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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Westbury, New York
| Partners: | Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Nassau County South Shore Child Guidance Center and North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center Freeport and Westbury Police Departments | |
The Freeport and Westbury school districts, both located in urban Nassau County, Long Island, New York, serve over 10,000 students, representing diverse cultures, interests, abilities, and educational experiences. In Freeport, the student population is 40% Black, 37.9% Hispanic, and 20.7% White. Forty-four percent of all Freeport students receive free or reduced lunch. In Westbury, 58% of the student enrollment is Black, 29% Hispanic, 9% White. Seventy-two percent of all Westbury students are eligible to receive free or reduced lunch. In Freeport, 49.9% of students lived at or below the poverty line in 1995. In 1990, single mothers with children under eighteen years old comprised 25% of households in Freeport, and 13% of households in Westbury. Rates of alcohol and drug use, school violence and threatening behaviors, gang involvement, school suspensions, suicide ideation and other emotional behavioral disorders have increased significantly.
In addition to the primary partners, other agencies involved in the initiative are Freeport Youth Outreach, Operation PRIDE, Operation Get Ahead, The Freeport Family Community Center, and the New Cassel/Westbury Youth Services Project.
The project will establish and maintain comprehensive school programs and integrated community partnerships between multiple school, community, and multidisciplinary agencies and organizations in order to build safe and drug free schools. An early childhood program will promote psychosocial and emotional development through home visits to low-income families with young children. Alcohol and drug use prevention and early intervention programs will involve families and communities, change their attitudes regarding substance abuse and violence, and provide students with alternatives. (Alternatives will include curriculum implementation, including peer mediation and conflict resolution, after-school programs, mentoring services, and outdoor education programs.) Mental health care agencies in each community will provide workshops on identifying early signs of drug and alcohol use, and violent and suicidal behaviors and provide referrals and follow-up. A community partnership will conduct a comprehensive review of safe school policies and will disseminate their findings throughout the two counties. A safe school plan, involving the entire community, will be implemented. Law enforcement officers will participate in after-school and summer programs to provide opportunities for positive interaction with students. Police departments will actively participate in developing safe school plans, policies and procedures.
The Safe Schools Healthy Students Initiative will be evaluated by the City University of New York Graduate School of Education using a rigorous formative and summative design.
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[Yonkers, New York]