HSE

Knocking It Out of the Park: 2019 HSE Foundation Fall Grants

Bradley Jones

One of the many things the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation does for the HSE School district is provide grants to teacher and staff. This year has continued this service by funding 31 projects across 18 schools and the district. Specifically, the foundation funded 10 elementary school projects, 12 in the intermediate and junior high schools, 6 in the high schools, 1 in the academy and 2 for the district.

The themes for these projects range from areas of mental improvements such as mindfulness to technological areas such as Virtual Reality and to other areas such as culture, STEM, robotics, wellness, podcasting, and so much more.

The foundation presented a list of the projects to the school board that includes the teacher, school, topic, and number of students impacted. Because I couldn’t find an easy link to this document, I’m including what was posted on the School Board BoardDoc’s agenda below. It’s an impressive list of projects and a good reason to provide support to the Foundation!

FALL 2019 GRANT RECIPIENTS

Marcia Abraham (FCE) Mindful Music

Student Impact: 600

“Mindful Music” is a program to combine music and tactile manipulatives to create mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tool that can be used every day to reduce negative emotions and stress, help focus and tune out distractions, Music has a powerful impact on our moods and emotions. Tactile manipulatives decrease stress, increase focus and concentration, and improve fine motor skills. The goal of combining both of these into “Mindful Music” is to create tools for students to regulate their emotions, manage their stress more effectively and decrease anxiety.

Laurie Boykin (FCI): Innovative Sphero STEM Units

Student Impact: 900

The Sphero STEM challenge project will empower students to develop scientific thinking through creative problem solving and authentic collaboration. Spheros can be used to inspire creativity because they can be used in seemingly endless ways, and students develop critical 21st century skills. The Sphero project is innovative because it starts with specific engineering design challenges and progresses to student-created challenges.

Lindsey Bradshaw (HIJH): Birds Galore!

Student Impact: 12

This real-life experience will give our FAP students the knowledge of what birds are around them, what they eat, and how they interact with their environments. The key objective for this project is to provide our FAP kids with a way to connect to the outdoors even when it’s cold out, to participate in Citizen Science Projects with people all over the world, and get to dissect something like their peers in the general education program. This will enhance their student experience because we see how much they like to build, take apart, observe, document, and apply their learning.

Heather Butz (SCI): Let’s Go eVRywhere!

Student Impact: 50

Students will use Oculus Quest virtual reality devices to explore and interact with places throughout the world and history. From the Acropolis and Parthenon in Ancient Greece, to the Colosseum in Ancient Rome to the construction of Notre Dame in Medieval Europe to touring Anne Frank’s house during the Holocaust…the destinations and connections are endless!

Janet Chandler (HSEHS): Civics Education/We The People

Student Impact: 61

Student experiential learning would be enhanced by this grant as it goes to defray cost of programming in civic education. We the People is a co-curricular program to encourage civil discourse and civic engagement.

Lauren Doran (SCI): Connect Classroom to World

Student Impact: 110

This project leverages video conferencing technology to build global partnerships to help students to build empathy, understand and appreciate cultural diversity, and understand global issues. Global connections with other classrooms allows students to connect with others through shared literacy experiences and project-based learning. Students can build relationships and find their place in the world by traveling virtually anywhere on the globe without ever leaving our classroom.

Maria Dorsel (HIJH): Learning-To Infinity and Beyond

Student Impact: 1200

The project is directly related to the science standards as they relate to Space Science and STEM. Revolve around the sun and explore the planets! Discover space history and important STEM concepts. Bring the universe to students with this brightly colored map that illustrates the inner and outer planets, a portion of the sun, orbital paths and a timeline.

Erin Duros (DES): DES HUB

Student Impact: 375

A library should be the hub of a school where there are opportunities and tools available to meet the needs of our diverse learners. The space goes beyond checking out books and instead should be a place for innovative change. These seven design studios within the library becomes a gathering space for collaboration, innovation, and authentic learning opportunities.

Jeff Fronius (FHS): Engineering Class Modernization

Student Impact: 400

This project incorporates four current technology robot brains and associated controllers and sensors for teams of students to learn through robotics. The learning will include programming for machine control, control feedback loops, and kinematics. This new equipment will help keep up with changes in technology and increased interest in engineering classes at Fishers High School, which are at the highest enrollment in the school’s history.

