The South Carolina Department of Education and South Carolina Education Oversight Committee released the state's 2025 School Report Cards Monday, and a safety evaluation section gave a glimpse as to how well of a job students thought school staff had done to prevent bullying.
Statewide, 75.2% of students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that "adults at my school prevent bullying from happening." The student evaluations, which were not readily available in public data reporting from previous years, revealed partial answers from 488,808 of the state's more than 790,000 students enrolled in public schools.
Palmetto State pupils in the Chester County School District and Richland County School District Two agreed or strongly agreed with the question at the lowest ratio of students in any school district. Despite the relatively high percentage, just 67.5% of students in Chester County were confident in school staff bully suppression. And 68.5% of students in Richland Two agreed with the prompt.
Chester County School District Director of Marketing and Communications Chris Christoff said the numbers were something to look into, but he could not provide an in-depth answer as to if the school district had a plan to adapt to survey results. The evaluations have been public for less than a week.
"We're still in the middle of doing a deep dive into the data and seeing where we need to target," he said.
Christoff's greater qualm was with the disconnect between parents and students in effective bully prevention within schools. The parent survey is given annually to guardians of students in the highest grade of each state public school.
Parents were asked in an evaluation if their child's teachers and school staff prevent or stop bullying. Guardians held more confidence in staff than students, as 87.4% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. The percentage is at 82.8% among Chester County parents surveyed.
Christoff called the difference a "red flag" and said that while some of the disconnect boiled down to typical adolescent secrecy, it is still something the district would like students, parents and teachers to partner on going forward.
"We were all teenagers once, too. We kind of know that our parents are really the last people to disclose things to," he said. "Districts getting involved need to partner with parents, and parents need to partner with the school district."
Richland School District Two Director of Communications Ishmael Tate said the district has been and will review its bullying prevention efforts.
"Richland Two is actively analyzing these results to determine any gaps in policy implementation, staff training, or student support, seeking a deeper understanding of the underlying issue," the emailed statement said. "We are expanding family outreach efforts that help build a common language about what constitutes bullying and how it is addressed."
Tate noted the difference in how students and adults may interpret an act of bullying — including activity on social media platforms.
Of the 80 school districts that reported student evaluation data, just six had less than 70% of students agree or strongly agree with the bully prevention statement.
