Safe Schools/Healthy Students

U.S. Department of Education
Community Update
February/March 2001

Out Of Harm's Way

Keeping the Whole Child Safe in Wake County, N.C.

The Wake County Public School System in North Carolina believes that creating a safe school requires more than instituting metal detectors and stockade fences. In fact, it employs neither of these two measures.

To have healthy students, thus safer schools, Wake County aims to ensure students' physical, mental and emotional well being. The school district has put into place clinic-like centers in elementary schools that offer young children everything from immunizations to early language development programs.

In addition, Wake County schools adopted a number of national programs that teach students about empathy and anger management, making friends and preventing violence.

"We're looking at the whole child, that's why we started out with character education," says Ron Anderson, grant director of Wake County's Safe Schools/Healthy Students project. "Character ed basically means asking 'what kind of whole person do we want?' We don't just want a child who makes good grades. We want a child who is a good citizen."

Two years ago Wake County received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education through its Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative to combine existing and new services into a comprehensive, community-wide approach. "The grant helped us move in dramatically new and bold directions in those areas," Anderson said.

Pulling Community Resources Together

The challenge was bringing together such a diverse community. Wake County encompasses rural, suburban and urban areas, with one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the state. The county is so large--with over 600,00 residents--that the school system is divided into five regions. Last year, in response to the population growth, seven new schools were opened.

Nonetheless, Anderson said, the school system was able to find a consensus for its school safety initiative because "we looked at this from the perspective of 'what do we want to build?' rather than 'what do we want to fix?'For the grant, the Wake County Public School System joined with the local human services agency, the Sheriff's Department, and the City of Raleigh Police Department, along with a host of partners that include student groups, parent groups, the media, universities, non-profit groups, and state and national organizations.

The humans services agency, which serves mental health needs, is a major stakeholder in the Safe Schools project. The agency trains mentors to work with children with serious emotional and behavioral problems. Mental health is a critical element of the safety initiative because children suffering from depression, thoughts of suicide and other emotional issues can be prone to acts of violence.

Anderson points out that partnerships with the community also strengthen federal dollars, funneling local and state funds into the Safe Schools project. "Typically what communities have is not collaboration, but cooperation. Cooperation essentially means 'I'm going to help you get this job done.' Collaboration means 'we're going to pull our resources together towards a common goal," he said.

Starting Early for Safety

At the center of the Safe School investments are preschools. In its assessment of the community, Wake County found that early academic and behavior problems are the number one risk factor for securing safe schools. Anderson who joined the school system in 1984 as a director of guidance and social work, said the correlation between academic success and less juvenile crime makes for safer schools.

The "Ready to Learn" centers, created over 10 years ago, provide young children with a variety of health and early development services on school premises. The "Parents as Teachers" program, in which trained staff make home visits, helps parents of newborns learn appropriate developmental skills.

Another family-oriented program, "Families and Schools Together (FAST)," works intensively with families for eight weekly sessions to involve them more in heir children's education. School officials say attendance is high.

At the elementary level, the Safe Schools project includes three curriculum efforts to help children get along with each other--the national programs "Get Real About Violence" and "Second Step," and the sresearch-based "3-C" project, which stands for "Communication, Cooperation and Confidence." The curricula is also taught in middle and high schools, where each school has a student club called "SAVE"--Students Against Violence Everywhere.

Physical security is also critical in Wake County schools, which uses cameras, keypad locks, badges and resource officers. Additionally, the crisis hotline "Save-A-Friend" connects student callers directly to a mental health practitioner.

Student to Student

Anderson says he feels strongest about the Youth Advisory Board, a cross-section of 30 student leaders. The students are heavily involved in outreach, which includes visiting elementary children to speak about nonviolence, and sponsoring the annual Teen Summit, which engaged 350 students from all over the county last September.

Youth Advisory Board member Alix Feldman, a sophomore at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, says her idea of a safe school is "one where you don't have to worry about finding alternate routes in the hallway because there's a fight going on." She added that it is also one where the administration is visible and highly interactive with students.

Wake County also found that youth programs were strong predictors of academic success, which is why the county is developing more activities for young people.

"When kids are in activities, they're meeting with adults who help build those assets and protective factors," said Anderson, referring to the 40 key assets-such as positive family communication, positive peer influence, and a caring school climate--identified in a survey by the Search Institute of more than 13,000 Wake County students.

He said the study "helped us look at what kind of things we want to build for all kids, instead of 'those' kids. We're talking about success for all children. If you target children and only talk about the 'problem' ones, you end up getting a self-fulfilling prophecy.'

Wake County received a three-year, $9 million grant to spread over 122 schools. For more information about the county's Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative, contact Ron Anderson at 919-850-1660 or by e-mail at rfanderson@wcpss.net.