While overall findings for Washtenaw County students were positive, a report issued today by a local coalition shows many middle schoolers have had suicidal thoughts and many high school students are concerned for their safety.

Several of the lower grades on the report card for Washtenaw County children came under the goal of having all youth “healthy through access to resources and practice of good health habits.”

The group, the Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth, collected data from a variety of sources in five main categories: learning, thriving, working, connecting and leading.

The coalition looked at data like graduation rates, Michigan Educational Assessment Program test results and average daily attendance.

The group expressed concern with the results for high school students in most of those categories.

In the working category, they found 4.1 percent of teens aren’t in school and also aren’t employed. They expressed concern that 30.4 percent of county children have no full-time or year-round employed adults at home.

Several categories were highlighted as caution areas in the thriving area. Those included data that shows 22 percent of county students get free or reduced school lunches, 20 percent of middle schoolers have had suicidal thoughts and high percentages of area children are overweight.

The thriving area also contained data that, when shared, caused many of the nearly 100 people in attendance to gasp audibly. Of the 1,194 cases of chlamydia, 37 percent were from high school students ages 14 to 18, and 39 percent were from young adults, ages 19 to 24.

In the connecting area, the group found many high school students have concerns about school safety, either in terms of harassment or physical violence.

The group found good news in the leading area, finding almost half of area high school students participate in some sort of community service during the course of the year.

After the data was presented, those in attendance spent time talking about the report in small groups. Additional sessions are being scheduled to further discuss the data.

The goal? To create an action plan to shore up the areas where weakness is detected, Bonnie Billups Jr., executive director of the Peace Neighborhood Center, told the group.

The group intends to post its report at www.ewashtenaw.org/government/department/community _collaborative/ later this week.

David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at djesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.