Johanna Gianforte (FHS): Making an Imprint on Society

Student Impact: 65

Printmaking is an innovative artform dating back to 105 A.D. with modern applications used in many forms including amongst graphic design companies. This new class will be a valuable resource to students hoping to pursue a career in visual arts. These new gelli plates will help with the instruction of monotype printmaking, one of the first more introductory types of printmaking.

Madeline Hennessy (FJH/HIJH): A Natural Approach to French

Student Impact: 93

The CI classroom methods deepen student learning and open more doors for our learners down the road by making the classroom a more fun and engaging place. Through student voice and student choice, these students will be prepared to enter the world as global citizens, developing abilities that will prepare them to make connections with people around the world.

Kristin Hicks and Finae Rent (CRE): CRE Sharing Bookshelves

Student Impact: 570

Through a Global Goals project, students collaborated to set up a Little Free Library outside of CRE as well as some local neighborhoods. These Little Free Libraries will house books that can be borrowed, traded, owned or replaced by any children that want or need a new book to read.

John Hochstetler (RSI): Drone On

Student Impact: 500

Students will learn coding with drones by creating a safe enclosed environment using the 9 Square in the Air Game Equipment. Netting will be added to the frame of the game and obstacles will be added to increase the challenge level.

Jennifer Jacks (SCE): Get Your Mind Ready

Student Impact: 678

The Mind Yeti program is designed to help children practice mindfulness. Mindfulness, a subset of social-emotional skills currently being taught through the Second Steps program, helps improve student attention, perspective taking and empathy, increase sharing and including others, and helps decrease aggression and signs of depression. Utilizing Mind Yeti for all students K-4 at SCE will lead students and staff through sessions which are designed to help children practice mindfulness.

Johanna Kitchell (RJH): Going the Distance with Healthy Hawks

Student Impact: 85

This project will add a way for students who don’t otherwise have a phone or smartwatch app to actually track their running distance and empower them to take more control of their training. Adding these pedometers also provides opportunities for student equity and access in training.

Sara Larkins, Brittany Sugg, Erin Mohr (FES): You Belong Here Buddy Bench

Student Impact: 7,913

This project will create, design, and build buddy benches for any HSE elementary school that currently doesn’t have one. A buddy bench is a place you go when you need a friend at recess. If a peer sees someone on the buddy bench, they might come and ask that student to play. This will encourage everyone to feel welcome and like they belong!

Amy McDuffee (SCE): Microscopes for iPads

Student Impact: 650

These mini microscopes that attach to iPads will help students observe flowers and leaves in the SCE garden with a detailed viewpoint and take pictures of these observations. Students can learn a lot from being able to see the intricate details of a natural object when viewed under magnification. The microscopes will do much to influence their view of the world they cannot see with the naked eye and combine science and art with mindful observation.

Amy Murch (Conner Prairie Teacher-in-Residence): Classroom Connections for Adventures on the Prairie

Student Impact: 1,700

This project will help extend the learning experiences of all fourth grade HSE students created while at Conner Prairie travel back to the classrooms. These kits will encourage students to ignite a curiosity and wonder prior to visiting Conner Prairie and the outdoor classroom. Students from all over the district will be able to connect, reflect, challenge and spark a natural connection with fellow 4th grade students.

Todd Niswander (CRE): Rigamajig Workshop

Student Impact: 600

Rigamajig Workshop is a large-scale wooden building kit for open-ended cooperative play and exploration. Rigamajig encourages curiosity and cognitive thinking through play utilizing wooden planks, nuts and bolts. Students will be creators, using their imagination, to build structures and simple machines from the Rigamajig materials. Through collaboration, students will practice and develop problem solving, communication, teamwork, and adaptability.

Kayla Pippenger (FCI): Traveling the World to Create Cultural Awareness

Student Impact: 167

Humanities class interweaves reading, writing workshops, social emotional learning, and social studies. Virtual reality headsets will allow interactive movement and allow for students to view places and things all over the world in 3D, enhancing cultural understanding, global awareness, and historical awareness in our classrooms. These headsets also allow teachers new ways to present works of literature and related topics.

Jennifer Regelski (HSEHS): Integrated Chemistry and Physics on Mars-a PBL Approach

Student Impact: 140

Students will work in collaborative teams in a project-based learning environment. The students will be tasked with setting up a colony on Mars and will need to use problem-solving and critical thinking skills to complete various tasks and challenges centered around the physics and chemistry standards that are traditionally taught in Integrated Chemistry and Physics.

