By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD – Examples of risky behavior by Middle and High School students are fairly stable despite some small upward trends, according to the 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey presented to the School Committee at their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 14.
“There are different things we have to keep up with,” Middle School Counselor Andrew Cedrone said during a presentation at the meeting. “To stay on top of a lot of these things is hard.”
The survey was conducted in April, as it has been odd numbered years since 2017. Students answer anonymously. The results indicate alcohol use is relatively unchanged, with increases in use of marijuana and vaping products at Galvin Middle School. “Unfortunately it’s risen,” Cedrone acknowledged.
At the High School, 16 percent of students reported using alcohol compared to 18 percent in 2023 and 26 percent in 2019 and 2021. Use of alcohol at Galvin is at 3 percent as it was in 2021 and 2023.
At the High School, 7 percent of students reported using vaping products compared to 11 percent in 2023, which reverses a rise from 6 percent in 2021. Use of vaping products at Galvin is at 3 percent up from 2 percent in 2023. It was also 3 percent in 2021.
One of the ways to address the issue may be installing vape detectors, which some school districts are doing. This was one item on a page in the report listing a dizzying alphabet soup of edu-speak acronyms of counseling and intervention programs, from the familiar Middle School ‘What I Need’ (WIN) blocks between regular classes; Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS); Safe and Supportive School (SaSS) programs; Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT); Supported Training to Reach Independence Through Vocational Experience (STRIVE) and Signs of Suicide depression and suicide risk screening (SOS).
Other methods include convening anxious and/or shy student support groups, extending screening to the elementary school level and increasing the number of consolers. “When I got here twelve years ago there was only one adjustment counselor,” Cedrone said. “I attribute upward trends to increases in staffing.”
Cedrone reported some students are switching from vaping or smoking to using a nicotine pouch, similar to traditional tobacco pouches but without tobacco, which increases potency.
School Superintendent Doug Lyons added the pouches are not regulated as tobacco products because they have no tobacco, just nicotine.
At the High School, 7 percent of students reported using marijuana compared to 11 percent in 2023 and 16 percent in 2021. Use of marijuana at Galvin is 2 percent up from 1 percent in 2021 and 2023.
An emerging trend is gambling. Twenty-four percent of male students at the high school reported engaging in gambling on skill games they played, like sports, card games and video games.
“Gambling is illegal for teens and can be harmful and addictive to developing brains,” the presentation read. “Among all addictions, gambling is linked to the highest suicide rate. Research shows children introduced to ‘harmless betting’ by age 12 are four times more likely to engage in problematic gambling later.”
“This is important to monitor,” the Town’s Prevention Outreach and Youth Services Manager Elizabeth Parsons told the School Committee.
Cedrone added harmless betting like family card games for small change or bets between family and friends on the Super Bowl can lead to involvement with fantasy sports leagues which can include betting.
Lyons mentioned gambling can now be done on hand-held or portable devices like cellphones and laptop computers.
In sections on violence, bullying and discrimination, the report also indicates “the rate of students at the High School reporting skipping school due to feeling unsafe in or on their way to school remained similar to 2023, but reports of electronic bullying increased slightly after a period of decline.”
It also indicates there was slight increases in reports of sexual violence but a decrease in dating violence.
Transgender or gender diverse students are “significantly more likely to report experiencing discrimination because of their gender identity and report significantly higher rates of students at the High School reporting skipping school due to feeling unsafe in or on their way to school.”
At Galvin students reported increases in bullying on school property, electronic bullying and skipping school because they felt unsafe, while rates of experiencing sexual violence were stable.
LGBTQ+ and transgender or gender diverse students are significantly more likely than the average middle school student to report being bullied on school property and report experiencing discrimination because of their gender identity.
Parsons and Cedrone weighed this against increases in answers related to ‘School Connectedness,’ defined as students having at least one teacher or other adult they feel they can talk to if they have a problem. At the High School it’s risen from 68 percent in 2021 and 75 percent 2023 to 83 percent in 2025. At Galvin it’s risen from 59 percent in 2021 and 75 percent in 2023 to 78 percent in 2025. “The biggest thing is trust in adults,” Cedrone feels. “Everything comes back to that.”
“When trusted relationships are established, everything falls into place,” Lyons agreed.
The report also indicates mental health trends at the High School are improving based on 18 percent of students reporting they’d experienced depression in the last year down from 22 percent in 2023 and 30 percent in 2021.
Sixteen percent reported their mental health was not good in the previous month, down from 23 percent in 2023 and 30 percent in 2021.
At Galvin, reporting of depression in the previous year dropped from 22 percent in 2023 to 15 percent in 2025. Sixteen percent reported their mental health was not good in the previous month, down from 18 percent in 2023 and 23 percent in 2021.
Nevertheless, at the High School and Galvin LGBTQ+ and transgender or gender diverse students are significantly more likely than the average middle school student to report experiencing depression and their mental health not being good in the previous month or past year.
Male students at both schools are less likely to report those trends.
Parsons said the presentation was made to increase awareness of the data.
“A positive impact of their presentation is not just seeing what happens but getting parents to look at what’s happening,” School Committee chairman Kevin Fontanella agreed.
Lyons cautioned the data reflects “a moment in time when a student might be feeling a certain way, but the data is a prompt. The idea is to understand the kids and seek out kids as a basis for connectedness. When we see data we don’t understand counselors go to these kids to find out.”
He also said some parents opted their kids out of taking the survey, which was counteracted “as a result of principals going above and beyond in communication about the survey.”
He also said some school districts are engaging their communities to see what questions might be added or subtracted from the survey.