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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Laramie, Wyoming
| Partners: | Albany County School District #1 Laramie Police Department Southeast Wyoming Mental Health Center | |
Laramie, Wyoming a rural town of approximately 25,000, is the third largest city in the state and the seat of Albany County. It will be remembered as the site of the brutal murder of a homosexual college student, Matthew Shepard. Albany County Public Schools serve 3,888 students, of whom 94% are Caucasian, and 6% Hispanic. Fifteen percent of the population of Albany County lives below the poverty level. Though the community is proud of its western ambience, it is challenged by a high rate of suicide, substance abuse, school disciplinary problems, crime and domestic violence, and lack of youth opportunities.
The Albany County School District One works with the Interagency Roundtable on Youth Issues which was formed in 1997 to bring together educators, law enforcement, the Department of Family Services, mental health workers, and others to address youth issues. These partners will continue to work together to increase the social skills and level of prosocial development of Laramie's youth, identify at-risk children and plug them into effective services, and intervene with children who are engaging in negative behaviors.
Albany County's early childhood services are anchored by Best Beginnings, a visiting nurse program that follows high-risk families from pregnancy through the infant's first three months of life. The SS/HS program will employ a number of school- and community-based substance abuse and violence prevention strategies for students in grades K through 12 including the Big Brothers/Big Sisters mentoring program; an initiative providing educational and awareness programs at the elementary, junior high, and high school level; an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment program for adolescents; a dropout prevention program; and the peer-led Reconnecting Youth school-based intervention. The Boys Town Social Skills Model has been in place in Laramie elementary schools since 1993 and after-school programs for working families are available. A partnership is being established between the secondary schools and the University of Wyoming's Department of Social Work to bring mental health services directly to the students. A summer program offering life and social skills for high-risk youth and a youth crisis center are also available. A comprehensive school safety policy is in effect; behavioral expectations are communicated to all students and parents. The district continues to refine and reform standards and benchmarks for all students, offering in-school tutoring, reducing class size, and bringing state-of-the-art technology to each classroom. School building and bus security will continue to be addressed through onsite school resource officers, alternative high schools, security cameras, and telephone/intercom systems for each classroom.
The Laramie SS/HS program will be evaluated through a grant with the University of Wyoming.
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