![[Table of Contents]](/icons/up.gif){kind=icon}
"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
San Francisco, California
| Partners: | San Francisco Unified School District Department of Public Health San Francisco Police Department | |
Urban San Francisco ranks 7th nationally in population density. Racial and ethnic heterogeneity mark the city's public schools: 28% of students are Chinese, 21% are Latino, 16% are African American, and 12% are non-Hispanic white. In addition, significant numbers of students are Filipino, Japanese, Korean, or Native American. Almost 50% of the district's students receive free or reduced cost lunch, and poverty is accentuated by the high cost of living and limited affordable housing. Academic performance, literacy in particular, remains well below national averages. Experimentation with alcohol is beginning at earlier ages, and drugs are increasingly available at schools. Despite these risks, prevention and early intervention programs are almost nonexistent at public schools. Through this grant, the district-piloted Wellness Schools program will expand to serve 10 elementary schools and seven high schools serving approximately 13,189 youth and their families in addition to the 17 middle schools already served.
The Wellness Schools will receive additional support from a broad array of other community institutions such as San Francisco Peer Resource Program; Safe Awareness for Everyone, a crime prevention program; Violence Prevention Network; and the Youth Leadership Institute.
The Wellness Schools initiative will address early childhood psychosocial and emotional development by providing a network of support services to pregnant adolescent girls-including academic and parenting classes-before and after the birth of their child, as well as by providing a core network of services, including nurse home visitations, to high risk families with young children. Drug and violence prevention will be enriched to include parent education, as well as age-appropriate classroom education on conflict resolution, mediation, and drug issues. Booster activities will be provided at high schools. Professional development on how and why to identify and refer students at risk for mental health and substance abuse or violence problems will be offered for all school staff. The Wellness Schools will also provide alternative social and recreational activities for youth during non-school hours. Coordinated service teams comprised of a nurse, psychologist and instructional strategist will be established at the schools to offer mental health support to students, staff and parents. Safe school policies will be strengthened through review and refinement of safe school plans at each school with enhanced efforts to engage parents and community members in development and implementation of these policies. The primary reform effort to be supported through this initiative is expanded after-school learning opportunities for all the Wellness elementary and high schools. In addition to placing a school resource officer at each school (funded separately), the initiative will train all security guards on safe school policies and on identification and referral of unhealthy behaviors. Conduct of yearly site inspections and dissemination of crisis preparedness guidelines will further enhance school security.
-###-
[Denver, Colorado]