STOP School Violence Grant: Million Dollar 3 Year Project

The Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Grant Program is funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The STOP School Violence Grant Program is designed to improve K-12 school security by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and help prevent acts of violence and ensure a positive school climate. 

How were the 4 schools selected to participate in this 3-year project? 

Demographic data at the time the grant was written:

For the four high schools selected, over 80% of the students are minorities, with African American at about 50% and Hispanic at about 34%.

Poverty data at the time the grant was written:

At the time the grant was submitted two project schools received Community Eligibility Provision, a USDA program providing resources in poverty-stricken areas to offer free meals to all students. The other two schools had Free and Reduced Meal rates exceeding 60%.

Graduation rate at the time the grant was written:

The four schools’ mean graduation rate at the time was about 80.5%, which represented a -6.5% gap from the state.

Community crime rate at the time the grant was written:

Durham has a violent crime rate of 687/100,000, which exceeds the state and nation by 45%.

Discipline data at the time the grant was written:

Within the four project high schools, total incidents of school discipline double the district, with 9.8% school disciplinary incidents (per 1,000 students), 2 bomb threats, and 13% of all incidents reported as an assault on school personnel.

To accomplish the objective, the project has five primary activities centered on preventing school violence:

(Area 1) Train school personnel,

(Area 2) Provide specialized training to select school staff,

(area 3) Train students and their caregivers,

(Area 4) Evaluate the effectiveness of school personnel trainings, and

(Area 5) Evaluate the effectiveness of student and caregiver trainings.

The strategies proposed are evidence based and are proven effective to provide the following benefits: (1) reduce violence, (2) improve school climate, and (3) create an environment that fosters learning.

How will the 5 objectives be measured:

Objectives will be measured through the BJA Students, Teachers, Officers Preventing School Violence Program Performance Measures document cited in the FOA.

AREA 1- Train School personnel (including school resource officers) on how to respond to threats of violence and prevent violence on campus.

Deliverables:

• School personnel trained in Social Emotional Learning (SEL),

• restorative practices, trauma-informed practices,

• SaferSaner Schools,

• North Carolina’s anonymous reporting technologies (i.e., tollfree hotline, free smartphone app Say Something),

• and school-based and community-based mental health services.

Training curriculum will include SaferSaner Schools, SEL, as well as the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), trauma-informed, and restorative justice.

AREA 2: Train select school staff to be a school resource on specialized strategies to reduce student violence and respond to on-campus mental health crises.

Deliverables:

• School-based student and personnel resource (SSA) with specialized training including IIRP facilitator credentials and Check-in Check-out.

• SSAs will also have advanced knowledge in NC’s anonymous reporting technologies and school- and community-based mental health services.

• SSAs can participate in advanced IIRP courses to be IIRP trainers.

• SSAs will work with the project director and CERTs to implement and/or revise an evidence-based school safety plan and administer a school safety assessment to evaluate facilities to identify emerging and potential school safety problems.

AREA 3: Train students and parents/caregivers how to prevent school violence and respond to mental health crises.

Deliverables:

• Students and parents/caregivers trained in strategies to reduce school violence like SEL, NC’s anonymous reporting technologies, and available school- and community-based mental health services.

• Students and parents/caregiver trainings will be delivered through school-based events, like assemblies, announcements, in-class instruction, parent teacher conferences, and posters.

SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

• Prevention of school violence after grant funding ends.

• Scale-up the project to other DPS schools.

• IIRP trained SSAs capable of facilitating districtwide training.

• Clear conclusion of what strategies are / are not working ,in order to make informed decisions where to invest to prevent school violence in the future.

• Continued leveraging of funds from existing network of private donors and from the NC Center for Safer Schools grant programs.

How Information Will Be Used to Guide and Evaluate the Project’s Impact

A data/evaluation plan will be created focusing on continuous improvement and accountability for all aspects of the project, including:

(1) defining problems and goals,

(2) developing an action plan,

(3) implementing and monitoring strategies,

(4) evaluating attainment of goals, and

(5) providing feedback for developing the next action plan based on prior results.