

Comments

[changing]

05:24 PM on 10/01/2011

So the schools are supposed to fix all the social programs? How about working on poverty, jobs, after school services? These kids are really supposed to care about test scores? Course we are firing their teachers on those test scores and spending millions of dollars on them versus real social programs. For shame.

[Matt Blanc]

11:53 AM on 10/01/2011

Until black churches step up the to issue of male predators seducing young black women, there will continue to be undereducated young mothers raising kids in poverty and ignorance. We knew several young black women in their late teens and early 20s who were trying to hold down minimum-wage jobs while raising 2 and 3 kids, all by different men. These women weren't bad women, they were lonely, poor, and wanted to believe the lines that the deadbeat men were handing them. Once they got pregnant, the men disappeared and they were left deeper in depression and poverty than ever. The kids of these women are in the DC schools, with little or nothing to look forward to and no responsible role models. If black churches are the big social institutions that people claim they are, when are they going to step up and start preaching birth control and start chasing down deadbeat fathers?

[Jasel]

08:56 AM on 10/03/2011

Naturally it's never the woman's fault for any situation that occurs in her life. They were all just walking down the street minding their own business when men just happened to jump out of the bushes and impregnate them when they weren't looking. It's not like they made stupid decisions or anything. Of course since now they've been burdened with unwanted children they're absolved from any type of criticism whatsoever. The men? Not so much.

Black churches, which are a joke in themselves, don't need to do anything. And Blacks don't need to sit around waiting for someone to lead them by the nose and show them what to do. The D.C school system needs to get it's act together which has been the problem for years. Segregated, dysfunctional, and the best thing Blacks in that area can do is hold people accountable. Unfortunately in D.C., as is the case in most places, money speaks louder than words.

[Jenny Rowland]

09:33 AM on 09/30/2011

Here we go again. I don't think the problem is with the schools, at least not completely. Yes, our schools have big problems, I don't deny it. However, I feel like the way our kids are turning out is a reflection of the society they are being raised in as a whole. I think we do a big disservice if we don't look at the big picture. In general, more "support" is available to these kids than ever before. Programs are available that other generations could only dream of, which is great. However, if funding more programs and adding more regulations is the key, shouldn't we be seeing more progress? Or at least some?

[Marx Twain]

08:41 PM on 09/29/2011

When middle school girls have sex, it is typically with a male who is 10 years older or more than her. In fact, the younger they are to start with, the older their partner tends to be. The media likes to whitewash this by using the term "sex"; lets call it what it is, statutory rape and molestation. Facts like this tend to take the humor value out of these "wish I was in 8th grade" comments.

So if adults disapprove of children having sex, they should stop raping them.

[Matt Blanc]

11:55 AM on 10/01/2011

Agree! Some studies show that a lot of teenaged girls who are pregnant had 30-year-old lovers. These creeps are just using ignorant naive girls, and no one is protecting the women from these predators.

[OAK STREET MAFIA]

08:44 AM on 09/29/2011

wow looks like i need to hang out in DC more....

[iLdoRight]

04:16 AM on 09/29/2011

This is a routine I developed to try to nudge children; "You having a fun day today?" (No matter what they say) "Well you should, you should try to have a little good clean fun every day, and try to learn something good every day and if you get to be really smart you can try to help make the world a better place in a way that does not do harm to anyone, doesn't that sound like fun?." "That is what I try to do, you will always have something to do, because the world needs a lot of improvement." If the situation will allow I sometimes add; "The one book I have found that has helped me gain more valuable information than any other is the Bible and you can get the whole thing on one DVD for only about $16 and then you can listen to it being read and watch the words on the screen. Learn each day like you are going to live forever and need all the information you are gaining, but live each day like you may die in your sleep that night and be judged by the way you lived that day."

[Escalonz]

03:07 AM on 09/29/2011

The high illegitimate births among teenagers to day, as usual, leaves the girl holding the bag so to speak but with DNA now fingering the boy; this changes the whole situation whereby now parents can be held responsible as well as the kids. So instead of the taxpayers trying to pay this financial bottomless pit; how about the parents of both the boy and girl pay into the support of the baby?
Where the baby goes would be up to the courts but most likely with the girl's family but the support is now divided equally between both families.

[RBlakeH01]

11:03 PM on 09/28/2011

Just think, the idiot at large thinks he can run a nation and he can't even control a city he resides in. What a joke this administration is.

[Zeke Hernandez]

12:28 AM on 09/29/2011

Right right, that's Obama's fault. Maybe saying/doing something constructive would be a good idea. how about trying to figure out what's going on with our youth instead of pointing a finger at someone who has very little to do with those stats. This post is pathetic.

[Remy Arrr]

05:07 AM on 09/30/2011

Because things in DC were GREAT under Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, etc.
(Note the sarcasm)

[RBlakeH01]

01:30 AM on 10/02/2011

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit...

[Hannah Knise]

09:17 PM on 09/28/2011

Is any one surprised by this? Parents aren't teaching their kids any values or how to respect themselves so no one else does. This doesn't have to do with the schools or politics. Not about bullying or free birth control it has everything to do with the fact parents are not teaching their kids anything period. they leave it to the schools system to do everything for them. Its not their responsibility to teach your child anything besides what will get them into college it is the parents job to teach them to respect themselves so they wont sleep around and wont be suicidal. People can try and defend saying kids will be kids and have sex but no kids don't have sex because they are turned on they do it to fit in because its what they see their parents do. When you see your mom having a million different guys around or their dad having a million different girls it shows young boys that sleeping around is good and to have no respect for women and it shows little girls that sleeping with a guy is getting love and not to have respect for them selves.

[rvheaney]

08:47 PM on 09/28/2011

It's D.C. Public Schools need I say more ? ?

[collectsrocks]

08:12 PM on 09/28/2011

Sadly I think these children aren't feeling loved and safe.

[dlr51185]

07:46 PM on 09/28/2011

GAH! It annoys me to see people automatically blame the teachers for this!! Morals start in the home. Sex ed starts in the home. Responsibility starts in the home. Trust me, we teach sex ed in the public schools. The health textbooks are pretty damned graphic and the health teachers pull no punches with their curriculum. Kids just don't listen! Everyone knows nicotine eventually kills you, but does that stop kids from taking up the habit every single day in this country? Kids KNOW about condoms and risky sexual behavior. They choose to ignore it. OR...they get themselves into a situation they shouldn't be in because THEIR PARENTS AREN'T SUPERVISING THEM! All teachers can do is teach their curriculum and that DOESN'T include morals!! Geez........

[lydatarz]

07:10 PM on 09/28/2011

I guess Bristol Palin's campaign had no impact on these statistics?

[mikewill45]

06:52 PM on 09/28/2011

It's D.C. Big surprise!

[thm4usa]

06:24 PM on 09/28/2011

It does not do any good for kids that have to grow-up in a house with a mother who has different boy friends living with her at different times. There are too many men who "make" kids and then do not man up to the obligation. There are households with "her's, his and their kids! Now we have the lesbian and homosexual men "trying to start a family", wait until those kids start school!

[berrabbis]

06:38 PM on 09/28/2011

i agree with your comment and it is not just one race it is all of them

[demigoff1]

07:52 PM on 09/28/2011

are you talking about senators and congressmens kids?