Safe Schools and Healthy Students

The New Hampshire Department of Education Bureau of Special Education was awarded an $8.6 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) to implement a four-year Safe Schools and Healthy Students State Planning Project. The NHDOE, in conjunction with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services' Bureau of Behavioral Health (BBH) are the oversight and coordinating entities responsible for project implementation. The project is being implemented in three NH communities: Concord, Laconia, and Rochester.

In addition, NHDHHS' Division for Children, Youth and Families, Juvenile Justice Services, Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services, Office of Minority Health and Refugee Affairs, NH Parent and Family Organizations, Regional Mental Health Centers, and other various partners will be working closely over the four-year period to complete the project.

The goals of Safe Schools/Healthy Students NH include the following:

  1. Coordinate a collaborative group of State agencies, community organizations and school districts to identify needs, implement evidence-based practices, share data and resources, change policy, and offer cross-discipline professional development
  2. Improve the social and emotional skills and preparedness for long-term educational success of young children, birth through five years
  3. Reduce school violence, bullying, behavior problems, and punitive/exclusionary discipline practices
  4. Improve the behavioral health outcomes of the highest-need children, youth, and their families/ caregivers,
  5. Engage families and youth in decision-making at all levels
  6. Reduce the prevalence of alcohol and drug use among school aged children