Commission Report on School Safety Includes Benefits of Grant Programs
As so often happens, one size doesn’t fit all. That seems to be the general message in the Federal Commission on School Safety's final report issued last week.
According to a recent blog post issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the “Final Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety” includes information about methods that states and local communities can implement to protect their students, teachers and staff members, in part through programs supported by federal grant funding.
“There is no universal school safety plan that will work for every school across the country,” according to the report. “Such a prescriptive approach by the federal government would be inappropriate, imprudent and ineffective.” To meet the specific needs of individual states and communities, the commission recommended that state and local governments use readily available resources and programs, and emphasized the need for federal offices to share “ideas that are already working for communities across the country.”
OJP noted that the report highlighted its toolkits on police-mental health collaboration and helping victims of mass violence; research on indicators of school crime and safety; and a guide on preventing school-based bullying with related research. The blog post also provided information on services from other federal agencies. For example, schools frequently deal with bullying and isolation, a problem experienced by some students who eventually became school shooters. The website www.StopBullying.gov, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a free online course on bullying prevention, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students offers information on grants as well as other guidance.
The report’s recommendations range from assisting schools in developing positive climates and feelings of connectedness to encouraging training for those who work with children to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness, the OJP blog post said. It also touted funds available through the STOP School Violence Act of 2018, which provides funding for evidence-based programs to states, units of local government and federally recognized Indian tribes. The act authorized nearly $47 million for grants from OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance last fall, as well as $25 million through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
President Trump established the Federal Commission on School Safety following the tragic Feb. 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. In the report, the commission provides a thorough blueprint for preventing, protecting from and mitigating violent incidents in U.S. schools.
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