Bob Rice (HSE Energy Manager): Renewable Energy Interactive Display

Student Impact: 22,000

Kids and adults can light up a model of the electric grid using hydropower, wind, and solar generation. This interactive mobile power lab will potentially put renewable power generation into the hands of all 22,000 students of Hamilton Southeastern.

Allie Rogowski, Heather Skaggs, Carolyn Porzuczek (BSE): Imagineering an Animatronic Robot

Student Impact: 75

Students will rally together to build their own robots from scratch. The students will design, build with recycled materials, and completely wire and code their own unique robot. Using this inquiry driven process, students will develop real world skills, as well as deepen their understanding of academic content.

Amanda Scott (HFA): The Academy Wellness Education Program

Student Impact: 135

Substance and vaping use is a growing problem among students. Through this class, students will learn more about common substances being used, healthy coping mechanisms, and ways to help both themselves and those around them.

Leah Ann Self (HSEHS): Create, Enhance, and Innovate with Cricut

Student Impact: 150

Cricut use is limitless and will help enhance student learning by creating projects and posters for the classroom as well as for group assignments within Fashion and Textiles courses. Students will be able to see their innovations on the computer become reality as they learn how to manufacture and enhance their designs.

Kelly Steiner (FES): Building Community Through Sensory Opportunities

Student Impact: 416

This project promotes authentic play, inquiry, collaborative and problem-solving opportunities aligned with HSE21 through a sand exploration table. With the power of a child’s imagination the sand table can be an archeological dig, a bakery, an art studio, and an experiment on friction at the same time.

Robyn Stout (SCI): Robotics for ALL Students!

Student Impact: 945

The STEM curriculum provided by Vex-IQ can be weaved into many of the curriculum areas but not limited to language arts, math, science, and computer science. Robots and arenas will support whole class activities as well as the robotics team.

Emily Stout (RSI): RSI Podcasting Cart

Student Impact: 1,000

Podcasting stations will be available for students to script, create and record their own podcasts based on current curricular needs and eventually moving on to student created podcasts based on interests.

Jessica Sullivan (FCI): Finding Coherence: Connecting Heart, Mind, and Emotions

Student Impact: 30

Using the Smart Brain Wise Heart™ program in conjunction with the advanced emWave® technology, students will be able to actually see how their body is responding in both moments of stress and calm. This curriculum will allow staff members to provide a targeted intervention to students who have high needs in areas such as emotional dysregulation, impulse control, or anxiety.

Sarah Tappendorf (SES): Environment as a Third Teacher: Let Me Explore the World Outside

Student Impact: 56

This field study and provocation kit will allow students to use the environment outside the classroom walls as a third teacher, giving them an authentic opportunity to engage and explore nature. Students with all types of learning styles will be able to share their findings via note-taking, sketching, researching, and presentations.

Benjamin Wyss (FHS): Wireless Stylus

Student Impact: 1,500

The student experience will be enhanced through the efficiency of the teacher going through the lesson with this stylus. Due to the increase in efficiency, teachers will have more time during class to help students that may need extra attention at the conclusion of the lesson.

HSEF 2019 Grants

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Should HSE Flip Start Times?

Bradley Jones

The following are slides presented to the HSE School board on January 15, 2020 regarding the idea of flipping start times of the various schools in the district.

The data was collected via comments on the HSE website between November 20th, 2019 and December 20th. There were 1840 total comments, which were read and compiled by the HSE Administration team.

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Here is a link to the 3-tier busing proposal as well. The link on BoardDocs uses spaces, so it doesn’t always work. This is a temporary link from my site (here). At some point I might remove it.

http://jones123.com/tmp/Proposed3Tier.pdf

Discipline By The State Numbers: HSE Schools

Bradley Jones

It’s always interesting to stumble upon new data related to our local schools. I was shown data on “school environments.” More specifically, I reviewed data summarizing disciplinary actions with schools and school districts. This data is available on the Indiana Department of Education (DOE) web site. On this site, you can find information on Indiana school districts and achievements, as well as on the data I mention here regarding school environments.

You can visit the site for the details. What drove me to this site was the promise of data on discipline. My understanding is that this is based on data reported to the state by the school districts. What also lead me to this site was a discussion on the disparity of discipline within schools in Indiana.

Of course, the starting point to look into this is knowing the diversity of HSE Schools. The DOE site presents the following data:



Clearly, HSE Schools are predominately White (72.6%) with most people being economically “stable” (84.3%).

Where then do disciplinary problems occur?

