A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Little Rock School District: Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas, is an ethnically and economically diverse city of 175,795 residents in the middle of a predominantly rural state. About 22% of the children live in poverty. The Little Rock School District (LRSD) is the largest public school district in Arkansas with a K-12 enrollment of 25,070. At least half of the youth attending the LRSD are poor—many living in extreme poverty—50% are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and 40% participate in Title I programs. Poverty contributes to an annual dropout rate of 8.7%. Youth arrests are up in all categories; an estimated 15 % of students have mental health needs. At least 65% of students live in the highest crime areas in the city, so "violence victimizes these children at home, at school and on the trek between the two." More than 6% of children born in Pulaski County were to parents age 10-17.

In addition to the primary partners, collaborating agencies include Pulaski County Juvenile Court, Centers for Youth and Families, Parents for Public Schools, and the Pulaski Enterprise Community Alliance.

The program has three primary goals: 1) creating a strong partnership between the community and the schools; 2) creating a safe, secure, and healthy school environment to ensure student success; and 3) building an effective network of prevention, intervention, and treatment resources to ensure the healthy development of students. The program builds upon LRSD?s existing strategic plan, which reflects the community priorities for its youth and for improving educational outcomes. The plan involves providing programs and services in the community, at churches, and other sites, as well as within the public schools. The program will include: full-time clinicians to improve mental health services for all middle schools, two school psychology specialists in the district, and full-time nurses at every middle school and high school in the district. The program also includes the placement of School Resource Officers in every secondary school in the district, expanded substance abuse assessment and referral, prenatal and parenting support groups at all middle and high schools, and implementation of a district-wide Peer Mediation Program. Other components include increased mentoring for students, strengthened school-neighborhood connections, after school programs, Continuous Instruction Centers to work with suspended students, literacy/staff development, positive classroom discipline, a community-wide awareness campaign, and the placing of a part-time school liaison at the city?s Neighborhood Resource Center. Also included are additional surveillance equipment and a bomb detection dog.

Evaluation of the program will be overseen by New Futures for Youth, a Little Rock non-profit organization committed to improved outcomes for youth.

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