Work starts on program to ensure safe schools
By Tony Ku
Only a few months have passed since the Kyrene School District received a three-year grant worth approximately $8.5 million to create programs that would foster a safer school atmosphere.
Already, district officials say they have made significant progress in designing the Safe Schools and Healthy Students Program.
“The biggest thing we’re working on now is establishing an overall framework for the program,” said project coordinator Samantha Heinrich.
“We’re in the process of doing some focus groups in December, determining the programming aspects for referrals, collecting data and determining where services are needed first.
”The purpose of the grant was to link safety and security with healthy childhood development, provide comprehensive and coordinated services that assist students in their developmental needs, and create partnerships with law enforcement and mental health agencies.
Heinrich and her team are in the process of determining the program’s setup while liaisons are being established with local agencies.
Youth Evaluation and Treatment Center will provide prevention specialists to work within the district and provide violence-prevention training to everyone from teachers and parents to community members;
Jewish Family and Children’s Services will also provide prevention specialists to facilitate classroom presentations as well as small group workshops for students and parents;
Southwest Human Development will provide a team of behavioral health professionals that will facilitate training for staff of the Early Childhood programs;
and Casillas Consulting will document the activities of the project staff and serve to ensure quality control and provide concepts for improvement.
“We have students in our schools whose social and academic welfare needs are not being met,” Heinrich said about the importance of this program to the school district. “This program brings together prevention services and intervention strategies. We have fragmentation in schools, and this grant will provide a systematic approach for our program.”
The next steps for Heinrich and the program will be to assemble a steering committee that will provide ongoing feedback and direction, create a coalition of agency partners that meet regularly to ensure collaboration and coordination, and establish a marketing plan to create awareness in the community.