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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Machias, Maine
| Partners: | Washington County Consortium for School Improvement Lubec Regional Medical Center Washington County Sheriff's Office | |
Rural Washington County, located in the isolated northeastern coastal area of Maine, is America's easternmost, and Maine's poorest, county. The population is 93.3% Caucasian and 6.1% Native American, primarily members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe. Poverty and unemployment levels are among the highest in the nation. Rates of homicide, suicide, domestic violence, alcohol and marijuana use are consistently among the highest in the state of Maine. Physical and mental health services and other resources are extremely limited.
The Washington County Consortium for School Improvement is an ongoing partnership of the county's 9 school districts. In addition to its primary mental health and law enforcement partners, the Consortium is joined in the Down East Safe Schools program by community mental health agencies, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, Washington County Adult Basic Education, and by the Coastal Washington Institute of Technology.
The program will focus on 326 students in one elementary school, 169 students in one middle school, 372 students in one high school, 480 students in seven schools serving grades K-8, and 1,160 students in five schools serving grades K-12, representing the highest-risk population in the total student population of 17,253. The comprehensive program will include family outreach and counseling services; early identification, referral, and treatment for troubled children; increased substance abuse and mental health counseling; parent training; teacher training; and enhanced access for at-risk students to family support services. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Washington County Adult Basic Education will provide parent training classes, while local family counseling and crisis services centers will screen students for severe family related risk factors. Working together, school prevention coordinators, faculty, parents, and students will implement programs, such as Second Step, Kids on the Block, and Life Skills Training with the goal of preventing youth violence and substance abuse. Intervention and counseling services will be available to students from qualified counselors contracted from local mental health agencies. The incidences of vandalism, theft and other crimes will be reduced through crime prevention training and personal safety classes presented at schools. In addition, school administrators and school board members will develop coordinated emergency plans in accordance with state guidelines.
Down East Safe Schools will use a process and outcome evaluation. The data collected through planning meetings, focus groups, and surveys will provide feedback concerning what works or does not work, so that project implementation changes can be made to improve the program.
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