The mesquite independent school district project will provide a comprehensive support system for students facing various forms of adversity, including exposure to school, family, and community…

The Mesquite Independent School District was awarded a $923,672 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's STOP (Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing) School Violence Program. The grant will fund a comprehensive support system for students facing various forms of adversity, including exposure to school, family, and community violence. Key activities include implementing the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavioral Risk Screener to identify high-need students, providing Student Care Specialists to support vulnerable students and their families, and delivering trauma-informed professional development to all staff. The grant aims to enhance access to evidence-based interventions and community resources, reduce school violence incidents, and regularly assess program effectiveness. Subrecipient activities include career exploration, future planning, and parent education courses on topics such as fentanyl prevention and gun safety. The grant performance period is from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2027.

The mesquite independent school district project will provide a comprehensive support system for students facing various forms of adversity, including exposure to school, family, and community violence, and enhancing access to evidence-based interventions and community resources for at-risk students. Project activities include implementing the social, academic, and emotional behavioral risk screener to help identify students with high need; providing knowledgeable key employees to support vulnerable students and their families (student care specialists); providing targeted and intentional professional learning to all staff in the feeder pattern (trauma-informed care, DE-escalation techniques, restorative circles, etc.); and ensure students have access to community resources that help advocate for student success. Expected outcomes include the intentional creation of a deeper level of support for students demonstrating need, provision of evidence-based services, reduction in school violence incidents in the focused area, and regular program assessments. Students exposed to school, family, and/or community violence, students recommended through the behavioral threat assessment process, and students with evidence of need of a higher level of support through a multi-tiered system of support will benefit from the intentional interventions provided by the student care specialists. Subrecipient activities include career exploration and future planning with a focus on what success in school will look like for each student as well as parent education courses focused on specific needs held each month (fentanyl prevention, positive relationships with law enforcement, gun safety, etc.). Data will be collected through panorama that measures a students sense of belonging, sense of safety at school, and a feeling of connection to the adults at school. Regular data monitoring of discipline data by campus and feeder compared to the district and data on the caseload and individual visits of the student care specialists will ensure areas targeted by grant are routinely reviewed for program effectiveness.