T4PA School Safety State Initiative

Updates for LEAs—March 2022

Legal Disclaimer: This information is intended solely to provide general information and guidance and reflects the Title IVA School Safety State Initiative current understanding of the topics and applicable state and federal guidance. The content is subject to change as a result of additional information and guidance provided by state and federal agencies with regulatory oversight. ESCs and LEAs may choose to seek legal counsel regarding the information and guidance.

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New Updates - SHAC: A Guide for School Districts

The Department of Health and Human Services released this guide to assist school districts in developing and sustaining their local School Health Advisory Council.

Page 5 addresses 87th Legislative Requirements
Document Link

Child Abuse - Human Trafficking

TEA/TIVA Human Trafficking Webinar Series

March 4, 2022, at 10:30am
Flyer with Dates
Zoom link

Light the Way - End Human Trafficking 2022 Summit

June 14-16, 2022
Dallas, TX
More information coming soon!

Texas School Mental Health

An incredible resource! The Texas School Mental Health website strives to provide districts and campuses with the resources and tools needed to develop a comprehensive school mental health system. schoolmentalhealthtx.org

Relationship Building/Mental Health / Behavioral Health

Dating Matters Toolkit

Take the CDC online Dating Matters training to prevent teen dating violence. Teachers, coaches, and other youth-serving professionals play an important role in preventing teen dating violence. This training will help educators understand risk factors and warning signs of violence. Participants will learn ways to promote healthy relationships.

Information and Trainings Link

Trauma-Informed, Resilience-Oriented Leadership and Crisis Navigation

In this training, you will learn how school leaders can use a trauma-informed, resilience-oriented approach to navigate crises that occur in schools. You will grow your understanding of what it means to be a school leader and gain strategies to monitor and adapt during crises while maintaining a trauma-informed, resilience-oriented lens.

Information and Registration Link

Child Mind Institute - Mental Health and Relaxation Skills

The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project, developed in partnership with the state of California, features a series of free videos and print resources for parents, educators and students, all available in English and Spanish. This project promotes children's mental health and teaches essential coping skills through five topics.

Depression in Teenagers

When kids are young, parents are used to swooping in and rescuing them whenever they need help. As your kids get older and their problems become more complex, you have to transition into more of a supporting role, and that can be difficult. This is especially true with teens who are struggling with depression. They need help to get better, but first they have to want that help.

Teens and Anger - How Parents can Model Healthy Coping Skills

Parents should try to see teenage anger as a normal part of being a person. The goal shouldn’t be to stop teens from feeling anger, but to help them find safer, less harmful ways of expressing it. Teenage problems can seem silly. But to your child, the feelings they cause are real and painful. When your child is ready to talk, let them know you take their feelings seriously. Do your best to ask questions and listen without trying to “solve” the problem.

Article Link

Building Healthy Relationships

Safe, stable, and secure relationship are an essential part of a healthy childhood. This social media toolkit can help your program to:

Promote healthy relationships between children and their parents or the adults that care for them.
Ensure parents/caregivers have the tools they need to have conversations with their children about healthy peer and dating relationships, concepts of bullying, bystander intervention.
Share resources to support healthy relationships between parents/caregivers.
To access the article and resources, click here!

Beyond Burnout: Exploring the Cost of Caring Lunch & Learn

Utilizing a light-hearted, engaging approach, this presentation explores the ways in which our work impacts us as helping professionals. Participants will be given tools to decrease the risk for compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burn-out.

Discussion will then focus on enhancing compassion satisfaction and resilience through individualized strategies. This presentation seeks to re-frame the way we think about "self-care” and will include a live Q&A with the Director of School and Community Engagement for The Trauma and Grief Center at The Hackett Center for Mental Health.

March 25; April 29; May 13, 2022
11:30am - 1:00pm
Registration Link

Suicide Prevention

Just Released - American Association of Suicidology - Autism Resources

Suicide is a leading cause of death in autistic people. Autistic people have significantly higher rates of suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviors, and deaths by suicide than the general public.

Research/Risk Factors/Toolkits

988 - America's Suicide Prevention + Mental Health Crisis Lifeline

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the lead federal agency, in partnership with the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Veterans Affairs, working to make the promise of 988 a reality for America. Moving to a 3-digit dialing code is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen and expand the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (the Lifeline).

