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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Largo, Florida
| Partners: | Pinellas County Schools Department of Children and Families Riverside Police Department | |
With a population of 881,383, Pinellas County ranks highest in the State in population density. More than 107,000 are students enrolled in 149 schools in the seventh-largest school district in Florida and the 23rd largest in the United States. Minority students comprise 17.6% of the school population. The percentage of elementary students eligible for free and reduced cost lunch is 44.9%; one-third of Pinellas County youth live in single-parent homes. The County is experiencing extremely high rates of student violence, juvenile crime, gang-related issues, and alcohol and other drug use. Students are at increased risk for suicide, runaway, and suspension/expulsion from school.
The Pinellas County Schools (PCS) will collaborate with the Juvenile Welfare Board; Community Mental Health Agencies; Police Departments of Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs; Pinellas County Health Department; Florida Mental Health Institute; and University of South Florida.
The initiative will be pursued in each school in the county; target schools, based upon a ranking of schools for risk factors, will be selected as demonstration/training sites. This program will integrate current resources provided by schools, law enforcement, public health, and mental health agencies and expand services to address identified gaps. Pinellas County will expand parent-training activities for families with infants and toddlers to improve the healthy development of young children and increase school readiness. The health department will initiate a social marketing campaign to develop countywide messages of nonviolence and promote specific programs that prevent violent behavior among youth. This initiative will also increase the availability of parent support groups, parent education and outreach services, as well as structured activities for youth. Mental health wrap-around services will be available for children who lack financial resources, and their Partnership Program - which offers short-term intervention to families of children at-risk of abuse and neglect - will be replicated in other locations. A Family Resources On-Campus Intervention Program that provides an alternative to out-of-school suspension will be expanded. The current K-9 program to strengthen school security through increased capacity to detect weapons, decrease students' drug use and enhance drug prevention activities will also be enhanced.
The Department of Child and Family Studies in the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, will be responsible for the direction and implementation of formative and outcome evaluation activities.
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[Baxley, Georgia]