High School Attendance
Columbia/Boone County Community Partnership
Core Result: Children Succeeding in School
Benchmark: School Attendance
Objective
To decrease the number of classroom behavioral disruptions at Eugene Field Elementary School by 50% from SY 1999-00 to SY 2003-04.
Strategies
Eugene Field and other “at-risk” elementary schools were targeted to promote mental health improvement for children, staff, and family/community members.
Increased access to mental health services for students, their families, school staff and community members on site at schools, in homes and in the community. Partnering with families, community members, Columbia Public Schools, Division of Family Services and local mental health providers, group and/or individual sessions were arranged for: children who evidenced need in social skills, stress reduction, anger management and post traumatic stress disorder (150); staff who requested assistance with skills to manage themselves in relation to the children with whom they work (100); families confronting the effects of situations and events impacting their lives, ranging from grief and loss to long term issues resulting in post traumatic stress disorder (100). Segments of this were implemented fall of FY 1999-2000.
Community Awareness
Love and Logic/Conscious Discipline. Partnering with Central Missouri Counties’ Human Development Corporation, Head Start, Division of Family Services, Columbia Public Schools, Voluntary Action Center, Mental Health Professionals, Columbia Public Schools, Russell Elementary School, Eugene Field Elementary School and the Caring Communities Site Council, Educare, Parents As Teachers, Child Care Connections, Child Care Consortium, and the Boone County Parent Education Consortium brought nationally known parent/teacher author/educator, Dr. Becky Bailey, University of Florida, to Columbia for a two (2) day series of events targeting parents/teachers/child care providers and health and social services providers. 650 persons attended these events.
Love and Logic/Conscious Discipline
As a result of the Community Awareness, Schools and Child Care Centers have adopted the methodology of choices and coping mechanisms for their staff and students, have attended the classes (ranging from 2 days seminars to 24 hours 6 weeks courses.) Staff are now being trained as trainers. Some are at the advanced level. Family/Community Members are requesting on-going trainings on a quarterly basis in the Columbia/Boone County Area. (Implemented summer FY 2000)
Results
Our objective has been met! The goal now is to see the projects self-sufficient by FY 2003-2004.
This graph also represents the on-going goal for the community-wide issue, and it’s success.
Funding/Return on Investment
Caring Communities: $70,363.00
State: $20,000.00
Local Investment: $40,000.00
Noteworthy
From the original five-year plan, based on a 50% decrease in numbers of office referrals in school due to disruptive behaviors, the goal has been met. For FY 2000-2001 over 1000 children/staff/community members participated in one or more aspects of this project. And many more will participate in the coming years.
Barriers / Road Blocks
While we can effect systems change at a local level to some degree, the reality is that we are working with the working poor who receive little or no insurance for mental health. Mental health providers, even for families who have DFS benefits, must wait sometimes months for payment, and then only receive approximately 30% of the total cost of services. In the meantime, families and children suffer the consequences of old paradigms and stereotyping. Self-sufficiency regarding the costs of competent mental health provision is not likely to occur without State/federal systems changes.