Informational PDF Document

What to do After a Suicide - 2022 School Postvention Conference

March 25, 2022
8:30am - 12:30pm
$50 registration fee | CEU's are available!
For more information and to register, Click Here!

NEW! Trainings Available through the Texas Suicide Prevention Council

There are several new FREE virtual training opportunities being offered at https://storm.training.uthscsa.edu. All trainings are available to Texas residents free of charge and are intended for Texas geographic areas catastrophically impacted by Tropical Storm Imelda and the severe flooding of the Rio Grande Valley as part of the STORM project. Seats are limited and are granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Continuing Education will be provided for some license types. See website for details. For more information, contact Bryna Furner at furnerb@uthscsa.edu

In order to access and register for trainings, you must have an account already set-up.

Click Here to be taken to the account creation page.

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Stress Management for the Trauma Service Provider (Virtual)
Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) Train-the-Trainer (Virtual)

Individual Placement & Support (IPS) (Virtual)
Psychological First Aid (PFA) Train the Trainer (Virtual)

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Resilience Training: Psychological Survival Skills for Before, During & After Crises (Virtual)

Eating Disorder Awareness and Prevention

The following information is provided through the Child Mind Institute (https://childmind.org/).

What Are the Different Kinds of Eating Disorders?

When most people think of an eating disorder, what comes to mind is a painfully thin young woman who eats almost nothing. But there are actually three common eating disorders. Not everyone with an eating disorder appears underweight, and not all are women.

What Is an Eating Disorder and When to Worry

All teenagers worry about their appearance. Self-esteem can be precarious during adolescence, and body consciousness comes with the territory. But if you’ve noticed that your child is fixated on weight, you’re probably worried. So what is the difference between normal behavior and behavior that might indicate an eating disorder?

Family-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders

Family-based treatment (or FBT) gives parents the job of strictly supervising the patient’s eating, and evidence shows that it is the quickest way for an underweight child to return to a healthy weight.

What Is Atypical Anorexia Nervosa?

In this case of Atypical Anorexia Nervosa, the teenager is not noticeably thin. Usually overweight to begin, they have become obsessed with extreme dieting and exercise, and has lost a dramatic amount of weight. They have the same thoughts and behaviors as someone with typical anorexia and is putting similar stress on their body. But they do not "look unhealthy", which means that this disorder often goes unnoticed.

What is ARFID?

ARFID stands for “avoidant restrictive food intake disorder" and is a relatively new eating disorder that looks very different from other eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Kids with ARFID aren’t worried about how much they weigh, though they sometimes do lose too much weight. Instead, they have rigid and restricted eating habits for other reasons.

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Give Students a Voice in School Safety!

Invent2Prevent

Texas high schools are now invited to participate in Invent2Prevent, a free competitive program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Invent2Prevent helps to identify new whole-of-society approaches to preventing targeted violence and hate, and it is a prime example of how the U.S. government can harness the energy, enthusiasm, tech-savvy skills, and genuine voice of our nation’s youth to educate and motivate communities to engage in an honest and authentic dialogue about targeted violence and terrorism. This program also promotes and encourages high school students to consider ways they can pursue careers at the federal, state, local, and community levels, ensuring that motivated and talented minds bring their unique perspectives to the top sectors diligently working to prevent targeted violence and terrorism.

Invent2Prevent Informational Poster

Oliver Foundation Teen Advisory Board Grant

Teen Advisory Board grants ($500) are available for middle and high school students who are interested in forming a Teen Advisory Board on their campus. The purpose of a Teen Advisory Board is to create a healthy campus environment, promote healthy choices and mentor younger students. A school sponsor is required to oversee this group of students and submit the grant application. Applications for this cycle are due by April 15, 2022.

Teen Advisory Board Grant Website

Say What! Texas Tobacco-Free Action Summits are Back and In Person!

Say What! Summits are free, one day trainings designed for youth groups in 6th – 12th grade who are passionate about helping to create healthy, tobacco, nicotine, and vape-free lives and communities. Summits are led by the Say What! Teen Ambassadors and provide youth groups an opportunity to network and connect with other likeminded youth, develop teen leadership skills, and perfect their youth advocacy skills.

