The Healthy Kids Survey, which was set to take place Nov. 1, has been moved to late-April. The revised and expanded survey will be given to students during CAASPP testing.

The Healthy Kids Survey is designed to assess student levels of stress and attitudes towards school. It was last administered in the spring of 2015. The survey is usually taken every other year, however, this year it is being expanded to include more questions about student attitudes and behaviors, such as sexuality, said Director of Alternative and Adult Education Michael Brady.

“We looked at some of the questions that were part of the survey, and didn’t like them,” Brady said. “We didn’t feel they were questions that would provide information and so we thought to design questions of our own.”

Brady said he felt like it was important that the survey contain questions asking students if there is someone at school who they can talk to about confidential topics or if they feel like their gender identity is being properly represented on the survey.

“Believe it or not, the Healthy Kids Survey didn’t have questions like those,” said Brady.

The delay in the survey administration is because the process of getting the new survey questions finished, reviewed and approved, is a difficult task and would not have been completed before Nov. 1, Brady said.

“The reason we originally selected the Nov. 1 date, was to balance out the minutes from the day taken to administer the practice SAT,” said assistant principal Irma Muñoz.

Muñoz said part of the logistical challenge for the school is keeping the minutes balanced for each class, as well as meeting the state’s requirement of 64,800 minutes a school year. Muñoz also said she is fully aware of the effects schedule changes have on students.

“I think it affects everyone, the students in particular, but also the faculty and staff,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz said that although schedule changes are often necessary for school events, they also lead to student confusion and tardiness.

“The survey may have taken up a lot of time, but I feel like the questions it asked us were relevant,” said senior Nina Adarkar, who took the survey back in 2015 as a sophomore.

Adarkar said she felt like it was a good investment of class time, as long as the information collected was being used to improve the student experience at school.   

“This survey is important for our school because it can give insight into the changes we need to make,” Muñoz said. “We’ve already changed the bell schedule and talked about healthy