DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. — The Duval County School Board says the county is no longer participating in a health survey that prompted push back.
The district received a letter from the Commissioner of Education “strongly urging” the district to end its participation in the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
In addition, the district says it received notice that the Florida Department of Health—Duval is terminating its contract with Duval County Public Schools for providing data collection and evaluation related to the YRBS.
Given these two developments, the district says it will not conduct the 2023 YRBS survey.
“Since 2009, the YRBS has been used to provide the district and health partners with extensive data about the experiences of our students and the services they need,” said Dr. Diana Greene, superintendent. “We know we are serving multiple students as young as middle school who are already moms and dads. Even though this survey is going away, we will do our best to remain attentive to the experiences and behaviors of our students and continue to work with other community partners to address their needs.”
From drug and alcohol use to reports of bullying, the survey gives teen health organizations a snapshot into the challenges and risks that students face every day.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey has been given to 6th through 12th grade Duval Public School Students every two years since 2009.
The survey is sponsored by Duval County Public Schools and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the data is used to monitor the prevalence of risky behaviors and create teen health programs.
However, State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz believes that some of the questions may actually introduce risky behaviors to students.
In the letter addressed Greene this week, he says that the "inflammatory and sexualized survey is not in the best interest of Florida students."
He explains further that Florida is developing its own survey that will be aligned to state standards.
"The primary focus of your district should be to educate children using standards-aligned instruction and to assist Florida's students in avoiding risky behaviors instead of exposing them to sexually explicit concepts," writes Diaz in the letter.
At this time, it's unclear what kinds of questions will be on the Florida youth-survey or when it will be administered to students.