FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2018
Contact: Alec Zimmerman
(608) 257-4765

Second Round of School Safety Grants Focused on Mental Health

[Madison, WI]— Attorney General Brad Schimel is putting our children first with his continued efforts to make schools safer. Schimel announced another round of school safety grants that will give schools the proper funding to focus on advanced mental health initiatives.

Check out what they’re saying about Attorney General Brad Schimel keeping our schools safe.

From WBAY: This fall, hundreds of Wisconsin public and private schools will receive a total $48 million focused on mental health…The grant comes from the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Office of School Safety. It set up a $100 million school safety plan after the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February. The latest grants were announced Thursday in Manitowoc, where school officials and law enforcement received school safety training they will share around the state.

From The Courier: According DOJ, this new round has introduced new prerequisites and training requirements. Ten percent of all full-time teachers at the school must attend a 12-hour adolescent mental health training course. Schools must establish a School Safety Intervention Team (SSIT) that are in compliant to the DOJ guidelines. Both prerequisites need to be completed by Aug. 31, 2020.

From We Are Green Bay: “I’ve had teachers tell me many times, that they can tell by kindergarten or first grade which kids are going to be struggling by the time they get to junior high,” Schimel said. “We’ve not ever taken good enough advantage of that information, and that’s part of the goal here, is now to leverage that, to be able to get those kids help, to be able to get resources to their families, and hopefully, by the time that kid gets to junior high we’ve got them in a healthier place.”

From the Wisconsin State Journal: A total of $810,000 was awarded to 13 school districts and schools in southern Wisconsin. The money will go toward mental health support of students and establishing standard emergency response protocols in schools.

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