Fairfax County school leaders see signs of improving mental health, but also some ongoing red flags, in the county’s most recent youth survey.
“This is always a bittersweet report to read,” at-large Fairfax County School Board member Kyle McDaniel said after Superintendent Michelle Reid detailed the report’s findings at the board meeting last Thursday (Oct. 23).
The optional survey was taken by about 70% of Fairfax students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades between November 2024 and January 2025. Approximately 87% of sixth-grade students took a separate version of the survey.
Now in its 19th year, the survey is conducted by the Institute for Research on Addictive Behavior at Indiana University.
Survey results suggest secondary-school students are seeing improved mental health from the early days of the pandemic, when schools and much of daily living were shut down.
All mental-health indicators, including continual sadness or hopelessness, stress and suicidal thoughts or actions, “have continued to improve significantly,” reaching their lowest incidence levels in the past decade, Reid said.
Among the findings:
- The percentage of responding secondary-school students who reported feeling sad or hopeless two or more weeks in a row dropped from 38.1% in 2021 to 28.9% in 2022, 20.8% in 2023 and 17.4% in 2024
- The percentage of responding students feeling high levels of stress most or all of the time dropped from 29.9% to 23.5% to 20.8% to 14.7% during those four years
- The percentage of students considering suicide declined from 16.5% to 10.7% to 8.7% to 6.9%, while students reporting suicide attempts declined from 6.3% to 4.1% to 3.2% to 3.1% during the period
“There’s positive movement in many directions,” McDaniel said, adding that, if the data about suicidal tendencies are accurate, several thousand county students surveyed have still thought about or attempted taking their own lives.
“That’s a staggering number,” he said. “Until we get to zero, [our effort is] not enough.”
Reid said that despite overall improvements, “significant issues” with student mental health remain for some groups. She said an inclusive school environment does help.
“Students learn best when they feel safe and they feel like an authentic member of the community,” she said.
Providence District School Board Representative Karl Frisch voiced concern about high and, in some cases, increasing levels of bullying and other challenges facing LGBT and nonbinary students.
Increases in bullying incidents from 2023 to 2024 are “not the trajectory we would hope to be seeing in a school division with the policies we have in place,” he said.
Mount Vernon District Representative Mateo Dunne said students benefit from connections to both those in their own age group and those who are older.
“Having friendships, having a trusted adult in your life, is among the most important factors in a healthy lifestyle and positive academic outcomes,” he said.
The report seemed to confirm an ongoing downward trend in substance use and abuse, with the fewest high school students using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs since 2018.
Among those taking the survey, 90% reported no use of any such substance over the preceding 30 days, with 92% reporting no illicit use of drugs and 95% no use of alcohol.
Rates of students having engaged in sexual intercourse in the 2024-2025 report are about half pre-pandemic totals, ranging from less than 2% for eight-graders to 18.4% among 12th-graders.
The survey of sixth-graders highlighted concerns about stress levels and bullying at the upper-elementary and middle school level. Reid said recent efforts to expand extracurricular activities for that cohort should help.
“Our middle school sports and activities give more of our children an opportunity to have those healthy connections,” she said. “The more positive things we can put in place, the more mentally healthy our children are going to heal.”
A total of 11,514 sixth-grade students and 29,810 high school students took the survey, which is jointly sponsored by the county government and Fairfax County Public Schools.
More student involvement in redistricting sought
As FCPS continues moving toward action on boundary adjustments, the student representative to the school board is asking that students be more a part of the process.
“They’re concerned about the impact on school spirit and connection, especially for students who have build long-term relationships in their current schools,” student representative Faith Mekonen said at the Oct. 23 school board meeting.
Mekonen was sharing views conveyed at an Oct. 21 meeting of the Student Advisory Council.
“The raw theme was a desire for open communication and student inclusion throughout the redistricting process,” said Mekonen, who began her one-year term as the board’s non-voting student representative in July.
FCPS is currently planning for the most significant boundary-adjustment effort in at least four decades. Proposals thus far have drawn mixed reviews from parents and the broader community.
After a series of community forums in spring and summer, the school system is back with a fourth boundary scenario that is now “the only option under consideration,” school leaders said.
FCPS is in the midst of a new round of community engagement. School board members are expected to receive the final proposal for consideration in December or January.
Photo via FCPS/YouTube
