NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Talk of the Sound recently obtained several reports and other documents related to School Safety and Security in the New Rochelle school system from the period 2009 to 2012. Some are low quality photocopies. We will present several of them over the coming weeks.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011 there were comprehensive reports on 5 Elements: (1) Safe School Environments and Violence Prevention Activities; (2) Alcohol and Drug Prevention Activities; (3) Student Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Supports; (4) Mental Health Services; (5) Early Childhood Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
To the best of our knowledge these annual reports were never shared with the public. We are publishing 5 articles based on the 5 Elements contained in the the 2012 report that covers 2009, 2010 and 2011.
This is the fifth of the five:
2012 Safe Schools/Healthy Schools Report on Early Childhood Social and Emotional Learning Programs in New Rochelle Schools
Goal 5: To enhance the healthy social and emotional development and learning of young children in New Rochelle.
Objective 1: Verbal interaction between parent and child will improve from pretest to posttest in 90% of families participating in the Parent Child Home Program.
The Parent Child Home Program (PCHP) is a research-based home visiting model serving families with children between 18 months to 3.5 year aids who have not had access to educational opportunities. The PCHP runs from September through June each year. During the 2010-2011 school year, there were 36 children enrolled in the program, with the majority (94%) hispanic and the rest (6%) African-American. Regarding Objective 1, during the 2010-2011 school year, all (100%) of families improved from pretest to posttest on the Family Participation assessment (FPAF) with an overall average gain of28%. The parents’ score increased by an average of34% and the children’s score increased by an average of 14%. A total of 1,577 home visits were conducted out of 1,80 I scheduled (88% attendance rate). Of all the home visits
scheduled, 8% were cancelled by the parent and 4% were canceled by the Home Visitor.
The PCHP continues to be a bridge to other community agencies in New Rochelle, including HOPE Community Services, New Rochelle Public Library, The Adult Learning Center, Sound Shore Medical Center, the Boys & Girls Club, The Guidance Center, and WIC. These community linkages are invaluable and informational flyers are distributed to families from these agencies, with referrals being made when necessary. Networking with the New Rochelle School District, particularly with the Barnard pre-k program and Columbus School, the neighborhood school serving the majority of PCHP families, has continued to be valuable. The social workers at Barnard and Columbus Schools continue to make referrals to the PCHP and distribute PCRP flyers. In turn the PCHP staff distributes information about pre-k registration and Magnet school enrollment to families.
During the summer of 2011, PCHP activities included the completion of the end of year home interviews, the administration of the FPAF, the recruitment ofHome Visitors and PCHP families, the performance appraisals of the Home Visitors, and the Parent Child Center 5-week Summer Extension Program held on Thursday mornings at the New Rochelle Library. There were 39 different families with 66 children who attended this program. The Parent Child Center (PCC), a free drop-in playgroup housed at St. Gabriel’s School for low-income parents and their pre-school aged children. The PCC is an early childhood and parent education program designed to develop learning readiness in pre-school aged children and build the self-esteem and parenting skills of parents. The PCC is open on Thursday mornings from 9:15 am to 12:00 pm. During the 2010-2011 school year, 219 different families with 265 children attended. The average weekly attendance was 91 people (41 families/50 children).
Additional Information
During this reporting period, both CMT and Partners meetings have been held monthly with a focus on communication, integration of programs and services, and on sustainability. At these meeting the Local Evaluator discusses program evaluation results and partners discuss any implementation fidelity issues that have arisen. The Local Evaluator creates a detailed evaluation report of each program/activity and provides it to the Project Director and the individual partner who is responsible for the program. Discussions are held ongoing with the Project Director, Local Evaluator and partner on specific fidelity issues or instrumentation issues.
Although most programs are fully implemented, CMT and Partners meetings often include discussions about additional needs of the participants and how to collaborate with other partners. For example from this sharing of information and needs, the OBPP Coordinator has presented on bullying prevention to the youth at the Boys & Girls Club programs, the Project SUCCESS Counselors from New Rochelle High School presented at Project CREATE, the alternative high school program. The partners continual look for ways to improve services to their participants. For example, this year, to provide greater clarity the school district’s pre-k application process to, the Parent-Child Center hosted a school district social worker who provided a presentation on the topic to Spanish speaking parents.
This year, the CMT and Partners meetings have been more of “working” meetings where partners have to complete tasks such as create communication plans for the remainder of Year 4, no-cost extension year plans, and sustainability plans. CMT and Partner members have worked together by element during the meetings to strategize ways to sustain programs once grant funding ends. One sustainability success that has been accomplished is that The Guidance Center received approval for a school-based mental health clinic at Isaac Young Middle School. A social worker from The Guidance Center will service students at the middlc school and bill insurance, thereby making services more convenient for many students and families.
In March 2011, the PD and the local evaluator attended the Evaluation Conference and then the PD also attended the Project Directors Conference in Baltimore, MD. In May 2011, five CMT members and the PD attended the Sustainability Conference in Coronado, CA. This conference provided the members with the opportunity to discuss project goals and possible ways to sustain programs. The conference provided members with the opportunity to understand the District’s perspective on change, community partners, and communication through conversations with Dr. Jones, Director of Pupil Services. New Rochelle SS/HS participants also valued the opportunity to hear about what their counterparts were doing in SS/HS across the country. In July 2011, the PD attended the Project Directors Consortia Conference and Communication University in Bethesda, MD. The PD found this conference to be very informative and returned to New Rochelle with many communication tactics to share with the CMT and Partners.
The PD has requested the opportunity to present information to the Board of Education to both inform the board about program successes and to highlight the support provided to students end their families through the SS/HS Initiative. Printed communications have been prepared for the Board of Education and School Administrators. On January 31, 2012, the PD provided an update on SS/HS programs to the Board of Education.
The PD participates in the New York State SS/HS Affinity Group and the Mid-stream Project Director’s Group which hold monthly conference calls. During the reporting period, the PD has participated in webinars focusing on state anti-bullying laws, sustainability and communications. On a local level, the PD has been participating in New Rochelle’s Project FOCUS Coalition meetings as well as the New Rochelle Mental Health Network meetings.
The PD regularly communicates with the FPO and the TAS. The Project TAS has provided valuable support in terms of program implementation, the program change process, and connecting the PD to other projects and successful programs. The PD has had discussions with the Communication Specialist regarding positive ways to share data with the Board of Education and the larger school community as wen as planning communication strategies including the CMCA campaigns.