Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The contents of a survey shocked a parent of a Tucumcari Public Schools student, and what she described surprised several TPS board members, as well.
During the public discussion portion of the TPS school board’s meeting Thursday, Lisa Montoya said her teen son received a online health survey from Apex of Albuquerque containing sexually explicit questions that “horrified” her.
Two New Mexico Department of Health officials contacted by Quay County Sun said this was the first complaint about the survey they’d heard in their years with the agency. One DOH official said the survey, which has been validated by health officials nationwide, identifies risk factors in adolescents.
Montoya said her son on June 21 received a text from a school nurse leading to the survey. It was the same day sports physicals were being scheduled. She assumed it was a health survey associated with the physical.
Her son could not pull up the survey, so she brought it up on her home computer.
She said the survey’s questions pertained to oral, anal and vaginal sex, the number of sex partners, types of sexual activity, the use of condoms and about dating websites such as Tinder and Grindr.
Montoya on Friday forwarded to the Sun copies of the Just Health surveys, which contained an adolescent version and a child version.
The survey for adolescents, which can be as long as 29 pages, asks questions about their living situations, dietary habits, exercise, mental and physical health, alcohol and drug use and problems in the home and in school.
Midway through the survey, it contained among these multiple-choice questions:
— “What kinds of sex have you had in the past year?”
— “Do you use condoms when having insertive anal sex?”
— “Do you use condoms when having receptive anal sex?”
— “Do your sex partner(s) have sex with both men and women?”
The sex-based questions take up about five pages of the maximum 29.
A preface with the survey states responses can be completely confidential and won’t be shared with anyone “unless there is a concern about safety.”
A copy of the child-version survey forwarded to the Sun contained no questions about sexual activity.
Montoya said during the board meeting she understood the survey, which she said was available to students as early as fourth grade, was designed to identity at-risk children.
But she said the survey was “working against parents” and wanted to opt out from it, like she could with another student survey from the University of New Mexico.
“My kids were victimized by these questions,” she said.
Board President Heather Gonzales said she and other board members were “blindsided” by what Montoya reported, and Gonzales apologized.
Board member Robert Lucero said his son also received the survey.
Superintendent Aaron McKinney said he “would look into” the survey. He said he had been unaware of it.
Kristin Oreskovich, the New Mexico Department of Health’s school-based health center program clinical operations manager, said in a phone interview Sunday she received no previous complaints about the survey in 10 years.
Occasionally, she said, parents ask about the survey, but they’re OK with it once it’s explained to them.
Oreskovich said the survey is used to identify risk and potential factors of risk in adolescents and finds areas where students need support.
She said students who are low-risk find the responsive survey to be about one-third of the length of students who are high-risk. Oreskovich also said students are free to skip questions if they wish.
Oreskovich said the survey uses “nationally standardized and validated tools” by health professionals. She said identical or similar tests are given or being given to students in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Michigan, California and Washington state.
David Morgan, media and social media manager with the state DOH, also said the state had used the Apex survey for 10 years, with no previous complaints.
“This is a first for us,” he said Friday. “But, at the same time, it’s important to address the concerns.”
Allison Johnson, communications manager at Apex, also defended the survey in an email Friday.
“Just Health is a screening tool clinicians use to support their practice and is administered only in the context of an integrated medical care visit,” she wrote. “It is a comprehensive digital platform that combines questions from validated screening tools in accordance with AMA Journal of Medicine guidelines for children and adolescent patients.
“Just Health supports the research-based practice of universal, comprehensive school-based screening for social determinants of health including mental health. School-based screening is one of the top recommendations from the Surgeon General.”