To fully focus on learning and thrive academically and personally, students must feel safe in their educational environments. For local educational agencies, addressing this complex and ever-changing challenge encompasses everything from disaster preparedness to bullying prevention.
According to YouthTruth’s recent report, School Safety, Security, & Emergency Preparedness: Understanding and Acting on How Students Experience Safety, students feel safer at school when their concerns are heard.
The report is based on a national survey of 198,558 students and 19,246 educators conducted in 2024–25. Knowing how students feel about specific safety strategies is important to measuring effectiveness and can aid in informing LEA leaders’ decision-making.
The survey found that 56 percent of secondary students feel safe at school. “That means nearly half of young people move through the school day without the sense of safety that learning and well-being depend on,” YouthTruth explained. Sixty-two percent of students believe their school takes their safety concerns seriously.
“The association is striking: 71 percent of students who feel heard also report feeling safe, compared with just 6 percent of those who do not feel listened to. In other words, students who believe adults take their concerns seriously are far more likely to report feeling safe at school,” the report states.
Roughly 81 percent of staff strongly agreed that their schools take their safety concerns seriously.
For elementary-aged students, 60 percent felt very safe at school and 79 percent felt that adults on campus care about their safety.
Other key findings
Among middle and high schoolers, “students’ sense of safety varies across school spaces, with classrooms feeling safest and school buses among the least safe,” according to the report. Sixty-seven percent felt safe in class, 59 percent felt safe on school property outside of the school building, 57 percent felt safe in hallways, 50 percent in bathrooms and 25 percent on the school bus. Basically, less supervised locations feel more unsafe.
“Bathroom safety concerns are especially pronounced for boys. Just over half of boys who do not identify as LGBTQ+ (52 percent) report feeling safe using school bathrooms,” the report explains. “Concerns are even greater among LGBTQ+ boys and young men, who report the lowest sense of safety of any student group in these spaces: only 40 percent say they feel safe and one-third disagree or strongly disagree that they feel safe in this everyday space.”
At the elementary school level, 21 percent of students said they didn’t feel safe in the bathroom and 79 percent didn’t feel safe riding the bus.
One in five students in grades 6-12 often worry about their safety at school, the survey showed. This is more common in middle school years and decreases over time. However, gaps in feelings of safety exist across identity groups including race, language background and LGBTQ+ identity.
Black/African American students worried most often about their safety at school (26 percent) followed by those who are American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous (24 percent), Hispanic/Latino (20 percent), Asian/Asian American (16 percent) and white. Twenty-seven percent of English learners (EL) worry often about their safety compared to 16 percent of their non-EL peers as did 25 percent of LGBTQ+ youth compared to 16 percent of their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts.
Roughly 16 percent of staff reported worrying at least often about their safety.
Twenty-five percent of elementary students worried at least often about their safety compared to 15 percent of staff.
“While 56 percent of secondary students agree they personally feel safe during school, a different and more sobering picture emerges when students are asked about safety from violence at their school overall,” YouthTruth found. “Fewer than half (44 percent) agree students are generally safe from violence at their school.”
Again, perceptions on whether students are safe from violence at school varied by race and LGBTQ+ identity as well as by gender.
Educators’ view on the topic, as well as students’ exposure to weapons and fights at school are also covered in the report as is another key finding: while school staff largely feel prepared for natural disasters or security threats, many students don’t.
Considerations for school boards
As this report makes clear, students’ experiences of safety and security at school are complex — and they often diverge from the perceptions of adults around them. The findings highlight where students feel supported and where they do not, revealing how some young people carry heavier burdens of safety anxiety, perceived risk, and exposure to violence at school,” the report states. “Strengthening school safety depends on thoughtful policies, well-designed systems, and careful planning — and it also depends on a genuine partnership with students.”
In addition to insights from California education leaders on leading during wildfires, the report features questions governance teams can ask themselves and students and staff regarding issues of safety. Read the report here.
View CSBA’s Safe Schools Toolkit, which includes sections on comprehensive school safety plans, supporting a positive school climate, behavioral threat assessment, crisis communications and school safety and more, at csba.org/safeschoolstoolkit.
