Letter: The importance of the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey
We’re both moms of young kids here in Eagle, and we want to raise our families in a community where all children are safe and healthy. That’s the goal of the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.
Coordinated here by the local organization, Mountain Youth, the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey has gathered important information about the well-being of our community’s middle and high school students for over a decade. It’s essential in helping understand and address the challenges that young people face related to issues like mental health, violence and tobacco and other substance use. Information is used by community groups, schools, churches and all kinds of other programs to understand how to best help our kids thrive, and to make sure we have the resources they need.
One example of an important problem that the survey helps to address is bullying — the survey for middle schoolers asks whether and where kids have experienced bullying at school. All individual responses are anonymous, but school districts can get a summary of their students’ answers so teachers and principals can use the information to more effectively prevent kids from getting bullied.
Recently, criticism of a few of the survey’s questions by a few community members has gotten a lot of attention. We urge everyone not to let this distract from the bigger picture — as parents, we value the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey as a tool to understand how children in our community are doing. We need that big picture understanding so we can work together to keep our kids safe and healthy.
Holly Coleman and Elena Broaddus-Shea
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