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Date: 4/13/2023
More than $570,000 in grant funding aimed at making school safer will go to 14 school departments and districts throughout the state as part of the Student, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Grant Program.
The funding was included in the supplemental budget signed by the Healey-Driscoll administration on March 30. The federal funding supports the development and operation of school threat assessments and crisis intervention teams.
Every school district, charter school and educational collaborative that applied received funding from the program, which is funded through the federal Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and administered by the state’s Office of Grants and Research.
“Massachusetts remains deeply committed to working with our partners across state and local agencies to ensure our schools offer a safe and healthy learning environment for our children and educators. These grants will provide the resources that school officials need to enhance safety and mitigate potential threats,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a press release.
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent John Provost said, “We welcome the financial support for this important work.”
HWRSD is facing a shortfall in the budget this year, but Provost explained that the $60,000 grant it received will not be used to fill the gap. “The grant may not be used for operating or capital costs, so it will not impact the fiscal year 2024 budget. The grant funds are specifically earmarked for threat assessment activities. This will enable us to upgrade our threat assessment capabilities as part of our school safety process.”
Provost explained how a school-based threat assessment is used. “From time to time, there are behaviors that are of concern to school personnel,” he said. When this happens, an assessment is performed “to determine whether that person poses a threat to themselves or others.” Every situation is different and Provost said that sometimes the assessments are performed by a district staff member the person knows well. Other times they are done in concert with mental health professionals outside the district or law enforcement. The grant funding will be used to provide district staff with up-to-date training on these assessments. The assessments are “not regularly engaged in, but it is important that we have staff who know how to do this,” Provost added.
In addition to HWRSD, the following school departments and districts received STOP School Violence grants: Gill Montague Regional School District, Haverhill Public Schools, Hull Public Schools, King Philip School District, Newburyport Public Schools, Quabbin Regional School District, Salem Public Schools and Woburn Public Schools. Salem Academy Charter School, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School and Peabody Veterans Memorial High School also received grants through the program, as did the Central Massachusetts Collaborative and the Collaborative for Regional Educational Services and Training.