Acton agua-dulce unified school district (aadusd), including the public charter schools under its authority, submits this application for BJA's stop school violence prevention program grant, a…

The Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District was awarded a $1 million Project Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance under the STOP School Violence Program (CFDA 16.839). The grant will fund activities from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025 to improve school security and prevent violence across the District's 14 schools serving nearly 12,000 students.

Specifically, funding will support implementing school safety technology, developing multi-disciplinary behavioral threat assessment teams to evaluate at-risk students and refer them to support services, training school personnel and students on violence prevention, specialized law enforcement training, and hiring staff to directly support violence prevention efforts. All programs and activities are evidence-based and designed to meet the needs of District staff, students, and the surrounding community. The overall goal is to enhance security and ensure a positive school climate by enabling early recognition and response to potential threats of violence.

Acton agua-dulce unified school district (aadusd), including the public charter schools under its authority, submits this application for BJA's stop school violence prevention program grant, a high-quality program designed to improve k-12 school security and school climate. Aadusd, a rural school district in LOS angeles, california, will serve as the lead agency for our stop grant application. Established in 1881, aadusd has the distinction of being one of the oldest districts in the state of california - serving the rural towns of acton and agua-dulce as well as surrounding unincorporated areas - over a 200 square mile radius, within LOS angeles county. Our stop grant includes the fourteen schools that operate under the district's authority including: four k-12, six high schools, two middle schools, one elementary school and one k-8 school. In total, we serve a combined diverse student population of 11,912 students with 55% hispanic, 25% white, 11% african-american, 4% asian, and 5% two or more races. At 66%, the percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals (poverty indicator) in our schools is significantly higher than the state average of 48%. Our request is aligned with the five purpose areas: 1) implementing school safety technology; 2) developing and implementing multi-disciplinary behavioral threat assessment teams (BTA) which will conduct evaluations that track data pertaining to the use of BTA, the demographic characteristics of those who undergo assessments and the referral results of those assessments; 3) training school personnel and educating students on preventing school violence; 4) conducting specialized training for law enforcement who work in schools and with school-age population; and 5) hiring school personnel to directly support the prevention of school violence. Programs, training and activities to support our goals are evidence-based, comprehensive, and designed to meet the individual needs of our staff, students and community. Our application includes resumes for key personnel, a timeline, and a memorandum of understanding with community partners. Our overarching objective is to improve security at consortium school sites by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and help prevent acts of violence and ensure a positive school climate. The related goals, objectives and specific outcomes are included in the narrative section of our application. Aadusd has designed a management plan to achieve all the objectives of the proposed program on time and within budget, including clearly defined responsibilities of staff, community partners, and contracted service providers.