Grant to help kids stay in school

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
News Services Editor

The School of Social Work has received a $100,000 grant from the state Education Department to establish with the Buffalo School District a program aimed at curbing student violence and helping students stay in school.

The Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention Program is directed toward students in grades 7-12 who have been suspended. And students in middle and high school are considered to be in the most danger of being suspended from school for behavior-management problems, said Charles Syms, clinical assistant professor of social work and director of the program.

Calling it a "useful tool that provides a continuum of care and a continuum of intervention for at-risk students," Syms said the program is intended to help students who have difficulties with their relationships with peers and adults.

"This is for kids who have behavior-management problems, or who we see starting to develop them, students who are insubordinate to instructors, are defiant, who are threatening or bullying their peers and who have such a small repertoire of responses that physical means are the only way they know how to deal with peer conflict," he said.

The Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention Program will be held in Lincoln Academy-School 44, Kensington High School and Buffalo Alternative High School, and is open to all students in the Buffalo School District. Schools will identify and recommend students teachers and administrators believe could benefit from the program; participation will be voluntary.

The program will be offered in conjunction with partner agencies that include the Buffalo Schools, the Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo and Erie County, the Bob Lanier Center and Project Respect. Set to begin on Monday, the program will be held from 3:30-6:30 p.m. weekdays through the end of the school year, and is expected to enroll up to 60 students.

The program has two components: Students in grades 5 and 6 at Lincoln and high-school students at Kensington who are identified as "at risk" for suspension will receive primary and secondary prevention intervention. The Buffalo Alternative site will work with students who already have been suspended for violence or violence-related violations of the Buffalo Public School's Student Code of Conduct.

Intervention will focus on academic and social skills. Students will receive either individual tutoring or instruction in the four core academic requirements-reading, math, science and history-and an hour of group counseling focusing on violence prevention, mentoring, social skills, anger management, peer-support-group development, character and leadership development, educational and career development, and health and life skills.

The program also will offer activities to connect the student to community resources that will provide a continuity of care for the student and family after a return to school.

Instruction and counseling will be provided by Buffalo Board of Education teachers and social workers and/or in collaboration with one of the partner agencies.

Although student violence in school involves a small number of students, Syms said, it is on the increase, as are student suspensions.

Between September 1997 and January 2000, the Buffalo School District recorded 204 incidents of violence and assault by students in all grade levels against teachers, administrators and other adults in the schools. During the same time period, 1,329 formal suspensions occurred.

In particular, suspensions are up among students in grades 7-9, where 8.9 percent of that age group has been suspended for serious offenses, such as fighting, physical contact with school personnel, threatening school personnel or possession or use of a knife or weapon.

The Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention Program provides students with a break from problems that provoked their suspension, as well as instruction in other methods of dealing with their frustrations, Syms said.

It also provides a more appealing way of keeping up with their schoolwork. Currently, suspended students receive two hours of in-home instruction daily, which can add to feelings of isolation.

The program allows students to continue to have contact with other students and teachers. "It just makes more sense," Syms said.