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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Portland, Oregon
| Partners: | Portland Public Schools, District 1 Multnomah County Community and Family Services Multnomah County Juvenile and Adult Community Justice | |
Portland Public Schools, the largest district in the Pacific Northwest, serves 55,831 students from inner-city, suburban, and rural communities, in 90 elementary, middle, and high schools; 11 special focus and alternative schools; and 24 support facilities. Minority students comprise 35% of the enrollment, and 38% qualify for federal free or reduced-price meals program. This area is home to Oregon's largest concentration of African-American families, with a significant influx of students from Latin America, southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union. Over 60 different languages are spoken in the district, and students whose home language is other than English represent 8% of the enrollment.
A sampling of the organizations actively involved in this initiative include: Portland Police Bureau; Multnomah County Children's Mental Health Partnership; the Multnomah County Behavioral Health Division Advisory Council; Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Abuse; SuperSAC, the school district superintendent's student advisory council; the Portland Public Schools Board of Education; and the Portland Public Schools Student Services Advisory Committee and the Regional Drug Initiative.
The Portland Partnership Plan will ensure that all students attending Portland Public Schools can learn in a safe, healthy, disciplined, and drug-free environment. Early childhood psychological and emotional development programs will be provided by building the capacity of the child care provider system. This will address the needs of young children with significant problems related to their psychosocial development, and increase the availability of mental health services promoting healthy early childhood development from birth through age five. Identification, assessment and referrals for students in need of mental health services will be expanded in two high schools and in several middle schools and alternative schools which serve many of the district's high-risk students. Mental health specialists will provide individual and group therapy services for students and their families and consultation to these middle and alternative schools. Safe school policies will link policies and practices used to respond to attendance and disciplinary violations with services and supports necessary to improve student behavior and increase school safety. Educational reform will integrate student health and school safety programs and activities into district and local school improvement plans for improving student performance. Finally, school safety specialists will be assigned to the school police department.
The evaluation plan will be a collaborative effort between the Portland Public Schools Research, Evaluation, and Assessment Department and external evaluation contractors in the Multnomah County Program Design and Evaluation Services and Department of Support Services, Budget and Quality Assurance Office.
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[Redmond, Oregon]