People often associate childhood with innocence. For many, it was a time when we didn’t have to worry — or parents or other adults essentially took care of the worrying for us.

For most, childhood was the embodiment of “ignorance is bliss.” What we didn’t know couldn’t scare us.

However, it seems with each generation, children are becoming increasingly aware of a world that is not as innocent as they thought.

The recent On The Table study conducted by The Clark County Community Foundation in partnership with Clark County Public Schools revealed more than 70 percent of the 355 students who participated were worried about what the future holds for the community over the next five years.

In spring 2018, CCCF and CCPS partnered to host multiple On the Table community conversations focused on school safety and violence prevention.

The purpose was to gain valuable input from the community, students and district administrators about school safety and preventing violence in the district.

CCCF’s On the Table 2018 report was created using information collected during the three public community events and in-school conversations. This report provided insight into what the community, and students, found to be the most pressing issues and potential solutions in the schools.

Some key takeaways were:

— About 60 percent of participants said the district needs to bring in additional counselors to improve the student to counselor ratio.

— More than 40 percent of participants said there is a need to improve student and teacher relationships.

— Half of the participants said there is a need for more consistent and improved disciplinary measures.

— More than 60 percent of participants said teachers and staff need more training on recognizing mental illness.

The complete report can be read at bgcf.org/file/FINAL-Clark-County-On-The-Table-Data-Summary.pdf.

This report can offer a plethora of valuable information for the district going forward. Already, some of the suggested solutions are being implemented. And the district has been taking a proactive approach to addressing safety and violence prevention in other ways.

The most important benefit of this study is it gave students a voice.

Students commonly report feeling that they are unheard and don’t have a platform to talk about the issues they face and solutions to these issues.

Further, the CCCF intends to use these results in its grant-making process, which means we will see real results from this feedback from the community.