Best questions for parent survey about school safety

Here are some of the best questions for a parent survey about school safety, plus expert tips on how to craft questions that get real insights. You can build an effective survey in seconds using Specific’s AI survey builder—just generate your parent safety survey instantly.

Best open-ended questions for parent survey about school safety

Open-ended questions give parents space to share meaningful concerns, perspectives, and ideas—beyond ticking boxes. When parents have room to explain, you reveal not just surface-level opinions but the reasons behind them and often actionable ideas.

Given that, for example, 38% of U.S. parents still fear for their child’s physical safety at school as of 2023 [1], it’s crucial to invite those deeper stories and viewpoints. Here are our top 10 open-ended questions to use:

1. What are your biggest safety concerns when it comes to your child’s school?

2. Can you describe any specific incidents or situations that made you worry about school safety?

3. In your opinion, what should the school do differently to improve safety?

4. How does your child feel about safety at their school? Have they shared any concerns?

5. What changes would make you feel more confident in your child’s safety at school?

6. How effectively does the school communicate about safety issues or incidents?

7. Are there any safety topics you feel aren’t being covered enough at your school?

8. Do you feel there is enough support for students’ mental health as part of the safety plan?

9. What suggestions do you have for reducing bullying or peer conflict at your child’s school?

10. If you could ask the school leadership one question about safety, what would it be?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for parent surveys about school safety

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you need quantitative data, or want to encourage quick participation—sometimes it’s just easier to pick an option. These questions can start a productive conversation, paving the way for deeper discussions when paired with smart follow-ups.

Examples of effective questions:

Question: How safe do you feel your child is while at school?

• Very safe

• Somewhat safe

• Not very safe

• Not at all safe

Question: How well do you think the school handles bullying situations?

• Very well

• Somewhat well

• Not so well

• Not at all well

Question: Are you aware of the mental health resources offered by your child’s school?

• Yes, fully aware

• Somewhat aware

• No, not aware

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" Adding a follow-up question like “Why did you choose that option?” lets parents explain their reasoning, helping you move from surface data to actionable insights. For example, if a parent says they don’t feel their child is very safe, asking “What makes you feel this way?” can uncover details about unresolved incidents, communication gaps, or unclear protocols.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” is important when you want to catch concerns or details you didn't anticipate—then use a follow-up to dig in. Parents might identify overlooked issues that would have slipped by without this option.

NPS-style question for parent survey on school safety

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks how likely respondents are to recommend something. For parent surveys about school safety, NPS provides a simple, standardized way to gauge overall satisfaction and trust in a school’s safety efforts. For example, “How likely are you to recommend your child’s school as a safe place to other parents?” This clear score helps schools compare feedback over time and prioritize improvements.

If you want to try an NPS survey tailored for parents on school safety, check out this dedicated NPS survey generator for parents.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are crucial for clarifying vague answers, surfacing real motivations, and fixing the usual “unclear response” trap. With Specific’s automatic AI follow-up questions, the survey actually feels like a conversation—each answer can trigger a smart, relevant follow-up that an expert would ask. This saves teams from endless email chases and ensures you get the context you need on the first try.

• Parent: “I don't really feel my child is safe, but it’s complicated.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what feels complicated about your child’s school safety?”

How many follow-ups to ask? In most cases, 2–3 follow-up questions are enough to uncover full context. It’s valuable to let the AI gracefully skip to the next question once the information is gathered—Specific makes this easy to control, so your survey never feels repetitive or overwhelming.

This makes it a conversational survey. Instead of just a form, your survey actually engages people—much more like an interview than a list of boxes to fill.

AI-powered response analysis. Even when open questions generate lots of text, analyzing all those responses is simple with tools like Specific’s AI survey response analysis. The AI summarizes, clusters insights, and lets you chat with it about specific responses or trends—no more slogging through spreadsheets.

These automated follow-ups are a game changer. Try generating your own safety survey and see how the flow uncovers more insight with less manual effort.

How to prompt ChatGPT or any AI to generate great questions for your parent school safety survey

Let’s make AI work for you. Here’s the simplest prompt to start with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for parent survey about school safety.

But giving AI more context always leads to better results. For example, you might add extra details about your specific goals or audience:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a parent survey about school safety at a suburban public elementary school, with the aim of improving both physical security and mental health support.

Once you have a list, ask AI to organize them, making it easier to select the best questions:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Next, focus on topics that matter most to you:

Generate 10 questions for categories "mental health resources" and "emergency preparedness".

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is exactly what it sounds like—a survey that feels like a real conversation rather than a formal form. AI survey generators, like Specific’s builder, bring this experience to life. Instead of drafting every question and logic branch manually, the AI crafts questions, suggests follow-ups, and adapts on the fly so you learn more, faster.

Why use AI for parent surveys? AI-driven surveys adapt to respondents, are quicker to set up, and uncover richer insights, especially on nuanced topics like school safety or bullying concerns, where a simple checkbox answer isn’t enough. Want a look at an AI survey example? With Specific, it’s easy to create or adjust your own interactive, parent-focused safety survey with a few clicks, making it one of the best options for parent feedback.

We focus a lot on user experience—our conversational surveys make it smooth for both the survey creator and parents answering. For a detailed, step-by-step guide, visit our article on how to create a parent survey about school safety.

See this school safety survey example now

Get instant feedback from parents with a survey that uncovers concerns and builds trust—experience conversational surveys that adapt to each parent’s answers and surface insights you never expected. Don’t miss the chance to create your own today and see the impact for yourself.