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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Houston, Texas
| Partners: | Houston Independent School District (HISD) Houston Health Department Houston Police Department | |
The HISD is the largest school district in Texas, made up of two contiguous school feeder patterns, serving 212,000 students. HISD includes students from 90 countries, of whom 53 % are Hispanic, 34% are African American, 11% are Caucasian, and 2% are Asian American. There are 59,000 limited-English-proficient students, a population larger than 90% of all school districts in the nation. The district is burdened by poverty, juvenile crime, violent behavior, delinquency, truancy, alcohol and drug use, and other adverse social conditions. Student involvement with alcohol and drugs is over-represented at every grade level. Even at the elementary school level, rates of marijuana use doubled from 2% in 1996 to 4% in 1998. The school district also has high rates of school violence and victimization, suspensions, drop-out, truancy, and expulsions.
A broad spectrum of community mental health and social service organizations will provide services through partnerships with the school district on this initiative. These organizations include child protective services, community youth services program, mental health services administration, community anti-drug coalitions, and a gang violence reduction team.
The SS/HS initiative will hire infant mental health specialists to provide school- and home-based services to preschool children. HISD currently implements a variety of high-quality programs and services designed to decrease the incidence of alcohol and other drug use and violence. The SS/HS will expand the needs assessment and use focus groups to provide a basis for future program development. The SS/HS will implement a multi-family relationship-building program, and establish after-school programs to address this critical program element. An existing comprehensive dropout-prevention program will be expanded to serve 13 additional elementary schools, employ additional clinical social workers and counselors, and offer case management and coordination services. A clear code of student conduct outlines the rights and responsibilities for all staff, students, and parents. Despite this policy, however, significant discrepancies remain. The SS/HS will establish programs to reintegrate students from the juvenile justice system and to manage information and analyze data on violent and non-criminal incidents. In terms of educational and school reform, a classroom-based social skills curricula and conflict resolution approach are recommended. School security measures will be intensified and amplified, including the installation of metal detectors and surveillance cameras at all school facilities, assignment of probation officers to the high schools, and implementation of several existing comprehensive community-based strategies that provide long-term systematic approaches to reduce violence and crime in and surrounding the school.
The evaluation study will be carried out by a team of investigators from the Center for Health Promotion Research and Development of the University of Texas at Houston Health Science Center's School of Public Health.
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[Farmington, Utah]