The following chart from the DOE site shows that there were 1,384 safety and disciplinary issues reported in 2017-18 for the HSE School district. This is the most recent data in the DOE system. This is broken out between suspensions and expulsions:


Not surprising, all of the HSE district numbers are lower than the state averages. The biggest area for HSE is for In School Suspensions. If you dig into the In School Suspensions data, you’ll quickly see that while Whites are in the majority of the student body, they are not the majority in the In School Suspensions. Rather, Black/African-American and Multiracial both have more disciplinary issues:


If you look at the Out of School Disciplinary numbers, then not only is it Black/African-American and Multiracial groups that have more disciplinary actions than Whites, but Hispanics also have more cases:

The specific details of these disciplinary actions are not a part of the data I found. While no conclusions can be drawn from this data along, it is easy to infer from the data that a substantially higher percentage of non-White students are likely to face disciplinary action than White students within the district.

The Out of School suspensions within IPS showed the ration of Black/African-American to White as 3 to 1, which is similar to HSE Schools. While this might seem to indicate a consistency, the ration of Black/African-Americans to Whites at IPS is 2 to 1 versus HSE’s 1 to 10. That disparity makes this a topic that should be looked into deeper.

A final note on numbers…

As mentioned, HSE had 1,384 issues reported. While this might seem like a lot, if you look at the entire state of Indiana, the number of issues reported was 223,611. Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) had nearly 13,000 reported issues (12,891). During the same period, Carmel Clay Schools had only 624 disciplinary incidents, which is less than half of HSE’s number. Having said that, Carmel also had 24 school-related arrests and 6 referrals to law enforcement, whereas HSE had none. It is interesting to note that IPS also had no arrests or referrals to law enforcement during the reporting period.

It is always interesting to look at data and see what stories it tells. To look closer at this data, you an check out the DOE site at:
https://inview.doe.in.gov/corporations/1030050000/profile

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School Safety: Arming Teachers

Bradley Jones

I’ve now written a couple of articles on securing our schools. Writing on this topic would be incomplete without also covering the topics of putting guns into the hands of teachers. The idea of arming teachers has been suggested by many people, including the President of the United States. Unlike the President, there are many people and organizations that are actually qualified to comment.

While I’m not one of the qualified sources, I am qualified to share what I’ve learned from a few of them. Simply put, many qualified sources have stated that putting guns into the hands of teachers is not the right decision when it come to the overall safety and well-being of the kids.

The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) released a press release on the topic of arming teachers. In their release, they clearly stated that they are against the idea arming teachers with guns. This organization is focused on getting specially trained police officers into schools, so arming teachers would reduce the need for their services. This is why it is more important to look at the reasons that indicate why arming teachers doesn’t make sense.

Where’s the Gun?

If as school decides to arm their teachers, then that raises the question of where will guns be kept? For the gun to be useful, it must be readily accessible. Most important, however, is that any guns must also be absolutely secure. Keeping a gun secure while maintaining its accessibility in a classroom setting would be a monumental challenge, especially in the lower grade levels where teachers tend to be more actively engaged with the kids and where the kids are active within the room.

Police and school resource officers keep their guns with them. An elementary school teacher that interacts with the kids with close contact would have a hard time maintaining the security of a gun strapped to their body.

There are also questions about the visibility of a gun strapped to a teacher. Assuming a gun could be safely and securely carried by a teacher, then there is a concern about whether this would cause additional anxiety for the kids in the classroom.

Level of Training

It is uncommon to see civilians or others carrying guns. When it comes to police officers, a gun is a part of their uniform. It is a common occurrence to see a gun on an officer. More importantly, police officers are given training that on not only using a weapon, but also on how to overcome anyone trying to take their weapons.

In fact, police officers receive extensive and regular training. The area of security is a core focus of what police officers do and not an “add-on” like it would be for teachers. Officers that are placed in schools, School Resource Officers (SROs), are not only trained as police officers, but they also receive additionally training that includes coverage of the following:

  • Emergency Operations Plans
  • CPTED/Vulnerability Assessments
  • Threat Response
  • ALICE Lock-down Response
  • Trauma Informed Practices
  • Human Trafficking
  • School Law
  • Understanding Special Needs Students
  • Adolescent Mental Health
  • Violence and Victimization in Youth (ACES)
  • Policing the Teenage Brain
  • Drug Trends/Prevention

Training with guns is a regular part of officers’ core job. It is not something tacked onto that they do, but rather it is a core part of their profession.

