What is the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program?

Background

The US Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act was included as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. George W. Bush, US president at the time, believed that school improvement could not happen without the establishment of safe, drug-free schools and local communities.

The Goals 2000 Educate America Act, which was passed in 1994, included a similar goal statement: “Every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.” This goal was not achieved by 2000, ensuring the enactment of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act in 2001. In 2011, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) and its programs were incorporated into the Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS), within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. The OSHS will continue the mission of the OSDFS in coordinating policy efforts aimed at drug and violence prevention.

Mission and Goals

The purpose of the Office of Safe and Healthy Students is to support programs that prevent violence near schools; that prevent the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; and that involve parents and communities in efforts to reduce and eliminate drug use. Another goal is to bring together federal, state, school, and community efforts and resources to foster a safe and drug-free learning environment to enhance student academic achievement.

To achieve these goals, the Office of Safe and Healthy Students performs the following functions:

• Provides funding through grants to support drug- and violence-prevention programs aimed at students in elementary schools, secondary schools, and colleges. Recipients of grants could be state and local educational agencies and public and private nonprofit groups.

• Participates in the development of federal-level education policy related to drug and violence prevention.

• Participates in committees, partnerships, and interagency groups related to drug and violence prevention; coordinates with other federal agencies on issues of school health, and advises the secretary of education on related issues.

• Participates with other federal agencies in developing a national research strategy for drug and violence prevention.

• Administers programs related to character and civics education.

Organization

The Office of Safe and Healthy Students has a number of initiatives. Each of them is administered by a program or subgroup.

The Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, and Physical Education group administers programs that promote the health and well-being of students and families. Basically, this group oversees the provision of discretionary grants to states to support program goals.

The Drug-Violence Prevention (DVP) program provides financial assistance for state and local drug- and violence-prevention activities in elementary and secondary schools and in institutions of higher education. A separate branch of the DVP handles federal programs of a larger scope.

The Character and Civic Education (CCE) subgroup provides financial assistance for character and citizenship education activities in elementary and secondary schools and in institutions of higher education. CCE also reports on issues and programs, disseminates information, and provides technical assistance to state agencies and state and local correctional institutions.

A final subset works across group boundaries to emphasize coordinated, collaborative responses to developing and maintaining safe and drug-free learning environments. This subset office supplies discretionary grants to states for such programs as Readiness and Emergency Management, Safe Schools/Healthy Schools, and School’s Emergency Response to Violence programs.

Bibliography

Barton, Elizabeth A. Leadership Strategies for Safe Schools. Thousand Oaks: Corwin, 2009. Print.

King, Keith A., Donald I. Wagner, and Bonnie Hedrick. “Safe and Drug-Free School Coordinators’ Perceived Needs to Improve Violence and Drug Prevention Programs.” Journal of School Health 71 (2001): 236–41. Print.

Knowles, Cynthia R. Prevention That Works! A Guide for Developing School-Based Drug and Violence Prevention Programs. Thousand Oaks: Corwin, 2001. Print.

United States. Dept. of Education. “Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities: State Grants.” U.S. Department of Education. US DOE, 6 May 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

Wilson, Richard, and Cheryl Kolander. Drug Abuse Prevention: A School and Community Partnership. 3rd ed. Boston: Jones, 2010. Print.