Burlington School Committee cuts ties with survey vendor after explicit questions reach middle schoolers

BURLINGTON — April 1, 2025 — Burlington School Committee confronts parents over explicit middle school survey, votes to drop vendor. Acting Chair Meghan Nawoichik presided at the April 1 meeting after Chair Katherine Bond was absent, as dozens of parents demanded accountability over a youth risk behavior survey administered to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders that included definitions of oral sex, anal sex, and the use of sexual toys. Superintendent Dr. Conte acknowledged that outside vendor JSI Research and Training Institute altered the definitions after the district's wellness committee had reviewed the survey, that at least four opt-out violations were confirmed, and that students who said they did not want to take the survey were in some cases told it was mandatory. Committee member Jeremy Brooks called the survey "wholly and wildly inappropriate," argued it created unresolvable mandatory-reporting conflicts given its claimed anonymity, and pressed for an immediate policy requiring surveys to accompany all opt-out notices. The committee voted unanimously to end its relationship with JSI and committed to placing new informed-consent and opt-out policy language on the April 8 agenda. In a separate budget session, the committee approved 13 capital warrant articles totaling more than $3.7 million, including a $1,710,000 Marshall Simmons Middle School field Phase 2 project and a single-school entrance vestibule at $335,500, with the scoreboards and technology article passing 3-1.