Improving School‐Justice Partnerships: Lessons Learned from the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative

• Published date: 01 July 2013
• Author: Julia Rollison,Alison J. Martin,Kellie J. Dressler,Corina Owens,Nainan Thomas,Michael Wells,Duren Banks
• Date: 01 July 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12041

IMPROVING SCHOOL-JUSTICE PARTNERSHIPS: LESSONS LEARNED

FROM THE SAFE SCHOOLS/HEALTHY STUDENTS INITIATIVE*

Julia Rollison, Duren Banks, Alison J. Martin, Corina Owens, Nainan Thomas,

Kellie J. Dressler, and Michael Wells

Schools alone do not have the capacity to plan and implement the wide range of interventions needed to ensure a safe school

environment for students. A collaborative approach among education and other community systems can best address the

intersecting factors that contribute to antisocial behaviors. The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative,launched in 1999, is

a comprehensive approach to help ensure children feel safe in their schools. This article elaborates on efforts by grantees and

their partners to improve coordination and service integration with an emphasis on the successful reintegration of students into

schools.

Keypoints:

• Coordination and integration of programs and activities provided by community stakeholders are critical to improve

youth outcomes.

• This article highlights efforts by communities to provide a more supportive school environment to address issues of

safety and student well-being.

• Comprehensive efforts contribute to minimizing duplication of services, preserving scarce resources and better

identifying and serving students at risk for or already affected by violence, substance use, and mental health issues.

Keywords: Collaboration;Community Partnerships;School Environment;School Safety;Service Integration;and Student

Well-Being.

In response to a series of deadly school shootings, the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS)

Initiative was launched in 1999 by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Ser vices,

and Justice as a comprehensive approach to address the mental, emotional and behavioral health of

students and ensure that children feel safe in their schools. Since 1999, the SS/HS Initiative has

awarded over $2 billion in grants to more than 365 urban, suburban, rural and tribal school districts

in partnership with their local mental health, law enforcement and juvenile justice agencies. The

Initiative’s goal is to foster integrated systems that create safe and respectful school climates and

consequently promote the mental health of students and prevent violence and substance abuse.

BACKGROUND

In order to achieve this goal, the grant requires schools to take an empirically driven public health

approach. Grantees begin by reviewing data and talking with community stakeholders to identify

the most urgent local needs. Grantees then select and implement best practices and evidence-based

interventions that match those needs. Participating schools and local agencies coordinate and integrate

their services, enabling them to respond quickly and to remain engaged. Grantees are required to

continually monitor progress in meeting their goals and to use data to make modifications to improve

their SS/HS project.

Today, there is still a critical need for the SS/HS Initiative. During the 2007–2008 school year, 85

per cent of public schools in the United States recorded that at least one crime occurred at their school

(Dinkes, Kemp, Baum, & Snyder, 2009). In 2007, for the first time in 15 years, school-aged youth

Correspondence: rollison@bc.edu; dbanks@manilaconsulting.net; dr.alisonjmartin@gmail.com; cowens@proftesting.com;

Nainan.Thomas@samhsa.hhs.gov; kellie.dressler@usdoj.gov; Michael.Wells@ed.gov

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 51 No. 3, July2013 445–451

© 2013 Association of Familyand Conciliation Cour ts