![[Table of Contents]](/icons/up.gif){kind=icon}
"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Baltimore, Maryland
| Partners: | Baltimore City Public School System Baltimore Mental Health System, Inc. Baltimore City Police Department | |
Baltimore is the nation's thirteenth largest city with a population of 645,943. In this urban area, 21.3 % of all persons live in poverty, while 56 % of single female-headed households with children under the age of five live in poverty. This year, Baltimore City Public School System will serve 105,379 students: 4,041 in pre-kindergarten, 51,185 in grades K-5, 23,595 in grades 6-8, and 26,558 in grades 9-12. Of these students, 67.9% qualify for free/reduced cost meals. Baltimore's youth are at risk for experiencing violence, substance abuse, and/or mental health problems. Homicide is the leading cause of death for adolescents, with a violent death rate of 146.6 per 100,000 youth, and the juvenile arrest rate is three times the national average at 685.3 per 100,000 youth. The special education rate for the district is 38% higher than for the rest of the state, and only 36 % of high school students graduate on time.
With a history of successful collaboration, the project will be overseen by a Steering Committee that includes the primary partners, the Kennedy Krieger Institute, University of Maryland, parent representation, and others. The Chief Academic Officer of Baltimore Public School System and a professor from Johns Hopkins University will co-chair the committee.
Through a city-wide process, the school district will work towards the following goals: children enter school ready to succeed; children and young adults receive an effective education; children live in nurturing families; children live in safe communities; and families become self-reliant. On the basis of need and community risk factors, two middle schools, their feeder elementary schools, and the two neighboring high schools have been selected to receive comprehensive services. The efforts, which have been crafted to complement the various models already in place, will be expanded in the project's subsequent years. The initiative will ensure that pregnant youth and young mothers in the target schools are linked with home visiting and clinic-based programs, including access to nurses. Effective practices for improving academic performance and school climate will receive increased focus. Prevention efforts, especially in middle schools, will be expanded and strengthened. Increased attention will be given to children of substance abusing parents. Plans also include a substantial increase in after-school, summer school, and family support programs. Mental Health Systems and the Public School System will jointly oversee an extensive program of school-based mental health services, and "wraparound" services will be developed in the recognition that children live in the embedded contexts of family, school, and community. Neighborhood parent liaisons will facilitate linkage with and support to parents, while an energized program of community policing (funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's COPS Office) will increase law enforcement involvement in schools and surrounding areas.
Johns Hopkins University Prevention Research Center has collaborated with the school district for more than 15 years. They will conduct the evaluation process which focuses on the implementation of specific elements and achievement of outcomes.
-###-
[Springfield, Massachusetts]