Teachers are trained on kids and teaching. Training for teachers centers on interacting and educating kids. While some of this overlaps with some of the items listed above for SROs, teacher training generally doesn’t include working with the same level of threat responses and emergency operations that police officers receive.

Mental Preparedness

Teachers work within a classroom with kids. That’s a special skill that teachers are expected to do. Being mentally prepared to wrangle 20 to 30 kids and keep them focus is a skill that takes is backed by years of training. Teachers are trained to be mentally prepared to work within the classroom setting and to engage kids in learning.

Police officers training is related to the topics mentioned earlier, as well as training on marksmanship and the use of firearms. This police training along with regular practice is intended to help with their physiological response in high stress situations. Because teachers would not have this same level of regular training, the chances for making a mistake is much higher, especially in a high-stress situation.

School shooter situations tend to happen in areas with a lot of people. Shooting a gun in a crowded area such as a classroom or hallway can be very risky because there is a chance of hurting an innocent bystander. Again, part of the training for police officers is on knowing when the risks are too high to even use a gun.

Mistaken Identity

While School Resource Officers dress as police officers, teachers don’t. If a police officer were to respond to an issue at a school, it would be very easy for them to mistake a teacher for an armed assailant. The result is that such a case of mistaken identity could cause intense situations or worse the mistaken identity could result in a teacher being shot by an officer.

Sending Police into Schools

NASRO president Don Bridges has commented that “We can’t send officers into schools without being trained.”  In my article, “Safety and the Students at Hamilton Southeastern Schools: Part 1”, I provide more details on what School Resource Officers are. SROs are specially selected police officers selected to work within schools. Before starting at a school, they are given additional training specific to schools and school issues.

In Summary

NASRO recommends that only trained officers carry arms on school property. Rather than trying to turn teachers into officers, the better recommendation is for more School Resource Officers to be put into schools. Let people do the jobs they are trained and qualified to do. Let teachers teach, and let School Resource Officers help keep the schools safe!

Belief that teachers can be trained to be effective with a gun without adding added new and possibly deadly risks to a school is belittling to the training that School Resource Officers receive. As one police officer in Fishers stated that situations involving guns are hard for police officers to handle even with the regular training and practice they receive. Putting the expectation on someone with less training and mental preparedness would increase the risk of something more going horribly wrong in what is already a bad situation.

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    Safety and the Students at Hamilton Southeastern Schools: Part 1

    Bradley Jones

    Back in March the Hamilton Southeastern School leadership reached out to individuals at each of the twenty-one schools to have a meeting to discuss security within the schools. The “school safety” meeting was focused on having a community conversation around how safe our kids are within the HSE schools.

    The meeting was kicked off by Superintendent Dr. Bourff and lead by Dr. Beresford, the Assistant Superintendent of Staff and Student Services. They expected to have a forty- to fifty-minute presentation followed by two-way discussion. It was no surprise that the actual presentation of information by the district was closer to 90 minutes before the conversation started. In this post, I present many of my notes from this meeting. As you’ll see below, a lot was covered.

    Recently the district had a second meeting that covered many of the same topics that was open to the public. That meeting was attended by hundreds of members of the community, numerous members of the police forces from around Hamilton County, and the mayor. The comments made at this more recent meeting were similar to the comments made in March.

    Safety Procedures at Hamilton Southeastern Schools

    Dr. Bourff kicked off the March meeting by indicating that there are many safety procedures in place within the HSE schools that they couldn’t share in order to protect the procedures. It was stated that there are a number of safety procedures in place and that many of the safety procedures would continue to evolve and improve.

    The point person within HSE for security related activities is Dr. Beresford. (Update: Dr. Beresford is leaving HSE Schools to work for the Carmel-Clay district. As such, it is expected that a new person will be taking the role of security related activities for HSE.)

    Dr. Bourff indicated that there are many layers to the safety procedures within the school system that all work together. In addition to these layers, there are many individuals within the school system that contribute to core initiatives around the safety and security of the kids.

    Dr. Beresford stated, “We’re responsible for keeping your kids safe.” He went on to say that school shootings shake everyone up. Shootings not only impacts the kids and parents, but it also shakes up the teachers and administration. It is for this reason that they have a lot of people engaged in continually improving the strategy and in working with the schools and community. Many of the people leading safety initiatives attended the March meeting to present on School Safety.

    Three Layers of Prevention

    Dr. Beresford indicated that there are three areas of focus when discussing school safety: Prevention, Response, Recovery.

