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Area schools benefit from $500,000 in school safety grants

Two grants will improve safety and enhance violence prevention efforts in schools served by Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaragus BOCES.

School district leaders from 27 school districts supported a shared service to secure funds that benefit students at schools throughout the region.

Secured by the E2CCB regional grants cooperative service, the awards will assist in the development and implementation of training and programming directly geared toward school safety.

“As educators we are here to support students so they can learn and grow into young men and women who will not only support our workforce but become positive role models and productive members of society,” said John O’Connor, Ed.D. E2CCB assistant superintendent for Management Services. “To ensure students can become all we expect and hope of them we must work to provide safe and positive learning environments.”

“These awards will help provide safe and supportive schools,” O’Connor said. “Our districts supported this grant service to apply for large scale funding opportunities that would benefit students and we are pleased to have secured funds to do this work. This kind of educational leadership will move the region forward and benefit our schools, our students and ultimately our entire school community.”

Twenty-seven school districts spanning Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Southern Erie counties will benefit from a series of regional workshop trainings and curriculum development to assist educators and students in a multitude of school safety-related areas.

The Districts that will receive benefits from these grant awards are: Bemus Point, Brocton, Cassadaga Valley, Chautauqua Lake, Clymer, Dunkirk, East Aurora, Eden, Falconer, Forestville, Fredonia, Frewsburg, Gowanda, Holland, Iroquois, Jamestown, Lake Shore, North Collins, Orchard Park, Panama, Pine Valley, Ripley, Sherman, Silver Creek, Southwestern, Springville-Griffith Institute and Westfield Academy.

The School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training program grant, one of 85 awarded nationwide by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), will allow E2CCB to assist school districts by training staff and students to identify warning signs of student violence and mental illness in themselves and others. Districts will identify their own needs as they work toward developing and implementing their training, which will come in the form of — but not limited to — staff instruction focused on individual and targeted social skills, crisis counseling, mental health screening and positive behavioral interventions.

To assist in a smooth transition of instruction, members of the E2CCB Comprehensive School Health Team will attend a Leadership Institute to help create, implement and refine a customized plan that will best-assist each school district.

The Safety Assessment and Intervention Program grant, one of 68 awarded nationwide by the BJA, will help implement a new threat assessment system and develop a team to triage and intervene in potential threats of each school. To achieve this, E2CCB will partner with Sandy Hook Promise over the course of three years to train school threat assessment teams for all 91 K-12 schools throughout E2CCB and its 27 component school districts.

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