This summit season will focus on youth vaping prevention and feature expert guest speakers discussing the dangers of tobacco and vape litter on the environment, why tobacco is a social justice issue and how youth and adults can help create equality, the tobacco industry’s dirty strategies when targeting youth and various communities, and how youth groups can become advocates for youth tobacco prevention.

For dates, more information, and to register, CLICK HERE!

School Violence/Behavioral Threat Assessment

TxSSC School Safety Conference 2022

June 19 - 23, 2022
San Antonio, TX
Registration and Event Information

TxSSC Fidelity of School Behavioral Threat Assessment Implementation Tool

This tool was designed to both assist in the identification of current BTA practices - in relation to the guidelines set forth by the TxSSC - and to provide a self-assessment to aid in the improvement and maintenance of BTA practices.

PDF Link

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Substance Abuse

For prevention resources and support, reach out to Texas National Guard Joint Counterdrug Task Force. For more information, see graphic below.

Alcohol & Drug Awareness Program by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

The Watch UR BAC program is funded by a grant from TxDOT. All costs associated with the programs are covered by the grant, including WhenSeanSpeaks.

Programs available include K-12 student programs: underage drinking prevention, substance use prevention, vaping, driving under the influence of prescription drugs, DWI prevention simulator, motorcycle simulator, unique personal stories. TCOLE credit training is also available for law enforcement officers.

WUB Program Descriptions

WUB Flyer

Say What! Texas Tobacco-Free Conference 2022

The Say What! Conference offers a variety of opportunities for all youth groups working on tobacco-free policies, tobacco prevention related issues, and other projects that may be occurring in the school or community.

July 26-29, 2022
DoubleTree by Hilton Austin (Austin, TX)
Registration Form
Click Here for Information on Available Conference Scholarships

Interactive Programs for Preventing Marijuana Use in Middle School Students

Interactive programs for preventing marijuana use in middle school students consist of skill-building and interaction-based activities (as opposed to lecture-style curricula) integrated into middle school-based programming. This practice consists of skill-building and interaction-based activities integrated into school-based programs for grades 6–8 that are aimed at preventing marijuana use among adolescents ages 12–14. This practice is rated Effective for preventing marijuana use.

To read the report, visit the Crime Solutions webpage

Upcoming Deadlines & Due Dates

*Bullying Report (New - 87th Legislature)

PEIMS Summer Submission
Element ID: E1727 - Number of Bullying Incidents at each Campus
Element ID: E1728 - Number of Cyber Bullying at each Campus
TEC 48.009 (b-4)

District Audit Reports

At the end of the Safety Audit process, schools will be required to submit a District Audit Report to Texas School Safety Center.
August 2023 - Public schools expected deadline.
August 2022 - Charter schools expected deadline.

Charter District Audit Reporting Cycle

District audit cycle ends on August 31, 2022. The reporting period for this cycle begins April 15, 2022.
The online reporting system (CARtool) used to submit your audit data to the TxSSC will open on April 15, 2022 and must be completed by September 15, 2022.
TxSSC began reaching out to verify Superintendent contact information on January 17, 2022 to ensure all districts receive a link to the online reporting system.
For more information

Emergency Operation Plans and Annexes can be requested at any time by Texas School Safety Center.

HB 3597 now allows Texas School Safety Centers to request that schools submit safety-related MOUs and Mutual Aid Agreements.

Safety Audits

September 2020 - August 2023: Public schools should conduct a safety audit of facilities
September 2019 - August 2022: Charter schools should conduct a safety audit of facilities

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TEA & Title IV, Part A Federal Programs Updates/Resources

ACET Conference

Embassy Suites, San Marcos | April 27-29, 2022
Registration

Updated Title IV, Part A FAQ Document

PDF Link

New TEA Parent Resources Page

Features information on accelerated learning and related tutoring supports being provided to all students working to overcome the learning disruptions caused by COVID-19
Webpage Link

LaNetra Guess, Program Director, Title IV, Part A & TEA

Counseling, Advising, & Student Support Webpage