    One of the most important keys to prevention of issues within the schools is to maintain positive relationships and communication. By having positive relationships, it is more likely communication will happen. There are three layers of communication that are pinnacle for reducing the chance of safety issues happening within the school.

    The number one source of information around potential issues is students.

    The importance of keeping channels of communication open with the students and others was emphasized as being critical. The school works hard to make sure that students are comfortable in sharing what they hear or see that might seem out of line or a bit “off”.

    The second layer that provides information in the prevention of issues is communications from parents and staff. Like with students, parents and staff are more likely to see or hear something that could indicate an issue.

    The third layer in the prevention is the communication that happens via other sources. This would include comments and tips that come from social media or other sources. Social media sources such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat often are used as sources to provide evidence of potential issues.

    Text-a-Tip

    One of the existing preventative programs currently in place is Text-Tip, which is a program that allows students, parents, or others to send text or email messages anonymously. It was indicated that these tips go through a third party that is outside of Indiana. This helps maintain the privacy of the person making the tip. Even by going through a third party, it was indicated that the system can be extremely fast and can be two-way. The administration has the ability to reach back to the third party, which can then respond back to the tipster if more information is needed.

    Text-a-Tip is one of the top two or three channels for the administration to get information. It was indicated that the system is helpful beyond even security information. Text-a-Tip can be added to your mobile phone contacts under the number 274637.

    Mental Health Initiatives

    When it comes to school safety, mental health is a topic that is brought up as well. It was stated that “mental health is always a piece of the profile of kids that do violence.”

    Within the Hamilton Southeastern schools, several mental health initiatives have been pushed to the forefront this past year. This includes each of our schools having a therapist that is available to the students. This was a direct result of the referendum dollars and a program that was set up with Community Health.

    Along with the addition of therapists, there has been training within the schools. All staff have received suicide prevention training as well as CIT-Y, Critical Incident training. All of this is overseen by a director of mental health and school counseling, Brooke Lawson, who works within the Central Office.

    Police in the Schools: School Resource Officers (SROs)

    One of the key areas of helping secure our schools is the inclusion of School Resource Officers (SROs). There are currently seven SROs within the HSE school system. At the recent public meeting, it was stated that the district is looking to add additional SROs in the future. Lt. Mike Johnson talked at the meeting about the role of the SROs within the schools.

    SROs are trained police offers that have the roles of teaching, counseling, and providing enforcement. While these are police officers, the role of law enforcement is really a minor part of what they do. They are also not disciplinarians. That is a role that the school takes on.

    Lt. Mike Johnson defined SROs as:

    “A School Resource Officer (SRO) is a career, sworn, law enforcement officer employed by the police department or other law enforcement agency in a community-oriented policing assignment to work in collaboration with one or more schools.”

    The SROs are focused on building relationships within the schools with the students. Because it is a unique role, not ever police officer is qualified to become an SRO. Police officers are carefully selected for the position and then specially trained. It is because of this special training and careful selection that new SROs are not immediately available. Rather, officers selected today would be trained to be ready later in the year for the positions.

    SROs go through special training, which includes 40 hours of course work beyond what they learn as a regular police officer. This training includes a variety of areas including:

    • Emergency Operations Plans
    • CPTED/Vulnerability Assessments
    • Threat Response
    • ALICE Lockdown Response
    • Trauma Informed Practices
    • Human Trafficking
    • School Law
    • Understanding Special Needs Students
    • Adolescent Mental Health
    • Violence and Victimization in Youth (ACES)
    • Policing the Teenage Brain
    • Drug Trends/Prevention
    • And more…

    One of the tasks that SROs do above and beyond working within the schools is to create a list of issues they find in the schools. This can range from things as simple as broken sidewalks where someone could get hurt to concerns with student access that could cause safety issues.

    Overall, the SROs are involved in many programs within the schools. Some of the programs that have evolved within the district include:

    • Safe School Teams / Safe School Specialists
    • DARE Program
    • Cops and Kids
    • CPTED
    • Explorers / Teen Academy
    • Text-a-Tip
    • Youth Mentoring
    • Books and Badges
    • Coaching
    • Mock Accidents
    • Bully Prevention
    • Pre-School Safety
    • Youth Assistance

    In addition to the communication that happens with the SROs within the schools, there is also regular communication between the local police and the school leadership. Issues such as domestic violence can have an impact on a child and thus it is important for councilors and certain others within a school system to be aware of such issues.

    Continue to Safety and the Students at Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Part 2.